Courting Darkness by Melynda Price Read Free Book Online Page A

consciousness called, Olivia struggled to hang on to her dream—her memories… No! her mind screamed, not yet ready to let him go. She wanted to stay, wanted to know what happened next. Where was Liam taking her?
    Buzzing added to the chirping, and despite her efforts, the vision before her faded into nothingness. Cracking open an eye, she reached for her phone vibrating on the nightstand. Olivia muttered an oath as she slid her thumb across the screen, opening her messages. Ash: Hey, don’t tell your parents I cracked.
    Really? You woke me up for that? Olivia clicked on the light beside her bed, tossed her phone on the nightstand, and grabbed her journal, flipping to an open page. She wanted to record every detail, every thought, and every emotion before her dream could fade. She had to remember…
    It was minutes before my wedding to Mitch. I should have been more excited than I felt. When I removed the necklace, it was like the final betrayal of my heart. As I held the stone tightly fisted in my hand, he spoke to me. The grief laced in his low husky voice mirrored the ache in my chest.
    He was beautiful… His dark hair was nearly black in the dim room. It hung in waves around his handsome face. His jaw was strong—square. A muscle twitched in his cheek, giving away the hard clench of his teeth as he struggled to hold that mask of indifference.
    I wanted to run to him—to throw my arms around him, but I couldn’t move. It seemed as if his reserved stance held me at bay. The dark amber of his eyes bore the truth of his pain—his sorrow… Sorrow that I knew I caused. I was ashamed and heartbroken. He wanted me to say it. He wanted to hear me confess that I loved another, but the lie I managed to force past my lips was a pathetic attempt, at best. My heart refused to release its hold on him—even as I prepared to marry Mitch.
    I was a horrible person. A hypocrite even, and guilt clawed inside me until tears streamed down my cheeks. He looked as if he wanted to comfort me. I knew my pain brought him no measure of satisfaction. Yet, he resisted coming to me.
    “I wish it was me waiting down there for you.”
    Those words broke my heart. Standing there across the room, seeing him again for the first time, I wouldn’t admit it then, but I now know I fell in love with him all over again…
    Tears splattered the pages, and Olivia dabbed up the moisture with her sleeve before it could fade the ink. Flipping back to the beginning of the journal, she began to read the entries. New-found hope began to bloom in her heart. Even though her memories were lost, perhaps they all weren’t truly gone. Here, in this book, were pages of remembrances, and she’d continue to fill these pages with her dreams. Someday, she vowed, she would have her life back.
     

     
    By the time Olivia closed her journal, a box of used tissues lay scattered around her like confetti. Her eyes were puffy, her nose sore and runny. Her head ached, but perhaps that was from the 6 a.m. hangover she now sported. She’d spent the rest of the night reading and rereading her journal entries. It all felt so surreal…like she was invading someone else’s most private thoughts, their memories—experiencing someone else’s emotions as if they hadn’t been her own. None of them were familiar, save the last entry from her dream—that had been real, too real…
    The story she held in her hands had been both beautiful and tragic. As she closed the journal and laid it on the nightstand, several painful realizations weighed on her. One: She was alive today because of Liam. He had given up his wings to save her, and miraculously, through his selflessness, had earned them back. Two: Liam had absolutely, without a doubt, loved her. Three: The old Olivia, the Olivia in this book, was hopelessly and irrevocably in love with an angel she could never have.
    The whole thing was heartbreaking, really. After reading of the pain and misery that Olivia had endured, after