Not to be outdone, Simon stepped up. “Me neither.”
But they weren’t getting it. “Look, guys. This isn’t some Feats of Strength contest where you win the girl in the end. There’s no prize for being the bigger hero.” I made a face at them. “Think about what you’re saying. Staying means you don’t walk out of here, and neither of you gets the girl. Or any girl, ever. Don’t be stupid, I don’t need your help.”
But Tyler wasn’t buying it. I knew as much because I heard it from him. The thing was, though, I only had to convince him to go—he didn’t need to understand why.
I glared at both of them. “If I’m being honest, your being here is a distraction, and the last thing I need is to be distracted. I said this isn’t about me, but the truth is, it isn’t about any of us. We need to stop this whole thing from happening. We need to convince the M’alue we’re no threat, and the only way to do that is to blow these ships up. I can’t do that with you two breathing down my neck.” Silently I begged each of them to trust me on this. I couldn’t let myself think about the part where this would be the last time I’d ever see them—any of them—again. “Please, if you care about me at all, just get away from here.”
Tyler gave in first, probably because he was inside my head and could sense how serious I was and how hard this was for me. But that didn’t mean he was okay with it, I knew that too.
His only outward answer was a silent nod.
But seeing that nod, Simon finally exhaled loudly. “Yeah. Fine. Okay.”
We couldn’t afford anything longer than the briefest of good-byes, and I was totally okay with that. Anything more and I might’ve lost my nerve.
Agent Truman barely nodded before going to wait in the elevator, while Griffin, Thom, Willow, and Jett tried to make it as painless on me as possible. Jett was the only one who cried, and when he did, I punched him in the arm and called him a baby. Comforting him would’ve pushed me to my breaking point.
Simon made Tyler go ahead of him, needing, as always, to have the last word.
Tyler looked uneasy with Simon standing so close by, which was definitely the point. Simon wouldn’t want to make it simple for Tyler and me. He never had.
But then Tyler reached for my hands and our skin connected. Electricity moved back and forth between us. He told me without words the things he’d been trying to say since I’d come back from the M’alue’s ship, and he said it all in one simple phrase: I’ll remember you always.
I blinked in surprise, my breath catching in my throat as I searched his eyes to see if he truly understood what he was telling me. Those were our words, something he’d told me the night I’d first been returned . . . and then he’d written them in chalk on the road between our houses.
And now he was using them again. I’ll remember you always.
A dimple cut through his cheek, the same dimple I’d traced with my fingertip once upon a time.
I almost couldn’t believe it. He’d more than forgiven me, he remembered. He remembered us.
And with that, he leaned down and kissed me. His kiss wasn’t tentative or exploratory like this was unfamiliar territory, which was what I’d been expecting since for so long he’d had no memory of the two of us. Instead it was the deep-emotional-memory-laden kiss of someone who cherishes you. Someone who knows you.
My heart was pounding when Simon cleared his throat, letting Tyler and me know in his less-than-subtle way our time was up. Tyler pulled away gently and stepped back, his eyes never leaving me.
When it was his turn, I thought Simon would say something corny, or give some big speech to convince me he was the right choice all along.
Instead, he whispered, thinking Tyler couldn’t hear, “You made up your mind before we ever even met.” And then he kissed me . . . a small, sweet kiss that wasn’t meant to sway me at all.
It was what it was—a good-bye kiss.
As the elevator doors closed behind them, I silently allowed myself to decide between them, once and for all. I said the name in my head the one and only time I would say it—Tyler. Tyler, who I would have picked, who I always would have picked if things could have been different.
If I could have survived all this.
And then I shut my feelings down because I had a job to do. One that didn’t allow me to think about either of them.
Any of them.
As long as this place was still standing, everyone was at risk.
Dr. Clarke had given us a brief rundown of the systems, on the off chance we found the codes we needed. I gave the others a twenty-minute head start to get as far as they could from here, which was generous. They’d need at least three minutes just to get back to the main level, and then another five to clear the facility altogether.
Beyond that, I couldn’t let myself worry about them. I had to hope they’d find Agent Truman’s car and would drive as far away as possible.
If not, they’d have to run and hide and hope the blast stayed fairly contained.