Yearnings: A Paranormal Romance Box Set by Amber Scott, Carolyn McCray Page B

have Elijah, to actually feel his lips on hers, how could she become brave enough to take it? Remorse battled with disgust and in the end, she decided it was best to give up and try to sleep. And if he came again, damn it, she would respond. But she would not give in and paint him. Not tonight, not again, so help her. Because for the first time in her life, the mania she’d witnessed so often in her mother, murmured in her own veins.
     

 
     
     
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    Chapter Five
     
    The card aisle at the grocery store offered Sadie zero help. Get well soons, sympathies, puppies in grotesque costumes. None of them worked. She needed a gift of some sort. A thanks - for - having - me - for - dinner , but - please - stop - treating - me - like - an invalid gesture for Heather and Remy. Wine? No. Heather didn't drink and Remy did, but really, for the sake of mankind and stand-up comedians the world over, shouldn't.
    Cookies? Cake? Flowers. She pictured Heather gushing, smelling a bunch of wildflowers. It made her gag a little. She couldn't show up for dinner empty - handed , though. If she had less time, not to mention a healthier sibling relationship, this wouldn't be so flipping difficult. But she had over an hour to kill before she was expected. Sadie wandered through each aisle, ignoring the nagging sense she was being followed. She wasn't, in truth, being followed. She knew that. Still, she couldn't stop looking past her shoulder every so often.
    “ Still no one there, Sadie,” she said to herself.
    Paranoia. Not good. Paranoia came with crazy. Not that there wasn’t plenty to blame her sensitivity on. Last week’s crash into Elijah, worry over her appointment next week, scaling her own dosage down. A mental shift was completely understandable. Add in the last dream and voila. Feelings of being followed.
    She left the aisle, glancing over her shoulder. A mother and her toddler wheeled past.
    Jen wanted her to go dancing tonight. Sadie had claimed she couldn't go out with Jen after dinner at Heather’s. But when her cousin had asked why not, she hadn’t found a decent answer. Fatigue? As it was, she'd slept a handful of hours each night this week. Heavy sleep. No dreams. Dinner would be tiring. True or not, blaming being exhausted sounded lame.
    Really lame.
    Sadie found herself staring at rows upon rows of ice cream. What flavor would her sister like? What brand? The expensive celebrity stuff or plain ol' generic vanilla? Sadie groaned. “This shouldn’t be difficult, Sadie. You should know this. She’s your sister.” Used to be more like friends. Too much for Heather to handle back then, though. Mom's suicide. Then Sadie’s freak - out, the hospital. Shaking her head, she shoved her focus on the flavors, ignoring the prickle of awareness creeping up her neck.
    Maybe she'd break down and take an Ambien later. But if she took a pill, she was certain not to remember her dreams. After a week without dreaming of him and his not showing at the library today, she wanted to. Badly. Not good. Her craving for dreamland went beyond her crush on Elijah, too. The real likelihood that she’d never see him again didn’t help matters, but her longing went beyond that annoying fact. She felt an unreasonable anticipation growing within her. Like something important, something life - altering, was about to happen.
    “ Sadie,” a voice whispered behind her. She spun around, a shiver racing over her skin.
    An older gentleman eyed her warily, a shaky smile on his face. He certainly hadn’t said her name. That wary look said as much.
    The look sent ‘Sadie’s straightjacket’ list into mind. Paranoia, check. Trouble sleeping, headaches, check. Imagined voices, check. Delusions of grandeur a la secret messages in your dreams? Check. Sadie was one melting face hallucination away from graduating that list.
    The shiver was becoming a familiar sensation, too. She sighed, exasperated with herself and with her indecision. It was ice