Kiss of Awakening Read online

CHAPTER TEN

  I lunged from the bed and scurried into the bathroom in search of a bar of soap. Quickly unwrapping the one beside the sink, I turned on the water and soaked my finger while rubbing the edges of the soap around. Lathering up my hands, I gripped the ring and tugged, praying it would slip off and stop all of this craziness. The damn thing didn’t budge.

  Spraying more cool water over my hand, and lathering on even more soap this time, I tried again. It was the same result though. The ring was fused to my finger. My muscles tensed as my heart raced in my chest. I had to get this ring off. Had to.

  Wiping my hands vigorously, I nearly jogged to my suitcase. Unzipping it, I dug through like a mad woman in search of my bottle of lotion. Bree woke during my rampage. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head as I squeezed way too much raspberry-scented lotion onto my fingers. Tugging at the ring with slippery fingers, I sighed in frustration.

  “I take it you didn’t sleep well,” Bree mumbled through a yawn.

  “No. I didn’t sleep at all.” My frustration from the moment was present in my words.

  Bree shifted to the edge of the bed, and stared at me. “What are you doing?”

  Gritting my teeth together, I forced myself to take in a deep breath before I spoke. “I’m trying to get this damn ring off, but it won’t budge,” I insisted.

  Slipping off the bed and onto the floor in front of me, Bree folded her legs. “Have you tried soap and water?”

  “That was the first thing I tried.” I tipped my head back and let out another loud breath of frustration. “Then I went for my lotion, but it’s not working either. Nothing works. This thing is fused to my fucking finger!”

  “Oh my God, chill. There has to be someplace around here we can pick up a bottle of baby oil. I bet that stuff would work.”

  “If it doesn’t, then I’m going to freak out.” My voice wavered when I spoke, clearing any doubt she might have been harboring regarding my level of seriousness or anxiety.

  “Is it too tight or something?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Of course it’s too tight. If it weren’t, then it would have come off on the first try.”

  “I meant, is it hurting you? If not, then you can wait until we get home and head to a jeweler to see if they can cut it off or something.”

  Cutting it off was probably what would have to happen.

  “No, it’s not hurting me,” I muttered.

  I needed to calm down. Freaking out wasn’t helping me. If it was the ring causing me to see those crazy shimmers—and at this point I was pretty damn sure that was exactly what was happening—then at least in a few days everything would be back to normal. A few more days. I could do that.

  “Here’s the bright side. It could have been butt ugly.” Bree reached up and freed her hair from the tie constricting it. After running her fingers through her blond mess of hair, she piled it back up on top of her head. “So, how are you feeling? Still want to go costume shopping?”

  “Better.” At least I would be, once I got this ring off. “Want me to send Delvin a text and see if he’s still up for taking us to that place he was talking about so we can get costumes?”

  Bree stretched her arms above her head. “Sure.”

  I snatched my phone off the table beside the bed and sent him a quick text.