Page 90 of Into The Darkness

Rain held out his arms, and I fell into them in a fit of sobs. He held me while I cried, none of us exchanging words. Feet shuffled behind us, but I didn’t care where we were or who saw. I was . . . broken.

I pulled away, and we were still standing there in the dark foyer of the house. It was the two of us. Rain’s deep-blue eyes were telling.

“I have to . . . break up . . .” I couldn’t finish the sentence, and Rain nodded toward me as if he understood.

“You’re dripping on the floor and shivering,” he whispered. “And is that blood?”

I looked down at my hands, realizing I still had dried blood, although most of it had been washed away by the rain.

“Yeah.”

“Come on.” He grabbed my hand and brought me upstairs where he led me straight to the shower. I was still shaking from the rush of adrenaline coursing through me and because I was cold and wet.

“I don’t need to shower,” I said, and Rain shook his head.

“Like fuck you don’t. Get in.” I shook my head.

“Get in, Ember, otherwise I’ll strip you naked myself and hold you in there, but I don’t think Ash would appreciate that.” He laughed, but I could tell there was a serious underlying message to his tone.

I nodded, then walked into the shower where Rain disappeared. I felt . . . nothing. I was so upset, disappointed, and disgusted that I had to break up with him. The one person I thought I could trust with everything was lying to me. His dad killed my mom.

God, I kept thinking about how fucking stupid I must have seemed. I was just like my fucking mother, getting involved so blindly with someone just because they strung a few sweet nothings to me but never taking the time to figure out who that person was.

I took a deep breath, opened the curtain, and there was a towel with a pair of sweats and a T-shirt.

Someone knocked.

“It’s me.”

“Come in,” I said. My throat really fucking hurt.

Rain was in front of me as I pulled on the T-shirt and sweats, not caring that he saw me naked. His eyes darted back and forth, but he said nothing until I turned back around after getting dressed and took a small look at myself in the mirror.

My eyes were swollen and red, scratches all along the palms of my hands, my hair was damp and pulled back. I shook my head in the mirror and glanced at Rain who hadn’t moved.

“He’s here,” he muttered.

I nodded. Rain checked over his shoulder as if someone would come barging in at any moment.

“Is he outside the door?” I whispered. He nodded.

After taking a deep breath, Rain kept offering me apologetic eyes.

“Tell him to give me a minute,” I said, and Rain nodded.

Two voices murmured outside the door, then Ash said, “Fuck!”

“You got this,” I said to myself in the mirror.

“Ember?” A small rasp on the door knocked me out of my thoughts. The familiar voice felt soothing, and just knowing what he did to me tore off another piece of my heart.

Ash’s voice outside the door was a mixture of pain and concern, a sound that had been my solace for months, now tangled in a web of betrayal. Every word he spoke reverberated through me, each syllable reminding me of the connection we shared and the bond being torn apart. My heart ached, knowing that the end was inevitable, that I was about to shatter something that had brought me so much joy.

“I’m here, Ash,” I whispered, more to myself, my voice a fragile thread. “But I can’t be yours anymore.” The tears I had been holding back fell, mingling with the shower water on my cheeks as I opened the door and came face-to-face with the person who stole my heart.

“Ember, I am so—”

“Don’t finish that sentence. Don’t say sorry because sorry doesn’t even begin to encapsulate the profound heartbreak that I feel.” He stood silently, like a dog that just got scolded, with its tail tucked between its legs.

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