The crying starts again. "No, Cooper. Just, no."

That voice. It's not Luna. Maybe it never was. It's Selene. It's Selene and I need to get to her. I run to the closest door and jiggle the handle trying to get it to open, but it's locked. I run to the next one and try that. Again it's locked.

"Talk to me Selene. Please."

"Goodbye, Cooper." Luna again. A tiny part of me is relieved. Luna's already set a nuke off in my life, a fucking bomb that maimed and destroyed the best parts of me. There isn't much more she can do, but Selene . . . I can only imagine she can finish the job Luna started and send me over the deep end. 

"Open the door!" I scream frustrated and scared shitless this isn't going to end well. "Open the fucking door!"

A scream pierces the air around me. It's shrill and I swear I think my ears are going to fucking bleed. I close my eyes and cover my ears until I feel the wetness on my feet. The room is silent. She stopped talking and crying. She isn't making a fucking sound. I look down to see why I'm suddenly standing in a puddle. A thick, deep red liquid has pooled around my feet. My stomach churns and I'm dry heaving. She did it. She fucking sliced her wrists open.

I follow the trail of blood hoping I can get to her in time. My hand is on the door knob I'm preparing myself to find her limp body on the other side. If I act fast there might be a smidgeon of hope that I can get her help. Everything will change if I can save her. If only I can turn the knob. Why won't my fucking hand move?

"Cooper." My name comes across in a whisper. An icy finger trails up my spine and slices through my skin, straight into my heart. Already I know it's not Luna lying on the ground. It's Selene.

"Selene!" I shout. "Hold on. I’m coming, baby."

My eyes open to the first light of morning. My body is shaking. Trembling. I'm covered in sweat. Holy shit that dream was real.

Too real.

Luna and Selene switching places in the same nightmare . . . A few more of those and the guys with the padded wagon and straight jacket will be dragging my ass out of here for sure. How the fuck did Luna turn into Selene?

"Are you okay?"

Selene is staring at me, those beautiful blue eyes are troubled and leery.

I don't say anything. I reach out and stroke her face to make sure she's real. To make sure I didn't already fuck up beyond repair.

"Cooper." She sits up and leans toward me.

Once I'm certain she's okay I clear my throat and find my voice. "I'm fine."

She reaches for my hand, kisses the palm, and then presses her palm to my forehead.

"You don't feel feverish."

"Just a bad dream. I'm not the best sleeper."

"Is it because I'm here?"

I know it is, but I'm not such a shit that I would actually tell her that. "Nah, just an end of the world nightmare." At least that part is true, even if it would only be the end of my world. "Nothing to do with you."

"Does it have anything to do with that tattoo?"

"What you don't like it?" I ask pretending I'm not completely freaked out that she made the connection.

"It's beautiful. It's just that it's so sad. I don't get why the moon is crying."

I look away for a moment. I've lied about it before. I don't know why the idea of lying to Selene is pulling so strong on my heart.

"The moon is crying because no matter what it does, the sun always rises. People turn away from the darkness and try to forget that it's there, regardless of the impact it has on our physical world. No matter how hard the moon may pull and stomp and make its presence known, for at least half a day, it's rendered useless."

Selene smirks. I can tell that she doesn't believe me. It's okay because that has to be the lamest fucking excuse I've ever come up with. On a high note, my heart finally slowed to its normal pace. Now I'm ready to get it going again, but in excitement, not in fear.

"Are you sure you're not really Kaycee Dugon?" She asks, her palm on the side of my face, her thumb stroking the shadow of stubble beneath it.

I reach my arm around her back, curl my hand around her waist and pull her closer to me on the bed. She complies easily.

"If I were to write, it wouldn't be the adventure/romance crap Kaycee writes."

"No?"

"Please. If I were going to write a book, it would be best-selling erotica."

"You think you're that good," she teases, her eyes challenging me. "That you could hold the attention of women from all around the world for the length of a whole book, from start to finish?"

"Think? No. I don't think it. I know it." With slow steady movements, my eyes never wavering, I pull her down on her back, climb on top of her, and pick up where we left off last night.

Chapter 10

"I owe you one," I say as Noah settles into the seat across from me.

It's good to have connections. That's all I'm saying. Because getting center ice seats three rows back for one of the most popular hockey teams in the tri-state area is near impossible without handing over thousands of dollars to scalpers. But when you can call the right people, not only can you make it happen, but it can happen without breaking the budget.

"How was the game?" Noah asks taking a swig of his beer as we wait for Troy to meet us at the restaurant in my building Thursday night.

"It was great. Went into double over-time."

"I know. I swear when you asked for those tickets I thought you wanted me to go with you."

"There, there. Are you jealous?" I lean over and tweak his cheek.

"Get off me you prick," he says swatting my hand away. "Since when does Cooper Sutton take a chick to a hockey game?"

"Since I found a chick that gets hot watching it. And the best part, I told her they turn the heat up really high for the spectators, so she wore a thin flimsy shirt with no sleeves."

I don't see how that matters."

I snicker. "She was shivering, and I came prepared with a blanket. I slung it around us which worked to my advantage in two ways. First, she cuddled up close to me. Second, it gave me cover to slip my hand down her pants."

"You're such a fucking pig."

"Oink. Oink."

I don't understand what drives me to be such a complete and total jerk. It isn't as if I don't realize how crass I am. I just can't help myself. I'm not sure if I just play the role the world wants me to play or if my brain just doesn't have a fucking filter.

"You know when you were getting busy last night she was fantasizing about fucking them, not you, right?"

"Actually if I had to put money on it, I'd say she was fantasizing about fucking Jackson Stone."

"Holy shit, Coop. You told her?" His eyes are bulging from his head, and his mouth has hit the ground. I laugh at the shocked look on his face. It's priceless.

"Long story."

"You really do have it bad for her, don't you?"

I want to be honest. At least as honest as I can be. Noah's my best friend, and he stood by my side through all kinds of shit. Especially though the Luna drama. He was my only friend through all that. My own fucking mother, along with our whole high school decided it was my fault. Noah never wavered though. He stood up for me. He doesn't know I overheard him in the boys locker room standing up to her ex and his drugged up posse, telling them if they didn't stop the rumors he'd see to it they were in the pen for a good, long time for pushing XTC. I owed Noah big for that one. He believed in me without ever knowing the truth. He never asked or demanded that I explain my role in what happened. And I was cool with that. He once told me he'd listen if I ever felt the need to talk, but I never took him up on it and he never pried.