“Didn’t expect to see you here, Ellie,” he said.
His voice.Smooth, low, and unmistakable.Like smoke curling around her ribs.She stiffened, swallowing hard before turning around.
Dasher.
His patch was newer.His beard a little more salt-and-pepper than she remembered.But those blue eyes were exactly the same.Sharp, reckless, and dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with crime and everything to do with her heart.
“What are you doing here?”she asked tightly.
“Beast sent me.Said you needed backup.”He swept a look over the destroyed unit, jaw ticking.“Guess he wasn’t wrong.”
Ellie crossed her arms, trying to hold onto her frustration like armor.“I asked him to come.Not you.”
Dasher’s gaze flicked to hers.“He’s busy.You get me.”
“Lucky me,” she muttered.
A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, but it didn’t quite land.Not with everything between them.Not with this mess.
He stepped inside, boots crunching over ripped wrapping paper.“This is bad.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”She swallowed down the lump in her throat.“We don’t have time to replace this.The toy drive’s in two days.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he said, calm and confident like he always was.Like he could fix anything with a wrench and a smirk.
But this wasn’t something she could let him fix.Not when he’d broken so much already.Ellie leaned against the cold wall, arms tightening around herself.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said.
He glanced at her, frowning.“Why?Because I remind you of the girl you used to be?”
“No,” she said, voice too sharp.“Because I finally stopped being her.”
He flinched, just slightly, and she hated herself for the way her chest clenched.The silence stretched heavy between them.
Dasher ran a hand through his windblown hair.“Beast told me I’m co-running this drive with you now.Thinks it’ll show the town we’re involved.Clean.That we care,” he said.
“That’s nice,” Ellie said flatly.“He just forgot to mention it to me.”
“You’re not the only one who’s pissed,” he muttered.“You think I wanted to do this?”
She looked up at him sharply.“Then why did you agree?”
He didn’t answer for a second.Just stared at her, eyes too honest.“Because it’s you.”
Ellie’s throat tightened.She turned away before he could see too much.She didn’t want to feel this.Not the flicker of heat low in her stomach when he was near.
Not the ache in her chest remembering the way he used to hold her like the world could burn and he wouldn’t care, as long as she was beside him.
“I’m not the girl you left behind,” she said quietly.“I have responsibilities.A job.A daughter.”
“I know,” Dasher said, softer now.“And I’m not the guy who left.”
Ellie turned to face him.“What are you, then?”
He didn’t answer, but the way he looked at her made her forget the cold, the wreckage, the years.He looked at her like she was still his.And damn it.Part of her wanted to be.
A gust of wind rattled the storage door behind them, dragging her back to reality.Ellie rubbed her hands together for warmth and stepped inside.
