A Flame Divine ♕

II. S C O R C H E D M E M O R Y

e v e r l y

C L E A R F I E L D ,  P A

Everly's eyes snapped open as the Corvette hit a bump on the interstate. For a moment, she didn't know where she was or who she was with, but when she took a breath, the comforting smell of the jacket she was snuggled into assaulted her nose–teakwood and amber–she remembered. She glanced over at Stellan, whose focus was on the road. She turned her eyes away and closed them again, running through the last several hours in her head. Who knew that being kidnapped would turn out to be what she needed to feel free? She knew Stellan was going to drop her off somewhere and she'd be on her own, but maybe that's what she needed. He had almost drawn everything out of her, the whole story about her father, but she'd stopped herself before she said too much. She didn't know what it was about Stellan Hailström that made him so easy to talk to, but part of it was his eyes. They were warm, even when she could tell he was trying to hold back. She shifted in the seat and looked at him again. This time, he glanced at her with a small smile on his face.

"Where are we?" she asked, stretching her arms over her head and yawning.

"We're passing Clearfield, Pennsylvania," he replied. His smile turned stale. "Do you realize you talk in your sleep?"

Everly's heart dropped. She hoped she hadn't said anything weird, but from the look on his face, she knew it couldn't be good.

She flushed deeply and put her hand over her face. "Yeah... I've not slept near anyone else in a long time." She peered at him from between her fingers. "What did I say?" she asked in horror.

Stellan's eyes were focused on the road, yet she could sense the discomfort behind them.

After a beat, he replied. "You mumbled something about the dark. That you were stuck in the dark. And that it had been days."

She closed her eyes and bit her lip, turning her face away from his. When she glanced at him again, something in his face beckoned her to tell him. "Remember when I told you my dad used to lock me in my room?" He nodded, and she continued. "Well, what I didn't tell you is that on those nights, he'd also shut off all the power to my room and my bathroom. I'd have no lights, no phone, no TV, no hot water... I'd have to take cold showers, and on winter nights with no heat..." She shivered at the memory. "This happened at least once a week," she murmured, brushing her hair out of her face and catching another whiff of the delicious scent of his jacket.

"Are you fucking kidding?" she heard him say under his breath. She imagined Stellan's eyes bugging out of his head, pulling over, and telling her to get out. But he didn't.

He just kept driving west.

Everly chanced a look over at him. One large hand had the steering wheel in a tight grip, the whites of his knuckles showing. His other hand had passed through his hair, tousling it as if he were on a magazine cover.

When he glanced over at her, just for a second, she saw a mixture of emotion in his eyes.

"Why the fuck would he do that to you?" he murmured.

She shook her head. "He didn't have a good reason," she whispered. "He was just an asshole." She swallowed and met his eyes as he glanced at her. "You guys wouldn't have gotten the ransom money anyway, just so you know. He would rather give me up than spend a dime of his precious money. He never cared about me. Not even when my mom was here. He was a decent actor, but as soon as she died, he showed me just how much I was worth to him. And I guarantee you it's not a million dollars. Or even 50k," she finished.

"That shit ain't right, Everly," Stellan sighed, clearly bothered.

She flushed when he used her name. The way it sounded on his lips, she wanted to hear it again. She saw it in her mind, the way his teeth grabbed his lip on the "v" of her name, the peek of his tongue on the last syllable. It felt intimate, as if they had known each other longer than a mere five hours.