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-&-

Chapter 1

       Soft strong fingers brushed across my hand and traced slow circles up my arm. Warm breath teased across my skin, causing goosebumps to follow in its wake. Heat wrapped around me. Soft gentle heat that seemed to cocoon my entire being. It was as protective as it was carnal, and promised a world of pure, serene, pleasure.

       There was something else though, something dark lurking beneath that strong, numbing haze those touches always sent my mind to.

       "Come to me..."

       That voice called endearingly—commandingly. There was no hesitation in the darkness as it wrapped tightly around my body and turned my mind to mush. Those soft fingertips brushed along my bare shoulders, tracing my collar bone before dipping lower. Heat flamed in my veins, running deeply through my being, and making me crave things that no dream ever should.

       "Need... you..."

       "Lark."

       The sharp sting of my name pierced through my skull like a knife, and weakened that embrace. The warmth slowly grew cold until it was no longer enticing against my skin, but an icy glacier creeping through my chest. I wanted to cry out as those tender touches disappeared.

       "Larkin!"

       I shot away from the window gasping for air. My head was pounding like millions of tiny hammers were nailing away at my skull. Waking from one of those dreams was always the same. Like drowning when you can't get to the surface in time to breathe.

       "Are you okay?" Raffie was staring from the front seat of our 2005 Chevy SUV. Her dark, blue, doe eyes were wide as saucers.

       Why the hell did we let a nine-year-old sit in the front anyway?

       I sucked in a deep breath and leaned back against the old comforting leather of the vehicle's interior. I held my thumb up and rubbed the other against the pain in my chest. "Just peachy, Raf."

       She blinked again, her tiny hands clutching the arm rest as that worried frown caused guilt to weigh heavily on my shoulders. "You were having another nightmare."

       "Not really." I grumbled more to myself than her as I felt those identical eyes of her brother's pierce the side of my face through the rearview mirror. Adriel Marko was the most observant, concerned, pig-headed man I have ever met, and he never let shit go.

       "You sure you're good, Lark? We can stop for a break if you want." His words were concerned enough, but I knew that look in his eyes was far pass meager worry. It was calculating, like it always was whenever he thought something was sketchy. That man was many things and oblivious was definitely not one of them.

       "No, no. I'm good, Dri." The nickname did little to turn that dagger gaze away, but it did take that scolding frown from his lips. Not that he had any reason to scold me. I couldn't control dreams.

       "Good. We're almost there anyway."

       Almost there. Great.

       I kept my disgruntled thoughts to myself as I gazed at the barren landscape. There were some trees scattered here or there with a lone house in the distance, but the area was mainly grassy hills as far as the eye could see.

       I hated it.

       "Explain to me why you're dragging us here again?" I grumbled and kicked my feet out until I could rest them against the other window. My head was still a little foggy and all warmth seemed to have left my body, and yet all I wanted to do was fall right back into that dream. I had some serious urges that needed to chill.

       "I don't understand why you're still complaining." Adriel sighed with a shake of his head rather handsome head. "You applied to this school anyways."

       "Because you told me to."

       "I did not."

       I scoffed and shot him a bewildered look as those sneaky lips of his tried to hide a smirk. "You said, and I quote, 'You better apply to Deshua University, Lark, cause we're moving there'. And I said," I cleared my throat for dramatic effect, "'What if I don't want to go to that piss poor school?' and you said 'don't care, it's happening'. So, I applied and here we are."

       He didn't try to hide his chuckle, and let me tell you a laughing Adriel was not common. "That does sound like something I would say."

       "Because you did say it."

       He rolled those bright blue eyes, his grip casual though it never left the steering wheel. "Our great aunt passed away and left us her house. I got a job here, there's a good school system, and it's cheaper than California. Simple as that."

       "Simple as that." I mocked with a sardonic laugh. Yeah right. It's not like they were lacking for money. The Markos family was loaded, and their parents left them a shit ton that Adriel controlled. Not that I was legally allowed to any of it, but he still provided for me.

       I had been in foster care for as long as I could remember, always bouncing from one home to the next. Until the Markos came into the picture. I was sixteen when they put me with their family, and lucky enough to stay there until my eighteenth birthday. They had been the nicest people I had ever been with, and I had been with a lot. In a lot of crummy places too. The Markos' paid for my extracurriculars in high school, my senior class trip, they even put money away for me for college.

       They were the closest thing I had to a family in my entire life, and when I turned eighteen, I tried to run away. Run as far and as hard as I could, but Adriel wouldn't let me. Even though I got his parents killed.

       "Are you excited for college?!" Raf asked for the thousandth time since I got accepted into that stupid university, and I tried not to let her see my eyes roll.

       "Just beyond elated." I didn't bother hiding the sarcasm. I knew she wouldn't get it, and even though I was one-hundred percent sure her brother did, he didn't say anything. I didn't give one rat's ass about college, besides the fact that their parents had wanted me to go.

       I was perfectly fine finding some mediocre job and living my life as best I could until I died. But then Dri decided he was not about that, and no matter how many times I told him to shove what he wanted up his ass, I ended up applying anyway.

       "Why don't you major in art? You like that stuff."

       I give the intrusive male a small shrug and went back to staring out the window.

       He sighed. "You're not going to hate it as much as you think, Larkin. I loved college." Adriel tried to encourage though the sneaky glint in his eyes did little to make me feel better.

       "You never left your room when you were in college. You isolated loner." I grumbled at the annoying man.

       "Some things are more important than partying."

       "Like being a normal, sociable person?"

       The smile he shot me through the rearview mirror was almost wicked. "Exactly."

