CHAPTER ONE I took a deep breath, then winced. I was trying to enjoy basking in the Miami sun, but I was still a little sore. It had been over a month now since I’d sustained my injuries. I was fit enough to work now, but I still got occasional reminders of what had happened to me when I moved or breathed just wrong. My phone chimed that I had a new text message, and I winced again. I needed to remember to keep it in the off position. It helped me to delay the inevitable. I reached down to the concrete below my pool lounge chair, gripped my phone, and held down the off button until it powered off. Just seconds later, I heard the Kings of Leon song that served as Stephan’s ringtone begin to play. He sighed heavily from his lounge chair beside me, then rose, heading into the hotel bar that was nearest the pool. If I hadn’t been sure my text was from James, I was now. It was his pattern lately. He would call Stephan after failing to get ahold of me. And for some odd reason, Stephan felt obliged to answer his calls. It had been the cause of an unusual new tension that had sprung up between us. A different figure loomed over me a moment later, casting a shadow as it hovered near the seat that Stephan