Fated Dreams (Book One In The Affinity series) (23 page)

“So, have you
heard about the recital coming up in a few weeks?” I asked when I sat down
beside him on the couch. I took out my brush and was trying to get the tangles
out of my hair.

“Yes, I did. I
was wondering if you were going to ask me to come.”

“Of course I
was, but I wanted to wait until I perfected the two songs. I didn’t want you to
see me if I was going to screw up.”

“Yeah, right,
I’ve heard you play, and you’ve never made one mistake.”

“Well, it has
happened once or twice. Besides, I wrote one of the songs and I was worried
about it. But I’m asking now, will you come and see me play?” I put the brush
down on the coffee table.

“Yes,” he said,
leaning in for a kiss. I stood up and put the movie in. It was Lucas’ choice,
so there were a lot of explosions and car chases.

I never saw the
end of it, though, I fell asleep on the couch leaning on Lucas’ shoulder, but I
woke up in bed tucked under the covers. There was a note beside my pillow. I
picked it up and read it:

I wish I
could crawl in beside you, but I don’t

think your
parents would approve.

I’ll be by
to pick you up after work tomorrow.

Love, Lucas.

After I read his note, I smiled at the
thought of him crawling in bed beside me. I put the vision of falling asleep
with his arms wrapped around me like he did when we were away in my head. It
worked; I could feel his warmth as if he was there with me. I smiled as I
drifted off to sleep.

The next two weeks seemed to fly by. I
finally had my spa day with my mom on Saturday before work. I hung out with
Lucas a lot, sometimes with our friends. I worked a few times a week with
nothing to report. Either the hooded man had given up, or was afraid to make a
move with Lucas constantly by my side.

I didn’t have
any disturbing dreams in those weeks, but I did have a few sweet ones about
Lucas and me. Dancing in the moonlight or traipsing through a meadow, always
with that intense feeling of love that now stayed with me even after I woke.
Once I had a dream of us holding hands and standing in front of a group of
strangers. We both looked very happy.

Emma and I
managed a girls night. I went to her house for a sleepover. It was great to be
just the two of us. We compared notes on our boyfriends while painting our
toes, with mud masks on our faces. Even though I rarely had these moments with
Emma, when Lucas picked me up the next morning, I was very glad to see him.

When he dropped me off at work one Saturday
in early November, he told me that he had a surprise for me, but I would have
to wait until later to get it. That was so unfair; it would bug me for the rest
of day. He knew how impatient I was, and that was probably why he did it.

“Tell me.”

“No, you’ll have
to wait until I pick you up.”

“Come on, one
hint,” I whined, touching his check gently, trying to persuade him.

“No way,” he
said and kissed me. “Now get out or you’ll be late.”

“Fine,” I said,
sulking. I heard his soft laughter as I shut the door behind me.

I worked at
ticket sales with Zack. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be alone with him, but I
had no choice. I was glad, though, the day went by faster. He told me about a
kid in his math class who must have eaten beans for lunch. He kept farting during
the whole class. The teacher would make a face every time he did, a face that
Zack mimicked. I was laughing so hard, sometimes I was afraid the drink I was
sipping on would shoot out of my nose.

When my shift
was over, I was excited for my surprise and ran to the front glass doors. His
car was parked next to the curb, so I opened the door of the theater and rushed
over. I pulled the handle to open the passenger door, but it was locked. I bent
down and cupped my hands around my eyes against the window to peer inside. The
car was empty.

I spun around
to look for him, and right behind me stood a guy in a hooded gray sweatshirt.

It was him, the
person who had followed me in the parking lot, and watched me through my
window.

He grabbed hold
of my arm with gloved hands and tried to pull me away. Thank God for Lucas’
lessons. I hauled my free arm back and punched with all my strength, striking
him right in the jaw. It knocked the hood off, and under it, he was wearing a
black nylon balaclava, only showing pale blue eyes.

The punch threw
him back a few steps, and I saw my chance to get away. I took a few running
steps but stopped short when he reached out and grabbed hold of my coat. I was
struggling to take it off when I heard Lucas yelling my name. The guy looked
over at him, and with a wistful glance in my direction, took off running.

