Page 126 of Fragments
He goes quiet for a moment, muttering something under his breath, then blinking hard. I’ve seen him do it before, when he gets all twitchy. It’s like he’s trying to ctrl-alt-delete something out of his head.
“He might show up…” he says quietly. “I mean… I hope he does. Because I miss him… God, why the fuck do Imisshim??”
His tone is softly distraught, and I feel bad, but I still have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. It’s like he’s speaking in riddles. He’s obviously torn up about something, orsomeone, and I just don’t know who.
Yesterday in the showers, Ren was grilling Dash about where he’s been getting all his stuff, and Dash claims it’s not from anyone specific, but that makes even less sense.
No one justgets thingsin here. He has to have been seeing someone…
Someonehas been sneaking in here, leaving his gifts.
Could it be Rook?
He said no, but the two of them seem to have a little back and forth. They’ve been known to flirt…And then there was the whole Dash swallowing Rook’s cum extravaganza.
Man, if Rook shows up in our cell, it’s gonna totally blow my mind.
“Dash…whoare you talking about?” I ask carefully.
He closes his eyes, head bowed as he whispers, “I never wanted a guy before, but I feel like you were…made…for…me.”
I swallow, growing more confused by the second. “Hey, it’s okay to like it. You’re definitely not the only one who’s gotten swept up in—”
“The lines get blurry in here,” he interrupts, peeking up at me. “You told me that. The lines are very…veryblurry now.” His gaze flings to the bars and he gets this faraway stare thing going on.
I stick my face in front of his, but he doesn’t seem to evenseeme. I snap my fingers.
Nothing.
“Dash…?”
Suddenly, he shoots up off the bed and stalks over to the door, peering through the bars. “He’s coming. I can hear him…”
I listen for any sound that would indicate someone in the row, but I don’t hear shit. There’sno oneout there… Nothing but snores coming from the other cells.
Standing up, I stare at him, watching him fidget and touch his face. He says something in Russian, repeating it over and over, like a soft chant.
This is really freaking me out.
Summoning my courage to buck up and help my friend, I step over to him slowly and take his hand. “Dash, let’s just go sit down, okay? Just take a breath…”
His eyes are stuck on the floor. And when his chin gradually lifts, they set on mine, and they’redark; somehow much darker than usual. It must be the overwhelming size of his pupils.
His fidgeting has stopped completely. In fact, he’s standing straighter, breathing slower. In the blink of an eye, his entire demeanor has completely changed, and there’s this air of bored dominance suddenly oozing from him while he eyes me like I’m something he’s been looking for.
“I missed you,” he rumbles. He doesn’t evensoundlike him.
He sounds… deeper. Scarier.
It reminds me of that night, when I was dreaming about me and Ren, and I kept hearing Dash, like he was speaking to himself as somebody else…
This person, who’s looking at me right now.
He steps forward, and I step back, dropping his hand. But as soon as I do, he reaches out slowly, placing his finger under my chin.
My heart is pounding in my skull. I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m low-key terrified.
Why is he looking at me like that?
