The Purgatorium

Chapter Six

As Daphne held the knife to her skin, she heard a commotion in her room, and then Cam was at the bathroom door, knocking.

"Daph? I need to pee! Let me in!"

Really?

As she stood up and hid the knife in a drawer, she became aware of how fast her heart was beating and of how badly her hands were trembling, which was weird, because she had thought she was so calm.

"I'm going to piss on myself if you don't open this door!"

"Okay, okay!" She opened it and flew by him, heading straight for the bed. She didn't want him to see the state she was in, especially with the bedside lamp flooding the room with light.

That's when she noticed the front door was open.

"Cam?"

"Yeah?" he said through the bathroom door, which he'd left ajar.

She stepped backwards toward him, keeping her eyes on the open front door. "Why is the door open?"

She heard the toilet flush.

"Huh?" He stepped into the room. "Oh, I thought I was going to have to take a whiz outside." He closed the front door and locked it. "Sorry. Desperate times, and all that, you know..."

She narrowed her eyes again.

"Look at you!" he said. "You look like a ghost!"

"You keep saying that." She climbed into bed, avoiding his eyes, and turned off the lamp.

He crawled in next to her. "Come here, Daph. I promise I won't do anything but hold you."

His body heat both calmed and excited her as she laid her head on his chest and curled her body up against his. One of his arms was beneath her neck, his hand caressing her arm. He reached over and cupped his other hand to the back of her head in a way that was so comforting that tears formed in her eyes. She closed them and sighed, having been on the verge of hyperventilating, but his hands moving through her hair helped her to slow down her breathing and get a grip.

"Cam I..." she didn't know what she wanted to say.

He stroked her hair and whispered, "SShh, it's okay."

She felt herself melting, her muscles relaxing, the beat of his heart syncing with the beat of hers.

"I'm glad you came to this island with me," he said softly. "It's supposed to be fun. I'm sorry it hasn't been."

But she was having fun some of the time—more fun than she'd had in years. "I'm glad I came, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's a beautiful place, and fun, too."

"But?"

She shrugged.

"Daph, don't you know what a beautiful girl you are? What a sweet, smart person you are?"

Why was he telling her this? Did he have some clue as to what she had tried to do just before he came to the bathroom door? If so, how? Was she giving off some kind of vibe?

"Don't you know how much your parents and Joey love you, and how much I care about you?"

She stiffened, not sure what to say, but mortified by the thought that he somehow knew. Why else would he say these things? "Quit getting all mushy. If you're trying to seduce me, it's not working."

He laughed and pulled her close against him. "Oh, Daph."

She kept her head on his chest, catching with one hand the tears that poured from her eyes.