Page 86 of Into the Light

I gave him a kiss on his soft lips before pulling away. “I love you,” I repeated over and over again, and peppered him with kisses between the words.

“Okay, okay.” He chuckled as he pushed me away softly. “I get it.” I gave him a grin before I zipped the bag and headed toward the front door.

“We’ll be back soon though, right?”

A mischievous grin lit up his face. “Why, princesa? You want me to chase you in the woods again?” A laugh echoed as I slammed the door in his face.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” I bellowed as I walked to the ATV and hopped on the back. Rain laughed as he locked up the little hunting cabin, then jumped onto the ATV before grabbing my hands so I could wrap them around his waist.

As the wind whipped through my hair, my arms tightened around Rain, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Like somehow the answers I was desperately searching for were at the tips of my fingers.

Chapter twenty-nine

We drove so fast toward Ash’s rock. As we pulled into the clearing, I practically leaped off the back, grateful that my fear of riding this metal contraption has somewhat dissipated since I met Rain.

“Come on,” I said, sprinting down the path toward the rock. Just as the morning light made its way into the clearing, lighting up the view, I was grateful it wasn’t raining.

“What’re we looking for?” Rain asked, and I loved that he didn’t call me names or think I was being absurd, especially after both of us, his whole team, and so many people had combed this area a hundred times over trying to find the answers.

“It is right in front of you,” I repeated my brother’s words over and over again as I stared out at the clearing.

Rain came up next to me and said, “Tell me about what you guys did up here.” My brows furrowed because I wasn’t sure if this was the time to start talking about what we did.

“It may help jog your memory.” He shrugged. “Come on, mi pareja, tell me.”

“Okay,” I whispered, standing there and staring out at the clearing. “After class one day, he took me here.”

“The class with the fucking creep professor,” Rain muttered.

“Yeah.” I huffed. “But the thing was he had this whole picnic set up right on the flat part of the rock and then—”

“Wait,” I shouted, and ran to where he’d pitched the tent originally and where we had the picnic. It was the only part of the rock that was flat so there was nothing underneath us as we were . . . intimate.

I ran over to where I swear the spot was, but there was a huge boulder in the corner we used to set up the blanket for our picnics.

“This was it, Rain,” I demanded. “We need to move this rock.”

I attempted to move it, but he only side-eyed me. “Ember, this rock didn’t suddenly come from the heavens to this spot. Are you sure?”

“I swear. He must’ve come here beforehand to move it, but there is something not right about this.” I looked at the boulder with determination. “Do you think we can move this?”

“Let’s do it,” he said with one of his charming grins before grasping the bottom of it so his entire body weight was pressed into the boulder.

“You push it while I lift it up.”

I nodded, and as soon as he had it millimeters off the ground, I pushed the boulder forward giving it a little momentum and it slid down the clearing.

“If it was here this entire time, wouldn’t you have noticed it was more stuck to the earth?” I asked.

“I’m not sure that’s the proper term, but yeah, I assume if it was always here I’d expect to see more moss growing from the bottom.”

“And it wouldn’t have just slid forward this easily,” I added, and he chuckled.

As Rain straightened, I spotted two plastic Ziploc bags where the boulder once was.

“Look,” I pointed, silently thanking the world for making sure moving this boulder wasn’t for nothing. “I knew it.”

I reached into the little nook and pulled out the two plastic bags. Inside the bags were two letters with our names addressed right on the front in large, black Sharpie.

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