Into the Fog (Fisher's Bay 1) ✅

The Ocean's Secrets

The next morning, Nadia opened her eyes and stared at the opened door to her bedroom, a dull throb in her head. God, why wouldn't this hangover go away? Was she really getting so old that she was entering two-day hangover territory? Nadia thought she had a few years before that.

She had spent all of yesterday on the sofa after Chloe left, regretting all of her life's decisions. It was probably a good thing she felt so horrible she could barely move. At the very least, it kept her from calling Lara and telling her everything that was going on. Her best friend was sure to show up to either pack up her car and take her away or try to fix things.

And the last thing Nadia wanted was getting Lara into more shit that she didn't deserve.

God, her life was a mess right now. But that was nothing new. Nadia's life had always been a mess. Unfortunately, this time it was more of her own doing. Which only made her stomach churn even more.

Over and over again, all of her mistakes tumbled around in her head. Fucking up the story. Driving across the country at the drop of a hat. Everything that had happened in Fisher's Bay since she arrived. She really hadn't made the best impression on the town, even though she had only the one public bout of drunkenness. She was pretty sure in the big scheme of things, it wasn't really that bad, but right now she felt like it was the end of the world.

People didn't seem to like her even before, so Nadia could only imagine their impressions of her once word spread about her throwing herself at Remy.

Nadia had fallen into a fitful sleep last night, images from the night at the bar rolling through her mind. She remembered thinking that people were watching her. And drinking. The music and desire to dance taking over her. Pulling Chloe out onto the dance floor.

And then... nothing. Occasionally, she would get tiny glimpses of something, but Nadia couldn't tell if she was remembering something or if it was more of her heated dreams that her mind just loved to conjure up when Remy was involved.

It was like a dark fog had fallen over her and carried away all her memories from the rest of the night, leaving behind a pounding headache and bad taste in her mouth. Nadia never wanted to drink tequila again. And she was pretty sure she couldn't show her face in Marge's. Probably the town.

Chloe had assured her over and over again that she hadn't done anything that hadn't been done before in Marge's - that she had actually seen worse - but it hadn't done much to douse the flames of embarrassment.

And then there was the whole exchange with Remy in the kitchen. Well, everything with Remy. It was all so confusing that Nadia tried not to put too much thought into it, but it seemed the mayor refused to leave her head. It was even worse now that they had started over and he was actually acting nice.

God, as if the man couldn't get more attractive.

Nadia couldn't understand why she had this insane need to be around him - even now there was a part of her wishing he'd stop by to check on her. Or possibly going into Chloe's on the off chance he might be there. (Wait, would Chloe give her his number? Fuck, why did she need Remy's number?) Nadia had barely spent any time around him, but whenever they were in the same vicinity, it was like something else took over. Something she didn't understand, but at the same time knew wasn't as simple as having a crush.

Never had someone so thoroughly ingrained themselves in her mind. Even her dreams were beyond the usual fantasies. His eyes flashing gold. The instant desire. And what was with the voices in her head? Yea, they were dreams, but it was still unsettling.

More than that, sometimes, Nadia swore she felt like she needed Remy. Like... it was easier to breathe with him around. Even that wasn't quite the right way to describe it, but it was as close as she could get.