Chapter 1

Book 2

Chapter 1

5 months later- July

Bri

The Louisiana sun shone too brightly as I opened my eyes. I could feel the hardness of the docks beneath the blanket under my back, a copy of Watership down in my hands, my head resting comfortably on what felt like Wyatt’s thick thigh as Beau's hand idly ran up and down my leg. I knew the feel of my men, the safety and security of their presence. I hummed contentedly. The cicadas were droning in the background and a Barred Owl called. I could hear the boys roughhousing far off. I set the book aside my hands trailing over my enormous stomach and I smiled, beaming with the tranquility of it all. I felt a kick against my palm and then another.

Snatching up their hands I pulled them to the swell of my stomach two familiar sets of adoring eyes on handsome rugged faces met mine. 

“Ya know,” Wyatt said, his hand grazing my jaw as he tilted it in his direction, “I thought you were beautiful before, now all of this world’s beauty doesn’t compare to you. He kissed me deeply, lovingly, passionately as he pulled me gently up to sit. Beau’s hand skimmed higher up my leg the fabric of the skirt bunching as he did from where he sat shirtless beside me. 

“I think we should practice,” his eyes were predatory and his voice ended in a growl.

“Practice what?” I asked, leaning into Wyatt as I faced Beau.

“Keeping you in this exquisite condition,” he growled and Wyatt growled with him in agreement. That sounded like a lovely way to spend a lazy afternoon. Beau’s hand inched up my leg as Wyatt’s mouth grazed up my neck. The sensations of their energies pulsing through me. I was lucky, oh so lucky.

“Bri!” Claude’s voice called in alarm. I started to my feet, my men assisting me. Our eyes looking for him.

“Bri!” or was it Lou?

“BRI!” the word started in Bastian’s voice but ended in Zoey’s. I gasped awake, startled, staring around at the strange room. It was all a dream. I sobbed and Zoey wrapped around me rocking me. Every morning was like this: the world of my loves was ripped away by my duty to this world. Always tore them away, testing their tethers to my heart. My hands found my flat stomach and I sobbed again.

“It was a dream Bri, it wasn’t real,” Zoey tried to help me rationalize as she gripped my cheeks and looked into my eyes. What was happening to me? The grief was heavyweight throughout the day but at night the memories and want of them tangled with my dreams. They became more and more vivid as the weeks passed by. My lip trembled and a few more tears fell.

“What was it?” Zoey asked, wiping the tears away. There was no hiding how torn up I was as I forced the words out of my mouth.

“I was pregnant, and they were so happy, we were happy,”

“Bri,” Zoey breathed, pulling me to her again.

“There has to be a way, a way to do both Bri, if this is what it's like for you, What do they feel?”

“Just an echo Zoey,” I assured her as I tried to assure myself. “Until they forget me, it was my soul that initiated the tether, it is my burden to bear. They can’t be safe if anyone knows what they mean to me.”

“We can be careful, hide it, they don’t ever have to come here.”

“No Zoey, it's too risky," I said, as I pulled away from her and slid out of bed. I shrugged out of Wyatt’s shirt leaving it on the bed as I walked naked into the bathroom to wash the sweat off my skin. It was a particularly balmy August and I had opted to leave the balcony door open as opposed to turning on the air conditioning. The only things to survive my destruction when I combusted after they left were the things touched by them. The memories and the items I had pilfered to hold onto the last threads of… us. The pull on my heart had been too great; the light had clawed its way out and burned. The girl's books, the records, the player and the clothes that had been in the closet including the ones on my back had all instantly ignited in my path and fallen to dust the windows had blown out with my screams, no longer able to silence the pain that radiated from within. The locks melted in the door as Andrew tried to break it down with Trent. They couldn’t get to me, nor could their voices make me see sense, until Zoey.