She gazed upward at the pink sunrise. Before she could finish her silent prayer, it was answered with a jolt.
“SURPRISE!”
In front of her were tables of food, champagne, balloons, streamers, congrats posters, servers in tuxedos and flip flops, high-class silver and glassware, everything. It was a celebration.
Standing in the clearing were Skye and Ashton. Their smiles were worried. Skye’s throat was not cut. They were wearing their normal clean clothes—shorts and tanks. Glasses of bubbling champagne rested in their grasps.
Erin dropped to her knees and Stefan helped her up carefully. He whispered, “You’re okay. You’ll be okay.”
Skye ran up and gave her a big bear, hug squeezing her tight. “Skye.” Her tears wiped on the side of Skye’s face, and she could feel her strong heartbeat in sync with her own as they embraced.
“It was all a show, babe. You were the star.” Skye tried to pull away, but Erin pulled her back in and held on. “I won’t die?”
“Not today.”
Erin shuddered. “You’re alive.”
Trevor sat in the sand next to Erin as she literally cried on his shoulder. Ashton popped a squat next to him in the sand. “We heard about most of it. Saw some when we could. You okay?”
“Am I okay…” Jaw flexing, he looked to his right at Erin’s red nose. “I’m fine,” he said quietly. Bruce disappeared in the background without speaking to anyone—no remorse, no explanation, no apologies, only a job completed. Stefan was quiet. He didn’t appear overly happy with himself. If anything, he was sympathetic.
Sebastian approached slowly with his hands up. “I’m actually a doctor, guys. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to take a look at both of you. Erin, you first. She hesitated at first but then extended her hand, and he helped her over to a chair. His checkup was all a blur as she zoned out on the spinach dip on the table next to a glass of champagne. The dip had a layer of cheese on top that was crusted around the edges of the stone bowl. She reached out and touched it. She brought her finger to her lips to feel the warmth.
“Erin,” Sebastian said loudly. She realized that she had been gone, and he had been trying to get her attention. She looked at her right wrist to find some bruising from her fight with Bruce. She had attacked him with a real knife. Sebastian followed her eyes to her wrist. “Okay, I see the problem. Does it hurt? Scale from one to ten.”
“My hand won’t stop shaking,” she cried out, confused. Her whole body started shaking again as she fought tears that crept out. “Erin, you are safe. Everything you have experienced is not real. You are in a completely safe place and we are here to look after you. Anything you need.”
She looked up at him. “I can go home?”
“Yes, of course Erin. You are going home.” Sebastian signaled two paramedics that had approached and were waiting on the sidelines with a stretcher. They brought it over and leveled it off in the sand. They placed a foam material on top. “Would you like to lie down, Erin? Would that be okay?”
“What?”
He enunciated slower this time. “Can you lie down over here for me? I’ll help you; just take my arm.”
She took it. Nothing made sense. It was getting ridiculous and frustrating. He laid her down and told her to relax while he checked her pulse and flashed a bright light into her eyes. It was better than darkness, she thought. Light was good. The pink sky was fading and the sun was peaking. Someone is holding my hand. She looked over to find Trevor. He smiled. This was kind Trevor. The one she wanted to love.
Sebastian spoke softly. “Erin, you’re experiencing a bit of shock, but it’s perfectly normal, and we are all here for you. That’s a fine man you’ve got there. He’ll take it from here. You’re as healthy as a horse, or a very small pony.”
“Should I sit up?” Erin asked.
“Would you like to?”
Trevor helped her up and guided her back to the chair and the spinach dip. There was also caviar. Oh, and oysters. She felt a big heavy kiss on the side of her face and her world started spinning again. It all hit home. Her garden. She would go home to her garden.
Trevor’s embrace left and she turned to watch him walk up to Stefan. What will he say? There wasn’t anything to say. Instead, Trevor punched him, sending him crashing to the ground. His fist had extended through his face and then remained outward as an offering to help him up. He groaned from the powerful blow, stared up, and then laughed. “You hit pretty good for a lawyer.”
Stefan appeared ready to speak, but after locking eyes with Erin, he chose otherwise. “What is everyone waiting for? Grab a glass of champagne; Erin, maybe some water for you first. And eat up. We got every appetizer under the sun. Need to load up on calories for our surf today.”
The sight of food made her stomach turn, or maybe it was turning because she was that hungry.
It took a while, but eventually the evening/morning was filled with laughter, champagne, scotch, and expensive hors d’oeuvres. Erin should have had resentment toward Stefan, she wanted to, but with Trevor’s hand on hers, she only felt gratitude for living. The spinach dip was great. The sunrise was great. Life would be great.
There was still so much to be explained, so much they didn’t understand, but the feeling they were left with now sent chills down Erin’s spine.
The group was quiet for a while. The bottles began to empty and the food disappeared, and fatigue started to set in. Skye and Ashton both looked happy, but they were not showing their usual public displays of affection. Skye swirled her scotch around, admiring the glass. She looked exhausted, her face a shade paler than her body.
“So wait… were you in on this the whole time, Skye?”
“No! Shit girl, I was tripping out as much as you were. Sebastian found me when we were looking for Ashton. He slipped me a nice little cocktail of drugs and I woke up in one of those scary-ass rooms.” She turned to Sebastian, who still had his stethoscope around his neck. “I want the recipe of what you gave me.” She winked and laughed. “So the assholes leave me in there to suffer for what felt like an eternity. They claim it was only a couple hours, but I beg to differ! Then they filled me in on everything, prepped me for my dead girl role. The rest is horrifying history. Nothing like watching your friends shit themselves over and over again. I’m sorry. But Stefan is one convincing SOB.”
“And you?” Erin asked Ashton.
“Same thing. I was just along for the ride. Until little man here insulted me to the max and Bruce knocked me out with a butt end.”
“Jesus.”
Jhett almost lifted out of his chair he was so antsy. “I told Bruce! He messed that all up. I was supposed to take you on a journey in the woods, but he ruined it. We had some special effects planned for you.” He sat back in his chair, deflated.
“That’s okay. You’ll get the next poor bastard. You did good. Real good, man.”
Erin could feel Stefan’s gaze rested on her, but she chose to admire Skye’s beauty instead, sipping her champagne. She extended her glass and Skye tapped her lightly while leaning in close. “Should we swap partners tonight?”
Erin was too tired to be offended or anything at all. Skye’s playfulness faded. “Terrible joke. I’m really sorry, Erin. I know what they made you think. I’d never. I know how I am. I’d never go through with it.”
“I know.”
Skye’s classic sexy smile brightened again. “Unless you want to?” she teased. Her cackling laugh followed.
Erin laughed softly and shook her head.
“What’s so funny?” asked Trevor.