Page 31 of Dominion
“But I almost got you killed,” I cried out, looking up at him, expecting to see the same animosity as before, but it wasn’t there. The cerulean blue, like the bright skies above Winworth on those few days in the year, stared back at me, filled with so much love it felt as if it would burst out of him.
“No, Moonshine,” he murmured, pressing his lips to my temple. “You saved us both. Long before the Red Manor, you saved us. Over the last three days, the only thought that kept me sane was the knowledge that you were out here, safe, far away from that monster. The only person who made me want to fight was you, because I knew you needed us, and we needed you.”
“But Dylan…” I cried harder and harder, seeing the fear on Ash’s face. “He’s not okay. He’s… H-He…”
“The things they did to him.” Ash gulped, his eyes glazing over as if he was remembering. I didn’t like the way his jaw clenched or the way his fist tightened because whatever it was made him want to murder someone. “I don’t… I don’t know how to…” He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. “I don’t know how to talk about it.”
“You don’t have to.” I straightened up and pressed my forehead to his, relishing the warmth oozing from him. “You will tell me in your own time, at your own pace, not a moment sooner. I don’t need to know, Ash. Not if it’s going to remind you of everything you guys went through. I just… I just want you to know I’m here.”
“I know, baby.” He smiled weakly. “I know you’re here. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for not doing this sooner. For not hugging you the moment I saw you standing there, looking like an angel in the middle of all this darkness.”
I definitely wasn’t an angel. I was so far from one that I had a feeling my skin would burn the moment I stepped inside a church. But maybe I didn’t have to be the angel the rest of the world wanted to have.
Maybe I only needed to be the angel Ash and Dylan needed, and that could be enough. That had to be enough.
The yawn that pulled his lips apart almost made me smile, but I contained it. I had no idea if they had slept in that place, if they had eaten, if they had anything, and the sudden need to bethe one who would provide all of that and more for him rocked me to my core.
I fucking loved this guy. I loved him with every nerve in my body. I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it, and I needed him back. I needed both of them back—not only physically, but mentally too—and I knew it wouldn’t happen overnight.
“Let’s go to sleep, yeah?” I mumbled, sniffing quietly, the remnants of my tears drying on my face. “You’re tired, exhausted, actually, and the stories of what you went through will still be here tomorrow. Come on.” My ass wiggled on top of him, but he didn’t let me go. If anything, his arms tightened around me, pulling me back onto his chest.
With our lips mere inches apart, I could see every line on his face, every speck in his eyes. When his lips finally landed on mine, the stars I’d missed so much finally appeared in front of my eyes. He devoured me, pouring every single ounce of his love in that one kiss. There was no rush, no urgency, just lazy strokes, reminding me who I belonged to.
Our hands ran over each other, remembering, needy, and when a moan erupted from my throat as his hand brushed the underside of my boob, we pulled apart, both of us panting. With glassy eyes filled with need, he dragged his gaze over my face, as if he was memorizing every single inch of me.
“What are you looking at?” I asked shyly, as if this wasn’t the guy who held my heart in the palm of his hand.
“I’m looking at my forever, Moonshine.”
8
DYLAN
I wasn’ta stranger to pain.
It was like a deep-rooted snake, slithering through your system, through your organs, wrapping its tail around each and every bone, like a python aiming to snap you in two. I wasn’t a stranger to misery, to agony so severe that even breathing felt like the hardest workout.
Solitude wasn’t something I wanted when I was younger, but the life I led, the things I’d seen, made me avoid people. It was easier living in your own cocoon, hiding from everyone else.
But I never wanted to hide from her. From Skylar.
My Skylar. My Little One.
The one bright spot in this bleak existence. The one person who could soothe the wounds and put a smile on my face even during those days when smiling felt like too much of an effort. She was my reason to breathe, to push through each and every day, because I knew that at the end of this road, I would have her.
I would have her forever.
I never expected Ash or the feelings he awoke inside me. I never expected this insane need to be with both of them, to hide in their embrace, and forget about the rest of the world,but somewhere along the way, it happened. It fucking happened, and I didn’t want to return it. I didn’t want to return to the way I was before. To the darkness that was still calling my name.
To the father who never loved me and the mother who only ever used me.
But standing here at the threshold of the living room, looking at the two reasons I needed to breathe, hugging each other, murmuring sweet, sweet words to each other, I felt like an outsider. A third wheel.
I didn’t belong here, that much was clear. I didn’t belong with the two of them, and they were too kind and too loving to tell me so.
Skylar loved me, Ash cared for me, but they would never want me in the way they wanted each other. They would never need me like I needed them.
They were the air I needed to breathe. The core of my being, everything I ever wanted to have, but they were a unit. A unit separated from me, and I was an intruder fucking up all of their plans. Screwing up their happiness because I wanted something that was never supposed to be mine.
