Chapter Seventeen

Piper

I couldn't remember my dream, but whatever Draco had seen wasn't good. I just didn't understand his agitation. I'd done nothing wrong.

As the plane landed, he made it a point not to look at me, which was strange. By now, he had to know I was here because I wanted to help. Maybe our motives weren't the same, but we both had things we wanted to save, and that was enough for me.

Draco's hand squeezed the edge of the armrest as the plane slowed on the runway. He didn't appear to enjoy flying much. I guessed if I'd been locked in a basement my entire life, I wouldn't like the modern world much either.

"You'll get used to it." I rested my hand over his, trying to comfort him, but he recoiled and pulled his hand away.

The gesture stung. Why the sudden coldness? I'd stepped in and saved him. I'd proven I could be trusted, and let's not forget he could hear my thoughts anyway. I was an open book. Also, according to him, we had a connection. His sudden unfriendliness didn't fit, and the only thing that had happened since we'd gotten on the plane was that I'd taken a nap.

"Draco, listen to me. Apparently, we're doing this together—whatever this is. So you have to start telling me what's going on." I drew a breath. "What happened when I was asleep?"

"Nothing."

"You asked me to trust you, and that's what I'm doing. So…?"

"And I am still asking. It was nothing—nothing I wish to discuss."

Oh, no. He was not getting away with that. "Draco," I said sternly, "you're the one who thinks our paths crossed for a reason. So you either trust that feeling, or you don't. But if you do, then stop shutting me out. What happened?"

He looked down at his lap, stewing for a moment. "You were dreaming, and I saw you begging me for death."

Oh.

He continued, "And you were happily willing to accept degrading forms of sex and abuse in lieu of that."

He was worried about that? I felt relieved. "I would never ask for those things. It was just a nightmare—like any other."

I stared for a moment, but he didn't acknowledge my comment.

"You've had nightmares before, right?" I asked.

"Just the one I lived in for almost thirty years."

"Well, I guarantee you the bad dreams are always the most realistic and scary. One minute, you're being chased by knife-wielding squirrels, and the next you're drowning in acorns."

He gave me a look.

"There's no rationale behind any of it." Over the last few months, I'd repeatedly had dreams of paying a thousand dollars for fixtures and then discovering they were made of wax. They melted when I tried to use them. "Dreams are abstract versions of our fears. The brain plays them out so it can let off steam. It's healthy."

"I know what a dream is, Piper. I am an expert on them. But yours was different."

"How?" I asked.

He didn't reply.

"Okay, well, if I ever end up begging you to torture me, then, yes, please kill me. I'd rather be dead then someone's S and M plaything."

Draco looked uneasy.

"Relax. I am not serious. And that was just a dream."

He gave me a stern look. "Then why can't you remember?"

I blinked. "I don't know. Most people forget their dreams."

He turned his body, quietly losing his temper. "This was not a dream, Piper. It was a memory."

"Really? Then why am I not begging you to have sex with me? It wasn't real, Draco. Now tell me, what's our plan? What am I supposed to do while you meet your mother for the first time?"

His jaw clenched. "I'll let you know when I figure that out."

St. Thomas was gorgeous, filled with lush, rocky hills, dramatic cliffs, and all the turquoise water anyone could want. I had no clue how Draco's mother had ended up here, but I could guess why. The island was a breathtaking tropical paradise. Too bad we weren't here for fun.

It was too early in the morning to pop in on Draco's mother, especially because he didn't want to alarm her. He knew nothing about why she'd abandoned him or whom she lived with. Maybe she'd been lied to and told that isolating Draco was the only way to avoid his fate. Maybe she was afraid of him.

Whatever the case, Draco decided we'd check into a hotel and sleep for a few hours before heading over in the afternoon.

"We're staying here?" I asked. Draco had given an address to the cab driver, but I hadn't realized it was a massive resort with manicured tropical gardens and towering palms on either side of the driveway. From the cab, I could make out the three-story main area with white arches and gorgeous wrought-iron balconies. Behind that was a tower of rooms with views in every direction.