“Sarah! Are you
okay?” Lucas yelled in horror. He ran up to me, wrapping his arms around me
tightly. I breathed him in, taking comfort in his scent. When he finally
released me, I stumbled over something that made a clanging sound against the
pavement. We both looked down, and there on the ground where I had punched the
guy, was a huge black-handled butcher knife. We both gaped at the knife, and
then at each other, in disbelief. Before I could react, I noticed a patch of
red on the ground next to the knife. It was a bunch of roses. My heart thumped
at the sight.

Lucas bent down
to pick them up and handed them to me. “Here’s your surprise.” His face and
voice were void of emotion. It was too much; I felt a sense of déjà-vu. The
knife, the hooded man, and now even the roses. All the elements of our
nightmare were here. But one thing was different.

We were alive.

Lucas led me to
the closest bench and once we were both seated, his arms wrapped around me, and
I settled against his chest, the flowers sitting forgotten beside me. His
strong arms and the sound of his heartbeat soothed my fear. After a few
moments, my hands were steady enough to dig through my bag. I pulled out Detective
Franklin’s card and handed it to him. I didn’t think I could speak at the
moment.

He took it and
pulled his phone from his coat pocket. “Detective Franklin. My name is Lucas
Tate, Sarah Samson’s boyfriend. She was just attacked outside of her work. He ran
away when he saw me coming, but he dropped a butcher knife… It’s still on the
ground…. Okay… Yes, right up front on the bench. Bye.” He hung up. “He’s on his
way. He doesn’t want us to touch the knife, just make sure no one sees it.”

Standing up, he
walked over to where the knife lay on the ground and placed his coat over it.
He sat back down beside me and held my hand. Neither of us spoke; I think we
were both still in shock. I couldn’t believe someone would want to hurt me.

I felt him
shiver and was suddenly concerned for him; it was a very cold night. I could
see my breath in the air. “Luke, you need your coat, it’s freezing.” I rubbed
his arm to warm him, with my gloves.

“I’m fine until
they get here. I’m not worried about me.” His voice was hard, and I recognized
that look. He was lost in his own head, thinking of how to protect me. Now I
knew I was right to keep everything else from him. I hated to see the worry and
anguish on his face.

We both turned
at the sound of tires squealing as a car pulled up along the curb. The two
detectives climbed out and rushed over to us. “Sarah, are you okay?” asked
Detective Franklin, his voice rough with worry.

“Yes.” Here we
go again, I thought. Why did this keep happening to me and how was I going to
make it stop?

“Can you tell
me what happened?”

I told him
everything from the time I came out of the theater until we found the knife.

“So you’ve been
teaching her to fight?” he asked Lucas.

“Yes.”

“Good job, you
might have just saved her life,” Detective Markus said, shaking Lucas’ hand.

“This time,”
Lucas mumbled, but no one heard him but me.

They took the
knife for evidence and wrote down our statements. I went first, and after Lucas
was finished telling his version, they told us that we could go home.

My family was not at the house, having gone
out for the evening. I was thankful I didn’t have to go into it tonight,
although I knew I would have to tell them what was happening soon.

“Can you stay
with me?” I pleaded, a little desperate.

He nodded, the
corners of his mouth turning upward slightly. It was all he could manage.

Up in my room,
we settled into my bed, and I clung to him, afraid of his sudden silence. There
was a distance in him, and I hated it. I needed everything to be the way it was
this morning. And as much as I hoped for that, I knew that everything had
changed. Instead of my beloved boyfriend, his role would now be what I had
feared—bodyguard.

“Can you tell
me what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is
wrong, I’m fine.” We both knew he was lying. I had just been attacked, how
could he be fine?

“I know you’re
angry, just admit it.” I raised my voice in frustration.

He bent his
head to look into my eyes. “You’re right, I am angry. But I want to hold you in
my arms tonight. Let’s just enjoy that for now. Tomorrow we can deal with
reality. Okay?”

I nodded, and
he smiled.

We fell asleep together, but I woke up
alone.

The roses,
wilted now, lay on his pillow. I picked them up and threw them in the trash.

I dressed in
yoga pants and my favorite baby blue hoodie, and threw my hair in a ponytail
before I ran downstairs.

