The raw emotion from both of us broke something inside me. As much as I had dreamed or wished for the day I would see him again, I hadn’t been sure I ever would. And here he was. We’d only been apart for a month, but it felt like years. And I hadn’t forgotten there was another girl, a girl who shall not be named. He might still feel a sense of responsibility to her, but it was me who made him tremble, as he did when I pulled away.
“You left,” I said on a half sob, my fingers clenching onto the front of his shirt. I rubbed my cheek against his, the rough stubble grazing over my skin, and then glanced up into silver eyes shimmering like a million stars and waited.
His arms tightened around me. “I didn’t. I mean I did, but not without finding you first.” His hands framed my face, wiping the tears away with his thumb. “You were lying in this big, plush bed. It took me a few days to break out, and when I finally located you, I—”
“You what?” I prompted, desperate to understand what had happened.
“I couldn’t take you away from your family. It felt so selfish to want you with me, when you could sleep in a bed every night. Have food to eat. All the things I couldn’t give you. At least not yet.”
“So you planned to come back for me?”
He ran a hand through his dark tousled hair. “I don’t know. Maybe. I didn’t let myself think that far ahead.”
Color crawled up my neck and into my cheeks. There were so many emotions pinging around inside me. Too many. I couldn’t decide if I was pissed he had left me or relieved. It didn’t matter though. I was here. He was here. And he was alive. “They’re still hunting you.”
Nodding, he caught the last tear with a kiss. “I know. You’re okay?”
I buried my face into his chest, wrapping my arms around him again. “I am now,” I whispered. “Don’t let me go.”
“Never again,” he vowed, pressing a kiss into my hair. “How did you manage to get away?”
Star. I’d completely forgotten about her up until this moment. Seeing Dash had consumed me. I smiled and tipped my head back. “I had help.”
Star cleared her throat, stepping into a streak of moonbeams. “Hello, Dylan. It’s been a long time.”
Dash stiffened in my arms, his whole demeanor changing. I’d never really seen utter shock on Dash’s face, the kind that left him gaping and speechless. It worried me to say the least.
“Who the hell is Dylan?” I glanced around to see if there was someone else with Dash or maybe he had been followed.
The Institute.
My heart jackhammered in my chest, spears of anxiety stabbing my gut. I expected to see someone step out of the shadows and was prepared to fight, kill if I had to. I wasn’t going to be ripped from Dash a second time.
But there was no one, and confusion clouded my mind. What was going on?
Dash’s arms fell away from me, dropping to his waist, and in the pale light, his face turned whiter, if possible. “Is it really you?”
Star nodded her head.
My eyes volleyed back and forth between Star and Dash, understanding slowly seeping in. Fuck. My joyous and full heart shrank and shriveled. No. No. No. She couldn’t be.
Chapter Ten
Silence descended. I wanted nothing more than to deny what my heart knew was happening. Star was Dash’s girlfriend pre-apocalypse. And Dash, his name had been Dylan. Such an ordinary name—nothing like the guy I knew now.
“Am I dreaming?” Dash hadn’t moved from his spot on the ledge beside me. His feet seemed to be made of lead, rooted to the ground.
Star stepped forward, her eyes unable to pull away from Dash’s. They were locked onto each other and I was forgotten, suddenly an intruder in a hundred-year reunion. I wanted to cry. I wanted to throw something over the side of the cliff. A good person would be happy they had found each other. I wasn’t a good person.
“I’m asking myself the same question,” I mumbled under my breath. Neither of them seemed to hear me. I’d become invisible, and I hated the feeling.
“I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” Star said in her perfectly soft voice.
“I’ve been searching everywhere for you.” Dash no longer touched me. In fact, he had managed to put space between us, but it didn’t erase the fact that only moments ago our mouths had been attacking one another. “H-how is this possible?” he asked.
Fate was a cruel mistress; that was how. Just as my path had crossed with Dash’s once again, we were forced apart, and the wedge suddenly between us made me bitchy. “Which part? That Star is your girlfriend? Or how I found her?” I interjected.
Again no one heard me.
“You’re alive,” Dash choked out.
Star nodded, and she smiled, an emotional smile that held years of loss and grief. I knew the feeling, but it had been for family, not a boyfriend. She glided over the rocky platform and with a shaky hand touched Dash’s cheek. Tears filled her eyes, wetting her thick lashes.
“You’re really alive,” he whispered again, as if saying it multiple times would make it more real. Dash pulled her into his arms.
My back hit the side of the mountain as I stood there flabbergasted, unable to believe my shitty fortune. At least he wasn’t kissing her, I told myself, but it did nothing to lessen the blow of seeing another girl in his arms. It was brutal, and jealousy reared its ugly head.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally pulled apart, but my shock and pain was no less severe.
“You’ve been at the Institute this whole time?” Dash asked.
Star nodded. “Yes, I was found and brought straight to Diamond Towers.”
“You have abilities then?”
A shadow darkened her face. “No. I worked at the Towers. I never trained. Not like Charlotte has.”
The mention of my name brought Dash’s star-flecked eyes to me. I could feel them on me. Don’t look at him. Don’t do it, Charlotte.
My eyes betrayed me, glancing up from the ground. There were so many unspoken words between us in those few seconds our eyes connected. “He put you into the training program?” Dash asked.
I didn’t need him to clarify who he was. He was talking about my father. “It doesn’t matter now. We’re here.”
Dash’s gaze narrowed. “And just how did the two of you manage to get here?”
I shrugged. “You think you’re the only one who can escape from the Institute?”
“You escaped then? You weren’t banished?”
“Banished? No. Trust me, my father wasn’t about to let me walk out the front door. He very forcefully forbade me to have anything to do with a certain guy who went by the nickname of Slayer.”
His lips quirked. “I would have loved to have been a fly on that wall. This is insane.” He forked his fingers through his hair. “I can’t believe this is real. You found her.”
Not intentionally, but I kept the thought to myself. “I couldn’t have gotten through the days without her.” That was the truth. No matter who Star was, she was still my friend, and I needed to remember that, regardless that jealousy consumed me. I didn’t want to share Dash’s affections or compete for him.
“So you’re Dash Darhk?” Star said, her eyes bouncing between Dash and me.
Warmth moved into my cheeks as I recalled all the nights I’d gushed about Dash. Star knew how I felt about him, about her boyfriend—awkward.
“Do us all a favor and pretend you’ve never heard of him. His ego is God-size.”
Dash snorted. “All the rumors you’ve heard …”A long pause ensued as if he was going for a dramatic effect.