Page 9

TREY

The second the nausea hits me, I’m on my new motorcycle in a flash. As I race toward Arella’s apartment, I pray to the glimmer gods that this one isn’t life-threatening. I can’t lose her this way, not when she doesn’t know who I am.

Cars honk at me from all directions as I weave between them on my bike. This one revs up to speed faster than my old one, and I’m living for it.

My arms feel numb as Arella’s apartment complex comes into view. Her car is sitting in the lot. Thank fuck. I had no idea where she was, and this was my best guess. If she wasn’t here, I would have torn this city apart looking for her.

When I park, I yank my helmet off and chuck it in the grass. Then I shake my numb arms out as I sprint to her apartment door.

I pound on it. “Arella?”

“Just put the knife down,” a man says calmly.

Arella shouts from the inside. “Get away from me, or I’ll stab you!”

I pound on the door again. “Arella?” I’m about to wave a hand at the lock to open it when the door bursts open.

Arella stands on the other side with a kitchen knife in hand. The moment she locks her eyes with mine, I see it—recognition. “Trey!”

My name. She just said my name. I didn’t realize how much I was yearning to hear it come from her lips.

The knife falls from her hand, then she throws herself at me. She wraps her arms around my torso as she buries her face into my chest. Instinctively, one of my arms latches around her back as my other hand fists her soft hair.

Tears pool in the corners of my eyes. For the last three weeks, I’ve spiraled down hours of dark thoughts, wondering if I’d ever get my girl back. Now she’s back. I don’t know how, but she’s back, and I’m never letting her go.

“Oh, Trey,” she says into my shirt. “Thank God you’re here.”

My blackened world fades back to color. That constant knot in my chest loosens. My lungs feel less constricted. I’m sucking in air, and it no longer feels like a battle.

“Arella,” I say into the top of her hair. “What happened, baby?”

She leans back and points at a wide-eyed Caleb standing in her living room. “I don’t know. I woke up in my bed, then all of a sudden, this strange man walked into my room. He keeps saying I’m his girlfriend.”

I glance at Caleb as if he knows what the fuck is going on. The look on his face confirms he’s just as confused as I am. With one hand firmly around Arella’s waist, I use my other hand to grab her face and force her attention back to me.

She looks straight into my eyes, and I see it again—recognition. It makes me so happy, a tear actually rolls down my cheek.

“Tell me, baby. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Like, before I woke up?”

I nod.

“Um, I—I don’t know.”

“Think, babe. Think real hard for me. Do you remember being at the Ridge?”

She doesn’t hesitate. “Yeah.”

“Do you remember us getting arrested?”

A nod.

“Do you remember when a bunch of Royals popped out of the woods and attacked us?”

“Yes. Then you got stabbed, and I was putting pressure on your wound when, all of a sudden, everything froze.”

That was the last time I saw her before I was knocked out and woke up in z-prison. “Do you remember anything after that?”

She thinks for a moment. “Not really. The next thing I remember is waking up and this guy walking into my room.”

I hold her tight against me. “It’s all right, baby. I’m here now.”

I get to hold her for all of two seconds before Caleb shouts, “What the fuck is going on?”

I wish I had an answer for him, because I want to know too. How did Arella suddenly get all her memories back? Well, most of them. She doesn’t have any recollection of what happened after the Enforcers showed up.

“Ari, why are you letting this man touch you? He’s a psycho.”

Arella leans back and furrows her eyebrows together. “Who are you?”

“I told you already. I’m your boyfriend.”

“No, you’re not. He is.” She gestures toward me, making my heart leap out of my chest. I didn’t realize how satisfying it would be to hear Arella tell someone that I’m her boyfriend and not him.

That title doesn’t even fully encapsulate all the deep feelings I have for her, but I’ll take it over being called her stalker.

“Wow.” Caleb chuckles humorlessly. “You must have hit your head really hard.”

I’ve been staring at Arella this whole time, but that statement makes me flick my eyes up to Caleb. “She hit her head?”

“Yes. We were just sitting down for lunch when she saw a spider on the wall. Then she fell off her chair and hit her head on the floor. I picked her up, laid her in bed, and was just getting her a glass of water when she woke up and screamed at me to get out of our apartment.”

“ My apartment,” Arella says with a scowl.

“ Our apartment,” Caleb says.

“What is happening right now?” Arella gapes up at me as if I’ve got the answer. “Who is this guy and why is he—” She lets out a painful scream. It retightens that knot in my chest. Her entire face crumples as she clasps her palms against her temples. She screams again, then her knees buckle.

I catch her as she slumps to the ground. “What’s wrong?”

“My head. It hurts.”

“Where?”

“All over. Something is pinching my brain and my temples.”

In one swift motion, I scoop her into my arms and cradle her against me as I march toward her bedroom. Confused energy seeps into my mind from behind me. Caleb follows me and watches my every move as I lay Arella on her bed and cover her with blankets.

I have no idea why her head hurts. I’m going to assume it has something to do with how she suddenly remembers me, but how do I stop the pain?

“Ah!” She clasps her hands to her temples again. “Oh, God. My head.”

I turn to Caleb. “Tylenol. Ibuprofen. Do you have either of those?”

With a nod, the dude disappears, then he returns with two pills in his palm.

I accept the white tablets from him and offer them to Arella. “Here, babe. Take these.”

There’s a glass of water on her nightstand that I hand to her as well. She takes the pills with a large gulp of liquid, then sets the glass back onto her nightstand.

“Maybe I should sleep it off,” she says.

“Sure. Maybe that’ll help.”

She lays her head onto her pillow, then places a gentle hand over my forearm. “Will you cuddle me?”

I never enjoyed cuddling until I met Arella. Once I cuddled with her, it was practically all we ever did together. Hearing her ask me to cuddle her is like hearing a perfect chord on the grandest piano of all grand pianos.

Without hesitation, I kick my shoes off, then shrug off my jacket and let it drop to the carpet.

Then I climb onto her mattress and slip under the covers with her.

Arella scoots closer to me, then lays her head over my shoulder and rests a hand over my abs.

I squeeze my arms around her as happy tears fall from my eyes.

I ignore Caleb’s glare as I pull the blanket over Arella some more and tuck it under her back.

Then I breathe in her intoxicating scent of lavender and springtime, allowing it to relax me.

I haven’t felt this at ease since... I can’t remember.

Since before Arella was kidnapped, that’s for damn sure.

My girl tilts her head back to look at me. “Trey?”

I’ll never get sick of hearing her say my name. “Yes, baby?”

“Don’t leave me, okay? Stay here until I wake up.”

It would take an act of God to make me leave her.