CHAPTER 6 – THE DISAPPEARED

The silence between them was an abyss.

Evangelina trembled, her pulse out of control, her breathing erratic.

Her chest rose and fell intensely, raindrops sliding down her skin, soaking her shirt, clinging to her body like a second skin.

But he just watched her.

His eyes burned like liquid fire, his expression indecipherable, hypnotic, dangerous.

Then, he leaned in a little closer.

The air grew denser, hotter.

His breath on her skin.

He was smelling her.

Like a predator about to savor its prey.

Evangelina froze.

Her mind screamed at her to run, but her body wouldn’t obey.

The seconds stretched into eternity as his tongue grazed her cheek, slow, deliberate.

A gasp died in her throat, her skin erupting in goosebumps beneath the humid, burning contact.

Panic slammed into her.

And then…

A light flooded the car.

A sudden flash.

A shock of reality.

Evangelina blinked, her heart stopping for an instant.

—“Miss?” —a concerned male voice made her turn.

Outside, a man with a flashlight peered through the rain-streaked glass.

—“Are you alright? You’re stopped in the middle of the road…”

Evangelina searched for the reflection in the mirror.

He was gone.

She spun around, scanning the back seat.

Empty.

Nothing remained of him.

Not his voice.

Not his warmth.

As if he had never been there.

But her skin still burned where he had touched her.

And on her cheek, the trace of his tongue still scorched her.