Page 125 of With Us

“Well neither can Theo. What’d you think it’s like in there?”

My heart was going to burst out of my chest as I tried to look away, but Luc held my face.

“You know this isn’t a misunderstanding,” he whispered. “You know whatever his reason, it isn’t going to ease your mind. His aura is his shadow, and yours it growing darker by the day. Can you handle that? Can you step into the darkness with him?”

“No, he’s good!” I fought his hold, twisting and turning. “He’s a good person!”

“Not all good people are good.” Luc’s lips tipped up in an apologetic smile as he showed me a picture of a pissed off Theo. “Why else would he be in there? You need to accept it. Wake up and face the truth, Dahlia. Wake up. Dahlia, wake up.”

Pulling away, I fell, landing with a loud thud.

“Whoa, you okay?” Luc asked, reaching down to help me up.

Accepting his hand, I stood before sitting on the side of my bed. Gus sat his fluffy butt next to me. It was still dark, only the hallway light shining in.

Luc’s eyes went to my cell on the bed then back to me. “You were shouting about your phone.”

I rubbed my palm down my face. “Bad dream.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’ll let you get back to sleep.”

He was almost to the door before I spoke.

“It’s not a misunderstanding, is it?”

Luc didn’t turn around, but he did stop in his tracks.

When he didn’t respond, I continued. “And the truth won’t make me feel any better, will it?”

“Get some sleep, Dahlia.” Without even glancing back, he left the room.

I picked up my cell, opening my email. Luc had transferred the emails from Theo out of my spam folder and into my inbox.

They were vague, quick messages that let me know only a few things.

He missed me.

He loved me.

And, whatever the truth was, he was worried about how I was going to react.

Which meant it was worse than I’d let myself imagine.

I read through the messages a few times again, thinking about my dream.

How much darkness could I accept? Where was the line?

I had no clue. Not really. I did know, if I even had a line, it was a lot farther away than it should’ve been. Because, in the dead of night when I was too tired to lie to myself, I knew I’d be okay with a lot more than I should.

Hitting reply on the last email, I let myself type without overthinking it.

Theo,

I’ll see you Sunday.

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