Stuff It

Chapter 48

The waves were rolling in with the tide and the water levels rose in the  Yara. Nina strolled aimlessly along the waterfront, ignoring the sprawling mansions to one side as she sought the soothing comforts of the familiar. The once familiar.

Her footsteps took her along the well worn passage. A path she traversed often enough as a child and through her youths. A path she knew led on to Dash Arlington's home. Now barred by the high surrounding walls.

Nina turned and threaded sure footed as if drawn by a force greater than herself and came to a halt before the the only gate built into that wall on this end. She reached out with a surity that belied reason and simply pushed open the gate. How she knew it would be open she wasn't sure. Especially as it had been locked in the past. But she'd known it would be and it was.

The sky was cast with clouds threathening rains to come. But I knew it wouldn't fall today. The day was dreary enough already that it couldn't possibly get much worse. Nina was seething in anger and resentment. Yet most of what she felt was directed at herself.

Her foot steps were heavy as they crushed over fallen leaves and branches along the way. With spring running its course, the dried leaves and twigs on the grounds were fewer and far between. Nina came to a stop before the familiar little building. In the old days she would swing over after school with a book to read. Perched on her bunk in the corner she'd burrow the end of her nose in a book and get lost in its pages long before Dash's sure thread hit the steps up the tree. He would toss his hand held ball at her and she would absently catch it out of the air and toss it right back at him. They'd to and fro the ball a bit, sometimes catching up on stuff and other times just through an idyllic habit. Dash would prop up on his bunk opposite her and at times dig out his own book to read. All the while that little yellow ball would continue to be tossed between them. A link bounding them together.

But then time went on and they outgrew that little ball and lot else too. Never once had she ever considered, even in the throws of her wildest pwriod of infatuation with him, Dash as her husband. And yet that is exactly what he sought. To be her husband.

What did that even mean?

Would he own her? Would she belong to him?

Dash already thought that since they first met, so that shouldn't be something new. Yet it felt new. As new as his lips on hers had felt. Never before had she ever imagined feeling remotely like that. Like her whole soul reached out to latch onto his. Like his soul invaded hers. Like they both had just that one soul. There had been no two of them then. No him. No her. Just them. Just one. A singular.

A very unsolitary singular.

It was that comfort from knowing that she was no longer alone that sent her senses spinning ridiculously out of control. It was not as if she craved him. Craved his very being. Craved his soul with an unfathomable need that had her walking aimlessly and purposelessly... seeking him out where memories of him was greatest. Here at his treehouse. Their treehouse. Nina's hand lifted to clench over the vicinity of her heart. Now empty and hollow. She did not do well   in spats with him. This hollow ferling was not uncommon. It was a given that the sensations would persist after every little disagreement between them. And remain a constant reminder of their rift until they made up.

But this time the void in her chest felt heavy. As heavy as the footfall of her feet. As heavy as the guilt in her heart.  And then more heavy than all of that. With her heart clearly gone, having crossed over to the dark side, she was simply without that much needed organ.

Nina took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh before she moved forward to let herself in. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust the room clad in shadows. But then she saw him. The thief who stole her heart. And became the endless lament of her life.

"You didn't go." Nina breathed out softly.

He was seated on the sofa, feet proped up and head leaning back. But he raised it now to look at her. The shadows casted its spell over his silhouette. Sending dark alure to entwin with the raw sensuality that he wore so easily. The brightness of his blue gaze was hidden in dark unfathomable ebony. Black orbs stared back almost malevolently at her sending a shiver that was more than simple awareness rushing down her spine. They stared at each other in the falling dusk.

But when he finally spoke, itvwas without anger or reprimand of any kind.

"I couldn't go," Dash whispered back shakily, sounding oddly all hollowed out himself." Not without you."