Page 105 of Cruel Proposal
The one in Washington State.
I glance around, and it's then that I see the ghost. I could almost believe the Noah standing in front of me was real if not for the fact that he's supposed to be dead.
Turning, I look back at the lake in front of me—the one in front of my dream house—knowing that when I wake up, I'm going to be just as broken as I was when I went to sleep.
"I thought you'd be a little more excited that I'm alive." Noah's fingers brush against my wrists, untying the binds.
As my hands are freed, I glance at him again. "You're dead. This is just a dream, and in the morning, I'm going to wake up, and you're still going to be dead because you got your stupid ass killed after everything I did to make sure that didn't happen. And to be honest, I hate you for it."
He steps in front of me, his smile warm. "I'm not dead. Well, to the rest of the world, I am, but Jackson Ross is alive and well."
I scoff, shaking my head, still not believing it. "Prove you're not dead."
I need him to do it. If this isn't just all in my head, I need to know without a doubt that he's real and standing here in front of me.
If this is all just a dream, it's going to break me.
There's no coming back from losing the person you know is the love of your life.
Chapter Thirty
NOAH
Aiden didn't tellher I'm not dead.
Fucking bastard.
I don't know how the hell I'm going to convince Summer that I'm alive and standing right here in front of her. That I only pretended to die to be with her.
That I think she is the love of my life, and I'm willing to give up everything for her.
The bastard set me up to make this as difficult as possible, and kidnapping her certainly isn't going to help matters. If anything, it's only going to convince her more that this is just something her mind made up to cope with the grief.
I want to reach for her, but I think I need to get out everything I have to say. "Summer, look, I'm not dead, and I don't know how to prove that to you, but I'm standing in front of you, and I need you to realize that."
She shakes her head, a kind of dazed look in her eyes. "I saw your dead body. I saw the picture. You were shot in the chest."
I reach for the buttons of my shirt, slowly working them open before holding it wide.
She steps closer to me, her eyes narrowing, searching for a mark I know she's not going to find.
"I thought if I was going to have nightmares about you, you'd be bloody." Summer reaches out, running her fingers over my chest, her touch barely more than a whisper on my skin. "Are people in dreams supposed to feel warm?"
"Knew I shouldn't have sedated you, but I wanted to surprise you and, well, fuck."
Her eyes narrow, a pink flush in her cheeks as the anger boils to the surface. "You sedated me?"
"Yeah, well, Aiden was supposed to tell you I was still alive."
"He sent a message to what I can only assume are all his contacts with a picture of you dead." Summer rolls her bottom lip into her mouth before blowing out a deep breath. "I don't believe this. I don't know what the hell is going on, but this can't be real."
I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes when she tries to look away. "I faked my death with your brother's help. It was part of our deal. He was going to let me live and try to win you over, and all I had to do was pretend to die so he could save face with everyone. Please, Summer, you have to listen to me. I need you to believe me because I don't know what else to do to prove to you that I'm alive."
"Tell me something I don't know. Something I'd never even think of you saying to me." She's pleading, begging for any reason to think I'm alive.
Her eyes are glassy, and there's a slight quiver to her bottom lip.
My thumbs drift beneath her eyes, catching her tears. "I love you, and I bought this house for us."
