Page 56 of Echoes of Us
The words broke something in her, worse for how quietly he said them.How calmly.
"You don't mean that-" She reached for him, but he stepped back, his expression carved from ice.
"You think just because you have the perfect ass and surprisingly good kissing skills that I want you?"His laugh was cruel, empty."Every man with a heartbeat would want you when you kiss him like that."
"Stop it."She could see it happening - him retreating into that cold, sharp version of himself, using words like weapons.Her body still thrummed with a need for him, making his rejection cut deeper."You don't mean it."
"You're not my type."The finality in his voice shattered what was left of her heart.His eyes flickered toward the door Dale had disappeared through."But you are his."
He turned and walked away, leaving her there with her back against cold brick, her thighs still trembling, her body aching from his unfinished touch.The space between her legs throbbed with need, and loss, and humiliation.
She slid down the wall, not caring that the motion scraped her through the thin dress.How had everything gone so wrong?Ten minutes ago, she'd been in Cole's arms, feeling more alive than she had since waking up in this timeline.Now...
Now, she'd lost them both.
It was the last she saw of Cole that summer.
CHAPTER21
The lab smelled of coffee and ozone, underlaid with the sharp tang of solder that seemed to linger no matter how many windows they opened.Ashley hunched over her workstation, fingers smudged with ink, trying to lose herself in the scattered equations that had become her summer sanctuary.The constant hum of equipment provided a steady backbeat to Sarah's rhythmic pen-tapping - a nervous habit she'd developed since they started their research position.
It felt wrong being here without Dale's steady presence.He still came to the lab when needed and still explained concepts with precise clarity, but the warmth had vanished from his voice.His careful smiles, once freely given, now appeared measured and distant.The change cut deeper than anger ever could - this polite professionalism that made her feel like a stranger.
Ashley wiped her brow with the back of her hand, gaze drifting to the whiteboard that dominated the far wall.Dale's neat handwriting covered every inch, forming patterns that reminded her achingly of another Westwood's explanations in a study room that felt like lifetimes ago.The memory made her fingers twitch toward her flat stomach - a gesture she caught halfway, turning it into an awkward stretch.
"Your brain's about to leak out your ears," Sarah announced, sliding a coffee cup across the counter.The familiar scent of vanilla latte - because, of course, Sarah remembered her order - cut through the sterile lab air.
Ashley glanced up, catching her friend's knowing look.Sarah had that determination set to her jaw that meant a conversation was coming, whether Ashley wanted it or not."That obvious?"
"You've been staring at the same equation for twenty minutes," Sarah said, settling onto the stool beside her.Her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled into a messy bun, strands escaping in that effortlessly disheveled way that somehow made her look more put-together rather than less."And you keep doing that thing with your hands."
Ashley forced her fingers to still against the counter."What thing?"
"That restless thing.Like you're looking for something that isn't there."Sarah's voice softened, losing its usual edge."Have you talked to him?"
Ashley didn't need to ask which 'him' she meant.The pain in her chest answered that question clearly enough."Dale's made it pretty clear he doesn't want to talk."
"Not Dale."Sarah's green eyes held steady."Cole."
The name hit like a physical blow.Ashley turned back to her equations, shoulders tensing."There's nothing to talk about."
"Right," Sarah drawled, unconvinced."Because disappearing for the entire summer after what happened is totally normal."
"He didn't disappear."Ashley's voice cracked slightly."He graduated.He moved on.That's what people do."
"Is that what you're doing?"Sarah challenged."Moving on?Because from where I'm sitting, you're just...stuck.Trapped between what happened with Cole and whatever's going on with Dale."
Ashley's fingers found the edge of her notebook, twisting the pages."It's not that simple."
"It never is with you."Sarah's tone held no judgment, just tired understanding."But you can't keep living in this limbo, Ash.You're here, doing research with Dale, but your mind is somewhere else entirely.With someone else."
"I'm trying," Ashley whispered, the words feeling inadequate even as they left her lips.
Sarah reached over, stilling Ashley's restless hands."Try harder.Dale deserves better than being your second choice, and you deserve better than pining after someone who won't even answer your texts."
Ashley slumped forward, forehead pressing against her notebook.Sarah was right - she was stuck, trapped between timelines, between brothers, between who she was and who she needed to be.The equations before her blurred into meaningless patterns, mocking her inability to solve this particular problem.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen," she said quietly.
