‘What happened?’
‘We realised we were better friends than anything else. Even then, it felt like something else was pulling me.’ He shifted against me. ‘I … When we first met, I knew I cared about you more than I’d ever cared about anyone. I just wanted to make you strong and keep you safe. All of my focus went into that – not into picking up girls. I don’t know exactly when I realised my feelings had become more but it was around the time that we started to hang out away from training, when we just got to be ourselves around each other. From there I was lost.’
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, trying to bottom-line what he was saying. ‘So …’
His tone held a smile. ‘So,’ he mimicked.
‘So, you haven’t been with anyone since …?’
‘Since you came into my life.’
Any way you put it – that is damn impressive.
Guilt washed over me. I wished I could say the same thing.
I looked around his room properly for the first time since arriving. ‘Do you realise your room is three times bigger than any of the other ones I saw on my way here?’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s Josephine’s way of apologising for unleashing Seth.’
‘Max said no one has ever landed a hit on Seth before and lived,’ I said.
‘They have now.’
I smiled. ‘That’s what I said.’
‘Did Drenson get anything from you?’
‘Not much.’
‘That’s going to piss them off.’
‘Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual.’
We lay in silence for a few minutes. I realised we were both lying there shirtless and I didn’t even feel self-conscious. That alone spoke volumes. But if someone walked in it wouldn’t be good.
‘I should go,’ I said. ‘Griffin will be waiting to hear how you are.’
But he didn’t let me go.
‘Griffin will be fine for an hour. Rest,’ he ordered, and, there in his arms, with his heart beating strong and healthy against my ear, I couldn’t think of anything I would rather do.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.’
Oscar Wilde
I was in Hades. I couldn’t hear the music, but I could feel it vibrating up from the dance floor and into my body.
I spun. Phoenix was behind me. He looked … older. No, grave. And somehow more beautiful for it. He wore black pants and a midnight-blue fitted shirt. He rolled up his right sleeve to match his left. Such a simple action and yet it commanded my full attention. As if each roll of his sleeve signified something greater and the weight of his cast-away gaze meant so much more. And yet, there was also the danger. The ever-present danger that lurked in the shadows and followed him.
‘What do you want, Phoenix?’ I asked, crossing my arms.
He tilted his head, glancing up at me, and began to speak. But I couldn’t hear him.
I noticed then that there was something between us that looked like a wall of liquid. It went all the way around me. I didn’t know if it was trapping me, or keeping him out. I also didn’t know whose it was – mine, his or someone else’s.
He realised what was happening and studied what was separating us. He sighed. There were circles under his eyes and I felt an unbidden pang of concern for him, but that was enough to pull me back to my senses. I shook my head, remembering my run-in with Onyx.
I needed to stay in control.
Phoenix’s hand reached up to press against the veil of liquid and his brow furrowed, lost for what to do next.
I squared my shoulders. ‘Leave, Phoenix,’ I said.
He nodded sadly. He could obviously hear me.
I started to back away from him and from the dream. The vision began to unravel.
‘Don’t go!’ he said clearly so I could read his lips.
I couldn’t let him get into my mind. Couldn’t let him manipulate me the way he always did.
I willed the dream away.
When I woke up, Lincoln was already dressed. He’d obviously been out and retrieved his things. He’d covered me with a blanket – all the way to my neck – and was sitting on the edge of the bed watching me. Phoenix’s dream visit drifted through my mind. I wasn’t sure if the dividing wall had come from me but I was sure I now had the ability to remove myself from any shared dreamscapes in the future. That was a good thing.
So why is my gut twisting?
Lincoln cleared his throat. I blinked, and accepted the bottle of water he passed to me.
‘Bed-head?’ I asked, finger combing my hair.
‘Extreme,’ he said, smirking.
‘Any visitors?’ I asked, a little more apprehensively.
Besides the one in my dreams.
‘No. I popped out to see Griff. He knows you’re resting and has been keeping the mobs away.’
‘How are you?’ I continued, deciding not to burden Lincoln with my dream update. It would only worry him.