Page 15

You’re fucking pathetic, Bryce. A grown man chasing fairytales.

With a sigh, he tossed back his second shot of room-temperature whiskey and waved the bartender over to order another.

“Hey, man.”

Bryce grunted beneath the hefty clap of Jesse’s hand on his back as the other man slid fluidly onto the stool beside him. His boyhood friend observed him with sharp blue eyes and a slash of a smile. Jesse’s spiky blond hair appeared damp from his shower, but his Armani button-down shirt and trendy blue jeans were as crisp as his police uniform. The man exuded an air of authority, even off duty.

“See you couldn’t wait to start. How many’re you in?” Jesse asked, bracing his forearm against the bar top. Bryce held up two fingers as the bartender placed another shot in front of him. He flicked up one more finger. Jesse chuckled and shook his head. “Damn. I’ll take a Crown and ginger, light on the ice,” he told the bartender.

“Welcome to the party,” Bryce said once the bartender returned with Jesse’s drink. They clinked tumblers and sipped their drinks. “Welcome to an alternate universe.”

“You’re going back to that, are you?” Jesse lightly punched Bryce’s shoulder. “Man, you’ve not been yourself for months now. Going out every night, drinking like it’s going out of style. This isn’t the Bryce I know. Are you going to tell me what’s been eating at you?”

Sure. What did he have to lose, right? A few marks on his sanity chart? Hell, he’d lose all of that if he continued down this path with Kate.

If I can’t find Rihanna.

“Bro?” Jesse pressed, lowering his voice.

Bryce rubbed a hand over his face. “You remember those crazy dreams I used to tell you about a long time ago?”

“Yeah. What of ’em?”

“Did I ever tell you that when I would wake up, the birthmark on my hand would burn like someone held the edge of a heated knife to my skin?”

“I believe so.” Jesse’s eyes narrowed and his good-natured air grew heavy. “You used to say there was a woman in your dreams. She cut your hand in some sort of ritual thing.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but where is this going?”

Bryce swirled his whiskey in the tumbler, watching the amber liquid catch the glow of the dim bar lighting and reflect against the dark brown wood of the bar top.

“I never told you I met the woman from those dreams.” He dropped his elbow onto the bar top and lifted his tumbler to his lips, tipping the glass and drinking down half of his shot. He could feel Jesse’s skeptical gaze burning a hole in his head. “Yep. The night after I proposed to Kate and we went to that club with her friends to celebrate the engagement. She was there that night. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

“Bryce, youdorealize how absurd you sound, right? The woman in your dreams—dreams you’ve had since you were a kid—can’t possibly be the same woman you bumped into at a random club…”

Bryce tipped his head and caught Jesse’s gaze as his friend’s voice faded. Realization crossed his expression.

“That’s why you’ve been going out every night. You’re trying to find her.”

Bryce offered a solemn grin and nodded once, then finished off the remainder of his whiskey, pushing the empty glass to the edge of the wood.

“Bingo.”

Jesse twisted in his stool, hunching over the bar top and his tumbler, now cupped between both hands. “You’re chasing a dream.”

“No.” Bryce shook his head and motioned to the bartender for a refill. “She was the same person. Right down to her name. Everything about the woman at the club matched the woman in my dreams precisely. There’s no mistaking it.”

“You spoke with her that night?”

“I did. Once I saw Kate and Michelle to their Uber, I returned to the club and spoke with her. She and my dream woman are one and the same.” Bryce turned his palm over and examined the scar. The pink skin didn’t burn now, but he knew, come morning, that pink would look angry and red, and throb with renewed pain. “Her name is Rihanna. We spoke for only a couple minutes before she ran off. I couldn’t get any more information from her. When I tried to chase her down outside, she’d vanished, along with the party she’d been with. It was strange, and I can’t explain the events from that night, but since I’ve crossed her path, I can’t think of anyonebuther.”

He traced the scar with a single finger.

“’Twill hurt for but a moment,mo ghra, but ’twill bind us for all eternity.”

Bryce released a harsh breath, snatched up his refill of whiskey and tossed the entire shot back in one gulp.

“You need to slow down. Four shots in under an hour,” Jesse said, an edge of authority slipping into his otherwise skeptical tone.

“I’ll grab an Uber if I have to.”