       I closed my eyes against the stare in his and tried to ease the quickly brewing headache away. Conversing with the arrogant male was pointless. It usually always turned into an argument, ones he had a serious knack for winning. It made me beyond irritated.

       "Don't fall back asleep we're almost there."

       "Bite me."

       The brakes on the car suddenly engaged and jerked the whole SUV in one hard motion. "Ah!" I screeched and toppled over onto the floor. Raf's elated giggles only made the sudden fury pounding behind my head worse. I snapped my gaze over to the siblings, who were staring at the road like nothing had happened—except I noticed Adriel slip his arm away from the protective shield it held in front of his sister.

       "Brake-checking is for ass holes." I spat at the twenty-two-year-old as I climbed clumsily back onto the seat.

       "No idea what you're talking about."

       "Whatever." I kept my eyes glued out the window after that, silently fuming. He could be such a fucking dick sometimes.

       I didn't want to start an argument though, not in front of Raffie at least. She didn't need to see fighting, no matter how much I enjoyed trying to annoy the living daylights out of the man. I would never admit this out loud, but I found him way more than a little attractive. He had dark, nearly black hair that was cropped short at the sides and slightly longer on top. Deep ocean blue eyes shown in stark contrast against toned tan skin, and he stood a good seven inches taller than myself.

       It wasn't only his appearance either that drew me in like a moth to flame. Adriel was strong, smart, confident, and he actually cared. Even after what I did to his family. But when I started to irritate him or make him mad, those blue eyes would blaze with fire, and the muscles in his arms would ripple with tension. It was one of the sexiest sights I had ever seen, and I had no shame in admitting I tried to pull that out of him as much as possible.

       I crossed my arms grumpily over my chest and watched the rolling hills give way to large houses. Then, like someone literally decided to just drop a bunch of buildings in the middle of freaking nowhere, we were suddenly driving through a medium sized town.

       "This place is—"

       "So cool!" Raffie cheered from the front, her wide blue eyes gazing adoringly at all the buildings.

       "I was going to say old." I grumbled under my breath but didn't bother trying to kill her mood.

       If I wasn't being such a brat about the situation, I could have probably seen the beauty in the town. Each building we passed seemed to be carved from ancient stone and brick with vines covering more than a few of them. The streets even turned to pristine cobblestone the further we drove.

       School hadn't started yet and I watched as teenagers and college-aged kids cluster in and out of the many shops surrounding the area. I was too proud to admit that I was excited about exploring those stores and that little ice cream place we passed on a corner. Adriel would take way too much pleasure in it.

       I had to force down a surprised gasp when we finally reached the center of town. Sitting smack dab in the middle of Deshua was a large beautiful cathedral. It appeared to be made of solid white marble. Each step leading to its grand entrance was smooth and glistened in the morning sun. Strong pillars held a massive archway over the crowd. It reminded me of one of those churches in Europe left over by ancient Romans.

       "Whoa... I didn't even know there were churches like that in America."

       Adriel glanced briefly over at the large building before that dark blue gaze flickered back to the road. "Yeah, there's a few. Usually in large cities like Boston and New York. I'm not too surprised to find one here though." I rolled my eyes. Nothing could ever really surprise Dri. Besides, his degree was in architecture and he was probably used to seeing those kinds of buildings all the time.

       Each building seemed to have been built purposely around the cathedral in an encompassing circle—like beautiful little ornaments. Though I wouldn't call many of those houses little. They all looked like old manors, or the houses you see on TV dramas. "You guys inherited one of these?" I asked incredulously as we passed one house that had large, iron gates with gargoyles resting on top.

       "Yes, though ours is nowhere near as big as these."

       I was relieved by that. Living in a huge mansion would have been cool and all, but we didn't really need all that space. I don't even think they owned enough stuff to fill a house that big. Besides, Adriel was all about 'bonding', especially after the accident. He probably would have only let us use like five rooms out of a house that big, leaving the rest abandoned.

       Like an invisible magnet was pulling my gaze back to the church, I turned away from the mansions to gaze admiringly at the marble. There was a large cemetery stretching lengths behind the cathedral, and it took up most of the town square. "What a weird place to put a cemetery." I mumbled under my breath as my eyes scanned the many gravestones. Though, I guess it was behind a church.

       I glanced to the side and found what looked like a large construction site in the middle of what must have once been a park. A bunch of benches, slabs of cement that was apparently a sidewalk, and playground equipment were pushed far off to the side. Like they couldn't bother taking the time to remove them properly. A large lake sat untouched a few yards away from the upturned dirt and construction equipment.

       "What do you think they're building?" I asked as we drove carefully by a bunch of teenagers eating ice cream and laughing in little clique clusters.

       Adriel glanced briefly towards the park. "I'm not sure, but it looks like they're digging, not building." He shrugged like he wasn't all too concerned with the completely overturned area. "They might be trying to fix a busted pipe or something. But Avid is the construction agency that signed me, so I'm sure I'll find out soon." He nodded towards the large, bold name pressed into the crane and dirt removal machine-thingy.

       "Are you going to be working with them?" I gestured to the guys, and a few women, wearing hard hats and protective gear that were climbing over large piles of dirt and rock.

       "Probably." He sounded nonchalant as he turned the blinker on before driving us down a side street. The park, cemetery and church disappeared from view. I tried to shove aside the unease that had built in my stomach. It was ridiculous to worry about him doing his job. He knew what he was doing, and he always played everything by the book. He would be careful.

-&-

Oof, I'm so excited. 

For clarification: Larkin was never adopted by the Markos. They were her foster family from ages 16-18. She is in no way blood related to either of them, and while she does view them as her family, she does NOT view Adriel as her brother.