“I’ll see you before I leave. I need to find Tali,”I toldScarlett before pushing past her. I couldn’t breathe. Air. I needed air. Even though I was outside, it felt like all the oxygen had evaporated.
I stormed away, not really sure which direction I was heading in, just anywhere away from Onyx.
A strong hand clasped my shoulder and spun me around, forcing me to come face-to-face with his unwavering expression.
“Cotton. Hear me out,” Onyx pleaded, his eyes hopeful but determined.
I shook my head and stormed off in a different direction.
Fuck. I can’t do this.
“Fucking hell, Cotton,” Onyx growled, sending sensations through my body that I hadn’t felt in a long time. “Listento me.”
I kept walking. There was nothing he could say that could make me forgive him for the shit he pulled.
Onyx’s footsteps followed behind me, quickly closing the distance between us. In a move I wasn’t expecting, he hooked an arm around my chest from behind and spun me around.
I’d managed to lead us down an isolated path on the perimeter of the Solace Grotto. No one was around. “I’m sorry,” Onyx whispered in a desperate plea, his eyes glistening from unshed tears, before colliding his lips with mine. Calloused palms gripped the sides of my face as my lips betrayed me to return the kiss. Gods, I missed this. I missedhim. It felt like no time had passed between us at all, but regardless of my anger toward him, my heart clung on.
Despite kissing him back in a frenzied and dazed state, my body remained stiff.
What the fuck? How did I end up here?
“Fuck, I missed you.” Onyx’s voice had dropped even deeper, raspy with need as his teeth scraped against my bottom lip.
With a groan, I latched onto his bottom lip in a challenge, wanting to bring him some pain. But the moan that caressed my skin snatched me out of my fervor. Shoving his shoulders, I gasped for air, my face wrenching in confusion as I swept my fingersthrough the roots of my hair.
Onyx stumbled back several steps, glazed bewilderment glossing over his blown pupils. He swiped a hand across his mouth as it dawned on him what he’d just done. “Holy shit. I didn’t mean…”
I held up a hand to put some distance between us, dropping my other arm at my side as I worked to catch my breath.“You don’t get to do that.”
Onyx stiffened, stunned. “Did you just speak into my head?”
I wasn’t sure how I was suddenly able to communicate with him without having to manually connect with him. Still, I didn’t have the mental capacity to figure it out currently. With a shrug, I added,“You disappeared. Left me behind with no word. You can fuck off coming here, acting like nothing ever happened. A lot’s happened, dickhead.”
He wielded the kicked puppy dog look that used to work on me, but I was too pissed. “I’m sorry. If you’d just let me explain?—”
“No. I don’t have to do shit for you. Just like you didn’t have to give me the decency of a goodbye. I want nothing to do with you.”
Onyx’s expression fell, his heart splayed out in the open for anyone to see. We stared at each other as the distant voices from the others in the courtyard carried on behind us. Everything that had been left unsaid between us from over a decade ago hung in the air.
At last, he broke the silence. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ve proven that I can do just fine without you.”I shrugged, turning once again to walk away.
“Wait!”
I paused, focusing my attention on the trees straight ahead of me. I wasn’t sure why I stopped. Probably because he’d demonstrated he’d go to extreme lengths to get my attention.
“I’m coming with you wherever you’re going, especially since Scarlett is staying behind.” Onyx’s tone sounded firmer than I expected after the broken expression he’d just given me.
“I’ll be fine. Just leave me alone. You’ve done that well enough all these years.”
“Shut up. I’m going. Don’t care where or what the mission is.You can fill me in on the way. I’m useful, and you shouldn’t be going out there by yourself.”
I tilted my head back, lacing my fingers at the back of my neck and searching the sky for help from anyone or anything.“I don’t need help here, Onyx.”
“Well, that’s cool because I do. So I’m tagging along.” Onyx walked up beside me, not touching me this time. He flashed that bright smile he knew always got him his way. “So where are we going?”
