Uncovering You 9: Liberation by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online

bit of…consternation. “I called your name. You looked startled to have heard me. And then you turned, looked at me—and you ran.”
    I feel suddenly cold, lost, and very much alone. Deserted again on that island of my choosing.
    “Then what?” I whisper.
    “Well, I went after you. I didn’t like what I saw in your eyes when you looked at me. It was a blank, vacant stare. Almost like you didn’t know who I was.” She flips her hair back. “And even if we’d only met once, I was sure you remembered me.”
    I give her an inscrutable look that makes her shrug. “I’m a little vain, I know.”
    “Then what?” I ask.
    “You turned a corner. I didn’t hear you fall or anything. But when I found you, you were curled up on the floor. You kept muttering, ‘Paul, Paul, Paul.’”
    I gasp. “No!”
    She frowns at me. “No, what?”
    “No, I…I can’t believe I was doing that.”
    “Well, you were,” Tracy says. “And it freaked me the hell out. I thought you were having a bad trip.”
    “I don’t do drugs,” I say firmly.
    She looks at me with obvious disdain. She thinks I’m a liar.
    “Come on,” she says. “I’m not four. Everybody who’s in on this lifestyle does them. It’s the only thing that keeps us from getting bored.”
    “Well I don’t,” I reaffirm.
    “Then explain to me what I saw,” Tracy challenges. “I took a bullet for you. I supported your little lie about tripping and falling. It was obvious you didn’t want to see Jeremy. What else could the reason be? You didn’t want him to know what happened.”
    “No,” I say. “It must have been something else. Somebody slipped something in my drink, or…” I trail off.
    Or I really am going crazy .
    “Or what?” Tracy persists.
    Then her demeanor softens. She sits beside me and places a hand on my knee. “I know what it’s like,” she says gently. “It’s obvious you weren’t born into this lifestyle. It’s exciting at first. Thrilling. You think you have the whole world at your fingertips. I’m speaking from personal experience. But my husband doesn’t even have a sliver of what Jeremy Stonehart does. Not a hundredth. But I still remember the first few years I spent with him. Everything was larger than life. It was impressive, astounding…but also overwhelming.
    “And it’s okay if you get overwhelmed,” she tells me. “So long as you find some way out of it in the end. You’ll see the world hasn’t changed as much as you might have imagined at first. Your limits stretch. But then you become accustomed to them, and they box you in once more.”
    She stands up. “Maybe I’m just talking nonsense,” she tells me. “There’s no reason for you to listen to me. But if you ever need someone you can trust? Someone you can confide in? Well, I’m not far away.
    “And Lilly?” she adds as she steps away. “I do know what it’s like for you. Really. It’s lonely at the top. If you need a friend—well, I’ll be waiting.”
    And with that she leaves the room, gone like a trail of smoke scattered by the wind.

Chapter Six
     
    After Tracy leaves, I retreat to the sunroom. I haven’t been here since Jeremy let me sleep in his bed.
    I spend a long time staring out the window at the darkened sea.
    In a way, returning feels somewhat like what Jeremy must have experienced, entering his mother’s loft. We both went back to the place where things began. Him, many years ago. Me, only months.
    But the distance that spans that time, for me, seems enormous.
    I trace my hand over the lone marble pillar. How many nights had I spent in the dark with it as my only companion? Now, it feels almost like a lost friend.
    I walk to the edge of my former perimeter. When I stared out at the darkness before, what did I imagine lay past the blackened veil?
    Love? Life? Or was it…
    Insanity?
    I am losing my mind. I must be, to think that I can love Jeremy Stonehart. The episode today is another glimpse of the poisoned waters of my