“Actually, I got in somewhere else.”
“Congratulations!” Asher stops walking, faces her, and beams. “Where?”
She looks down, toeing a pebble in the path. “It’s a program I wasn’t expecting to go to.”
“Is it still in L.A.?” From his tone, she realizes he cares where she ends up.
Because it matters to him that it might be close? AFI is only an hour away from Ventura. Dez mapped it after she met Asher.
“It’s in the Rocky Mountains,” she says quietly.
“Oh.” A beat of disappointment passes through his voice. He recovers. “I’m happy for you, Dez. I’m sure it’s beautiful there. Are you going to accept?”
“Asher,” she says, looking up and into his eyes. “I’ve been at the school now for six months.”
“Oh.”
“And I haven’t called because—”
“You don’t have to explain.”
“I wanted to, but I couldn’t.”
“We can just enjoy today, you know?” He starts walking again, moving toward a patch of glowing green flowers, dappled red stems. Dez has never seen a flower like that before. Her pulse quickens as Asher reaches out and brushes his fingers over the petals.
Dez grabs his hand, bats the flower away. “I think it’s poisonous.”
“Really?”
“Probably. Don’t want to chance it.” Taking Asher’s fingers, she rubs them on her jacket, trying to steady her racing heart.
Slowly Asher draws his hand away. “Are you always this nervous on hikes?”
“Only when I’m with someone I don’t want to lose.” Dez exhales. “Again.”
“Like I said, I’m not the one going anywhere.”
How do you tell someone their death is destined? That, within thenext ten minutes, if Dez doesn’t figure out how to stop it, something terrible is coming?
And even if shedoesstop it, then what?
Will they find her here? Will Rafe or Jet arrive with a syringe and pry her away from Asher? What will they do with her then? She tells herself she can bear anything as long as Asher’s alive.
“Do you remember the French film you showed me?” Asher asks. “The one where the rocket lands inside the eye of moon?”
“A Trip to the Moon,” Dez says. It’s her first favorite film. An alternate version of her would definitely have shown this to Asher when they were in bed together.
“I watched it over and over again,” Asher says, brushing back his golden hair. “Like it held clues to who you were. Or where you went.”
“I’m back now,” she says, realizing she was always going to come back to Asher, how nothing could have stopped her.
She steps toward him and looks up. The desire in his eyes thrills her, and she knows she’s matching it with her own. She reaches out, puts a hand to his smooth, warm cheek.
She’s going to kiss him. After all this time, she’s going to kiss Asher Ibrahim.
She rises on her toes, leans forward, and—
Asher pulls away, letting his arms fall so that they’re only holding hands.
