Page 134 of Ink Deep Devotion

She hesitates, leaving the flat iron on the ends of her hair until smoke appears, her eyes clash with mine in the mirror.“Don’t ask silly questions, Mila.” Her words feel like a knife being sharpened. She will use it, and cut me to pieces if I keep poking her.

“It’s not silly.” I hold her glare.“I’ve poured my heart out to you. You can do the same.” Deep down, Nova craves our friendship, but her past stops her from trusting others.

“I don’t have a heart to pour out.” She finally moves the iron again.“It was taken from me long ago.”

“By who?”

She rolls her eyes.“This is your moment, not mine.”

“I’ll miss you when I escape.” I just want her to know that someone cares about her. Sometimes, just knowing that one person is thinking about you can save a struggling soul.

Her eyes look at her reflection in the mirror.“That’s sweet,” she sarcastically responds.

“I will.” I nod as I slide off the bed.“Please be careful tonight.”

“Careful is boring.”

“You’re crazy.”I exhale and shake my head.

“I know. It’s so much more fun this way.”

???

Today, a photo of Dash with a supermodel was leaked, and even though I knew it was fake, it felt real. I saw her straddled on his lap as he sat back with a grin in a club.

It hurts, and that pain feeds the beast inside my heart.

I’ll make him hurt when I leave!

I refuse to be shoved aside and kept safe like a prized stag he hangs on his wall. Nova would never allow that, nor would I.

“Are you ok?” Blaze asks me as he pushes open the door. He insists on walking me back to my dorm, even though Dash’s guard stays twenty feet behind me at all times now.

For the first time in my life, I want to hurt Dash—badly.

Dash is a sunken ship I have run adrift on. As the tides in my life change, Dash is dragging me under with him.Trying to bury me under the water like a lost treasure.

I only hope Nova can pull through and help me escape. Running isn’t the end game. Dash will rip apart the world to find me. Eventually, he will. The point of running is to make Dash suffer. While he’s searching for me, he’ll be suffering, questioning everything, and feeling the loss of control.

I refuse to be shoved aside. I will be loved or hated, not both!

“Mila?”

Shit! I forgot about Blaze.

“I’m fine.” I raise my arms and pull my messy bun tighter.

“You’ve changed ever since your wedding,” Blaze sneers.“Did Dash force you, Mila?” His eyes watch me with diligence, like a best friend who would avenge my honor. He thinks Dash forced me into his bed.

“No.”

Blaze steps in front of me, blocking the dorm entrance.“I know you have feelings for me, Mila, and I know that wedding was a sham. Not once did you ever mention it to me, for fuck’s sake it wasn’t suppose to happen until after we graduated!”

Um, what?

Is he insinuating that our relationship is more than a friendship?

What did he think that between now and graduation, I’d fall in love with him before I was forced to marry Dash?

---