Dark Wish (House of Sin 1)

It’s the same dark, dangerous voice from the night before. The same guy is now standing before me mere inches away, separated only by a few books and an empty shelf.

A cold shiver turns my veins into ice.

He stares at me with that same ungodly, obsessive look.

A definite smirk forms on his lips. “Amelia …”

The way he speaks my name makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Have you ever had a wish?”

“A wish?” I repeat, too shocked that this is truly happening to form a cohesive answer.

“A wish that would become reality?”

I frown, baffled by his mere presence, let alone his questions.

“Amelia?” my coworker calls, and her voice distracts me enough that it makes me turn my head. Just one second. One second. That’s all it took for him to pick up the book I dropped and shove it back into the empty space, covering the few inches we had to exchange looks.

I take a few steps back, expecting him to come bursting through the case with guns blazing to take me away, but nothing happens. I just stand there in blissful ignorance, wishing that it had.

Because secretly, a part deep down inside me wants to answer his question.

Wants him to show me what it could be like to live that dream.

No.

His questions were silly. The ramblings of a stranger.

A stranger who followed you to both your jobs.

Which means he knows where you live.

Shit.

Panic rushes through my veins as I throw the books onto the table and walk to the other end of the bookcase to peek along the side. But the man is already long gone. Vanished. As though he never existed to begin with and was just a figment of my imagination.

But I know for a fact that I have not gone insane.

“Amelia? Are you done? I have more.” Jamie suddenly appears on the other end with a stack of books in her hands and gazes at me as though I’ve lost my mind. “What are you doing?” she asks.

“Oh ... um …” I look around to make sure the man is really gone. Only one way to find out if I am going insane. “Did you see a man walk by here? By any chance?”

She frowns. “Maybe? I mean, there’re a lot of them. Daily.” She snorts.

“I mean just now. Did someone walk away from here?” I point at the bookcase. “Like he was standing right here.”

She makes a face. “Um, I don’t know? I don’t keep track. Why?”

“It’s nothing.” I sigh and look away.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, yeah.” I shrug it off and smile a bit, but it’s a fake smile. “Sorry, I’m just a little shook, that’s all.”

“From a guy?” she asks as she sets the stack of books on a nearby table. “Should I call someone? The cops?”

“No, it’s fine,” I say, wafting it away. “It was nothing.” I snort to try to make light of it, but it still doesn’t sit right with me.

“All right then, if you’re sure,” she replies, rolling her eyes a little. Not much, but enough for me to notice.

She must think I’m crazy. Everyone does. I’m the quiet one, the one who’s always daydreaming of a better life, a bigger future. The one who’s always too afraid to make the leap.

And this man … this man unchained something inside me that I didn’t know existed.

Because no matter how dangerous he seemed or how much my brain was telling me to run in the opposite direction, all I wanted to do was say yes.

Chapter 5

Amelia

That night

The music is blaring, and I’m losing myself on the dance floor of Club M. I don’t care who sees or how crazy I dance. I just need to let it all out. Let them see, let them talk; I’m done caring about what anyone thinks.

Why? Because it’s my birthday, and no one cared. My grandparents have been dead for years, so they’re not gonna celebrate this with me. Jamie won’t either because I never told her when my birthday was. But I expected Chris to care. And now he’s shown that he clearly doesn’t.

So I’ve decided I’m not going to care anymore either.

Instead, I’m enjoying myself thoroughly while going nuts to the music, dancing the night away until my feet are tired and I’m drunk on alcohol. I don’t care for a second that I’m drinking way more than usual or that this is the same club where my stalker came. I welcome the danger with open arms, or maybe it just doesn’t matter at all.

The only thing that matters is me, the music, and forgetting all about my own damn birthday until it no longer exists.

And I’m loving every second of it.

Hours later, I wake up somewhere else entirely. I feel groggy and completely out of it. I can’t even remember what I did or why I did it. I just knew I needed an escape, if only just for a moment. So I chose the alcohol to numb the pain and have a little fun all by myself.