"I asked the flight attendant which hotel was the best on the island."

The cab pulled up to the entrance with a huge fountain in the circular driveway.

"It definitely looks fancy." More than I could ever afford on my salary.

We got out, and Draco paid the driver.

"Are you sure they'll have a room for us?" I asked.

"Yes." He went right up to the reception desk and asked the young woman to check us in to their best unoccupied suite.

Oh, yeah. I forgot.He could make people do whatever he wanted.

"Draco?" I tugged on his arm.

"Yes?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

He stepped away from the desk.

"I don't feel comfortable stealing a room," I whispered.

His eyes flickered with judgment. "The world might be ending, and you're worried about getting a free room."

I scratched the side of my head. "Sorry, but I wasn't raised that way." I still had heartache over the free airline flight. I'd let it go because of the situation, but only because of that. Getting to this island was important. Staying at a five-star resort wasn't.

"Fine," he said. "I will pay, but I am not filling out any forms. I do not have time for that."

"Thank you." It gave me a strange sort of comfort that he'd made the gesture. Honest men were generally good men in my opinion.

Draco pulled out a wad of cash and paid the woman a few thousand dollars for two nights. It had to be some room.

"Happy now?" he asked.

"Yes." I grinned with approval.

"Good, because I'm tired and need food." He looked at the woman behind the counter. "Please send up a bottle of your best Bordeaux, a charcuterie board, and a cheese plate. Extra bread." He slapped down a few hundred more.

"Yes, sir. Right away," she replied.

I narrowed my eyes. He'd just repeated the order I'd given to the waiter at the French café where I first saw him. "So you do remember me."

"I followed you there. Had to see what I was dealing with first."

We walked up to the elevator. "And what was your takeaway?"

"I thought you looked…sad."

The doors chimed and slid open. I stepped inside, and he followed.

"Probably because I was," I said. "Leo and I had a huge fight."

"And I did not like it."

The doors closed, and I faced him. "You didn't even know me."

"Yet I threw all precautions out the window and showed up on your doorstep anyway." He pressed the button for the top floor.

"You came to check on me?" And now that I was thinking about it, if he could read my thoughts, then he'd heard me thinking about my Craigslist post. That was how he knew about my room for rent.

"I came to hurt whoever had done that to you," Draco said coldly.

He'd gone to my house to fuck up Leo? I'd been dreaming of punching that bastard in the face, but fantasizing wasn't planning. "Tell me you're not serious."

"I said I wouldn't lie to you, Piper."

"But…"

"Do not say again that I ‘did not know you.' Our connection is real. Even if I cannot explain it."

I took a moment to let that sink in. "What changed your mind about hurting Leo?" Because Draco hadn't kicked the shit out of my ex. He'd gotten his key and left.

"I could tell you cared for him."

"And?" I asked.

"It was more important to get closer to you. I assumed beating your cheating fiancé into a pulp would not help."

"Cheating?" My blood pressured dropped, and my mouth fell open.

Draco's back went rigid. "Never mind. It's not my place."

"No." I grabbed his arm, forcing him to face me. "What do you mean cheating?"

Draco stared with those pale, tell-nothing eyes but didn't talk.

"You said I should trust you. You said no secrets."

"Fine." He inhaled slowly. "Leo was fucking his client's wife. I think he planned to leave you as soon as the house was done so it could be sold for top dollar. But then he got caught by his boss, who fired him. He didn't want you to find out."

I gasped and covered my mouth.

Draco's eyes softened with pity. "I am sorry, Piper. But I heard it from him. His head, anyway."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I barked.

"It is none of my business."

"You broke your promise to tell me everything." I'm so done with you. Maybe my anger was misdirected, but I needed someone to be mad at, and who better than the fucking anti-Christ?

"Do not call me that." Draco's eyes narrowed.

"I didn't call you anything. I thought the truth," I snapped. "And stay the fuck out of my head!"

The doors chimed and slid open.

"I will do more than that." Draco stepped out and walked calmly away.