“Hey, Mom, how
was your night?” She was sitting at the table eating a bagel piled high with
cream cheese.

“It was great,
I love going out to dinner. How was yours?”

“I don’t want
to talk about mine right now, maybe later.” I took out a glass and poured
myself some orange juice.

“Okay, I’m
leaving now. Your father is playing racquetball, and I’m going shopping with
Sheryl,” she said as she shoved the last of her bagel into her mouth. She
kissed me on the cheek and walked out of the house, leaving a smidge of cheese
on my face.

The rest of the morning was quiet. I was
hoping Lucas would call, but he must have been busy at work. He was off at
five, and we were going out to dinner.

My brother and
I were on the couch watching TV when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” I said,
since he wasn’t moving. He was in a TV coma, which usually happened when he was
watching something. The house could catch on fire and he wouldn’t notice.

I opened the
door and saw Lucas sitting in one of the chairs on our porch. I put my coat and
shoes on, and went out onto the porch with him.

He stood up as
I approached.

“Hey, I wasn’t
expecting to see you. I thought you worked today.”

“I took the day
off.”

“Okay, do you
want to come in?” I asked, hugging my coat closer to me against the cold
November day.

His face was
ashen with dark circles under his hazel eyes. Something was wrong, and I
suddenly wanted to run away and hide.

He closed his
eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then opened them. “Sarah, I can’t see you
anymore.”

His words hit
me like a physical blow; my blood turned cold in my veins. “What did you say?”
My voice was barely a whisper.

“After what
happened last night and two weeks ago, I can’t keep risking your life. I feel
that as long as we’re together, someone is going to try and stop us, by hurting
you.”

“NO! This is
about your dream because you saw me dead! IT WAS JUST A DREAM! YOU CAN’T DO
THIS!” I was screaming now, panicked at the thought of not being with him. I
felt like I was drowning; I couldn’t catch my breath.

He grabbed my
shoulders and yanked me against him. For the first time, his arms were no
comfort. “Shh, I’m sorry. I don’t want to do this. I hate the thought of not
being with you, but I have to protect you.”

I pulled away,
blinking back tears. “I know you’re worried about the dream you had, but there
is something I haven’t told you. I’ve had it too. But you were the one who died
first. You didn’t even see me die, because he killed me after he killed you.
That’s what happened isn’t it, it’s the same dream?” My words poured out
without thought. I was desperate to get him to take back his horrible words.

He blinked at
me, obviously shocked by my confession. “How… Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What would
have happened on the day you told me about it, if I’d admitted that I had the
same dream?” I suddenly realized why I hadn’t told him before. I must have
known deep down that he would do this.

He thought
about it. “I probably would have backed off.”

“Exactly, and I
must have known that. At the time, I didn’t understand why I kept it from you.
I just knew it was necessary.” I took his hands in mine. “Why don’t we try and
figure out what’s going on, and stop it. We can do it together,” I said softly,
touching his cheek. I don’t know why, but I felt hopeful.

The feeling
only lasted until I looked up and saw the dread in his face.

His eyes were
full of pain. “I can’t. I won’t see the dream come true, and it almost did last
night.”

Anger burst
inside me with a flash of not red, but black. I was so angry my vision faded
for a second. I let go of his hands and pushed him as hard as I could. He fell
back a step, surprised. I hurt him; I could see it in his face.

“Fine, you want
to give up, go ahead. You must not care about me as much as I thought.” My
voice was as cold as I was.

His eyes were
fierce, his jaw clenched. I had never seen him this angry, definitely not
directed at me. I took a step back. He grabbed my shoulders with his hands and
shoved me up against the house, his fingers cushioning the blow. “You think I
don’t care?” he said, looming over me. “I’m doing this because I love you! I
won’t see my dream come true. I will protect you!” His voice was a low, harsh
growl.

“Let’s fight
this, together,” I begged him.

“NO!”

“Is this about
one stupid dream? Or is there more you’re not telling me?”

He looked away,
guilty, hiding his face so I couldn’t read it. But it was too late; I saw.
“Tell me what you’re hiding,” I yelled.

“Nothing, I
told you everything,” he said, avoiding my eyes. I gave up. I was done begging.
I shoved him off of me. “Then go! Get away from me!” I yelled again.