My heart squeezed. I should have known. “He once told me that his father was an asshole.”
She nodded. “All Dylan talked about was turning eighteen and getting his mom and Logan out of there. He wanted to take them somewhere safe—far from the drunken rage of his father.”
We both had tears in our eyes. “I can’t imagine.”
“From everything I’ve heard about Dash Darhk, it’s so hard for me to believe he is the boy I once knew. Dylan never would have killed anyone. He despised fighting.”
“The mist turned a lot of people into something they never imagined—changed them for good… and bad.” I couldn’t help but think of my own family. “When I saw Ember for the first time, I refused to believe my sister had become someone I didn’t recognize. I wanted so desperately to believe a piece of her was still there.”
Star’s small hands fumbled with the fabric on the bed. “And do you still believe that?”
I flopped onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t know.”
She sighed and lay down on the other side of the bed facing me with her hand curled under her head. “I’m unsure how to act around him. Are we friends? I have all these knots in my tummy. I can’t stop wondering what he’s thinking.”
“You should talk to him,” I heard myself say.
“Charlotte, you’re my friend, my only friend. I saw the two of you together when we found him. I see the way he looks at you while pretending he isn’t looking.”
“It doesn’t mean anything.” The large lump that suddenly formed in my throat said otherwise.
“Liar. What I am trying to say is that I’m not standing in your way. I don’t expect for Dylan and I to pick up where we left off. It would be foolish for either of us to think that was possible. We’re no longer the same people.”
I turned my head and faced her. “You need to tell him. He deserves to hear it from you. Talk to him.”
She sighed. “I will.”
I wanted to ask if she still loved him, but I couldn’t bring myself to hear the answer. So instead, I rolled over and closed my eyes.
Chapter Twelve
The first thought I had when I woke up was I needed a shower. Badly. If I didn’t bathe in the next thirty minutes, I would shave my head.
I left Star fast asleep as I padded out of the room to begin my search. I tiptoed through the house and out the front door, carefully grabbing my pack on the way. Unlike the Institute, Eberus didn’t have plumbing, which meant there had to be a communal shower somewhere near water, or so I prayed. My hair depended on it.
As much as I wasn’t a fan of college-dorm-style showers, nothing would stand in between me and scrubbing the sweat and gunk off my skin. Not even my own modesty.
Orion had briefly mentioned the general direction of the showers last night, so I took off across the road. There was activity happening in town as I walked along the pebble pathway, and if anyone thought I was out of place or a stranger, they didn’t say.
My mind eased as I walked, snaking along while the mid-morning sun dropped beads of warmth onto my skin. My fatigue lessened as I breathed in the cool, snappy air, letting the wind toss my hair. I might have only gotten a few hours of sleep, but it had done wonders—that and sleeping on an actual bed. My body wasn’t stiff.
I found the shower easily enough, but it had been too much to hope that the facility would be empty. As I walked in, I was greeted by the sound of running water, but my longing for solitude wouldn’t stop me from getting out of these stiff clothes covered in muck and grime. Eager beyond measure, I slipped into an empty stall, shed my clothes and tossed them over the top of the wall, and now for the tricky part: figuring out how to operate the shower. It couldn’t be rocket science. Things tended to be simple in the Heights.
I looked around, searching for a nozzle or a spigot. Nothing. Two seconds away from peeking my head out of the stall and asking another person for a manual, my hand touched the wall. Lo and behold, droplets of water rained over my head. Squinting, I craned my neck back, curious to see where the water was coming from. It had to be some kind of trick because I couldn’t spot the source, but after a few seconds of the soothing water running over my skin, I didn’t care where it came from as long as it didn’t stop.
The water turned cold before I was ready, but I couldn’t be a shower-hog. Scrubbed clean and feeling almost normal, I wiggled into a pair of pants and pulled a clean shirt over my head. I stuffed the dirty clothes in my bag, making a mental note to wash my clothes later that day. Just as I started to leave, I caught a figure emerging from two stall doors down.
Why, oh why, did it have to be him? I froze, and my mouth started salivating as I stood there gaping.
It was Dash. Shirtless. Water glistened off his glorious abs. His damp hair was tousled and curled at the ends. I told myself to breathe and not get carried away. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Dash’s chest before. No big deal.
And yet with Dash, it was a big deal.
I shot him my trademark annoyed look, keeping my eyes above the neckline. I did not need to be tempted by him any more than I already was. “Do you need to borrow a shirt? I’m sure I have an extra one in my pack.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Is my near nakedness bothering you?”
Yes! Everything about him was bothering me. Play it cool. “No, why would it? Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
He moved closer to me, and my eyes betrayed me, shifting lower, and while I was being dazzled by his golden skin, he leaned toward me, a curve to his lips. Dash thought himself godly. “If you say so,” he replied smoothly.
I couldn’t believe I ever thought I was in love with him. He was a pretentious jackass, and I didn’t fall for guys who were jerks.
“Hey, you okay?” Dash asked, watching me intently. “You’ve got your brooding face on again.”
Don’t think about how close he is. Or how incredible he smells.
Ugh. Easier said than done. My brain and body were having a hard time communicating. “I’m fine.”
“Liar. You’re so full of crap.” He sighed when I didn’t say anything snappy in return. This must have been his lame attempt at trying to lighten the tension between us, but it wasn’t so simple. Inside, I was hurting, I was angry, and we couldn’t forget sad. I had to adjust to our current situation, whatever that may be, but I couldn’t put a time clock on my feelings. Seeing Star and Dash together was difficult. They had history … a lot of history. Dash and I had near-death situations and the Institute on our backs. Star and I couldn’t compete. We weren’t even in the same century.