Chapter 40: Rose
“I need to leave now.”
I realized that inviting him onto the island had been nothing more than an excuse to delay this moment.
Gulping back the lump in my throat, I nodded. I looped my arm through his and we walked out of the music room, through the corridors and out of the penthouse. Neither of us spoke a word as we took the elevator down to the ground and made our way back along the forest path toward the Port.
Throughout The Shade’s history, the Port always had been a place of goodbyes. But I had never hated the place as much as I did now.
I walked with him until he stopped at the edge of the jetty.
His breathing mirrored my own as he looked down into my eyes one last time. Heavy. Constricted.
“I’d rather not drag this out any longer,” he said, his voice husky as he detached my arm from his.
I nodded, biting my lip to prevent it from trembling.
“Goodbye,” he said.
“Goodbye.”
He turned and motioned to climb back through the hatch.
“Caleb,” I stammered just before he lifted himself off the ground.
He turned to look back down at me, frowning.
“What?”
“If there’s ever a way you can free yourself from that island… Please, come back here.”
He froze at my words, his chocolate-brown eyes locked on mine. Then something sparked in them that I had never witnessed in such intensity. Passion. Desire. Fire. Before I could even realize what was happening, he’d leapt back down and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close against him. Gripping the base of my neck with his other hand, he forced his lips against mine.
The strength of his hunger for me overpowered my ability to return it in kind. I closed my eyes and reached my hands into his hair, gripping it and pulling myself closer against his body. Breathing in his scent, I relished every second that his tongue brushed against mine.
And then just as abruptly, it was over.
Still breathing heavily, he pulled away.
“I don’t belong in your world, Rose.”
He lifted himself up against the vessel and a few seconds later, he was gone.
When the hatch clicked shut, I could no longer hold back the tears. The ache in my chest consumed me.
Damn this cruel port and its tradition of first-and-last kisses.
As the submarine disappeared beneath the waves, it felt like a piece of me was drowning with it.