Page 28 of Dyana
A new name wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Chapter seven
Bryce
Ipaced the tower anxiously. Jack had chased after Dyana, and then, after finishing his breakfast, Evan disappeared without a word. Was I supposed to go after them? Stay here? I had tried to stop Jack from following Dyana. She wanted to escape from him so badly that she hadn’t eaten breakfast. That’s a clear sign to leave her be, but Jack wouldn’t listen. The door slammed open behind me, and I spun around to see Dyana was back, and she looked pissed. She went over to her space and started throwing things into a bag.
“What’s going on, Dyana?” She didn’t respond or indicate that she had heard me as she continued to pack a bag angrily.
A few minutes later, Jack flew through the door and made a beeline for Dyana. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him, shaking her slightly. “Once again, you didn’t wait, Dyana!” he yelled. “I needed a moment to fucking process what you told me, but no, it doesn’t change how I feel about you. I don’t care if you fucked half the country. I don’t care what you’ve had to do to survive. I’m glad about it because that means you’re still here. That I didn’t lose you.”
Dyana pushed Jack away from her with a growl, but her words held no anger. “That’s just it, Jack. You did lose me. I don’t know that Dyana anymore. She died a long time ago.” Dyana gathered her bag and more weapons and pushed past him. I held out my arm to stop her because running never solves anything, but her eyes made me pull it back. Dyana was hurting so much, and the pain I saw there nearly sent me to my knees. She paused when she got to the door. “Don’t fucking follow me,” she ordered without looking back.
I watched her leave and grabbed Jack as he tried to run past me.
“Get the fuck off of me,” Jack seethed.
“She needs some space, brother,” I replied without loosening my grip on him. I might not be able to take away Dyana’s pain, but I could give her the opportunity for space. “Let her go. She’ll be back when she’s ready.” Jack continued to struggle against my hold. “If you don’t, you could push her away forever, Jack. Is that what you want? To lose her forever just as you found her?” He didn’t respond, but he did stop struggling. When I was sure he was thinking rationally again, I released him, and he fell to his knees in defeat.
“I didn’t expect it to go like this,” he admitted quietly.
“This life takes more than showing up to earn your white picket fence and happy ever after. You have to give her time,” I replied. The door opened, and we both looked up hopefully. Maybe Dyana had changed her mind and decided to stay and talk it over.
“What happened?” Evan asked as he stood in the doorway with an armful of tools. “I just saw Dyana, and she wouldn’t even look at me.”
“Her and Jack got into it,” I replied. “We’re giving her space.”
Evan sighed as he dropped the tools on the table. “You had to push, didn’t you?”
“What the fuck did you just say to me?” Jack asked. He jumped to his feet and got in Evan’s face.
Great. I knew my friends better than anyone on the planet. We didn’t fight often, but it was a nightmare when we did. And knowing how angry Jack already was, I knew this wouldn’t be good if I couldn’t shut it down fast.
I pushed between them before they could start swinging at each other. “Everyone calm the fuck down,” I yelled as I pushed them away from each other. “Fighting each other won’t accomplish a damn thing.”
“What happens between me and Dyana isn’t your business. Either of you,” Jack said. “Stay the fuck out of it.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose before looking at Evan. It was truth time.
“You tell him, or I will,” Evan said.
“Right. Why don’t we address the elephant in the room?” I turned to look at Jack, praying this didn’t kill our friendship. “Jack, we’re attracted to Dyana, too. After all of your stories about her and finally meeting her, how could we not? We need to decide what we’re going to do about that.”
“What the fuck do you mean what we’re going to do about that?” Jack exploded. “Dyana is mine.”
I was worried he would be like this. I understood where he was coming from to a point. It’s always been Dyana for him, and to hear his two best friends also have feelings for her had to be difficult.
“You’re going to need to broaden your mind on that,” Evan replied.
“The hell I do.” Jack let out a humorless laugh. “Isn’t this rich? Here I thought you guys had my back and were helping me when really you were just helping me find Dyana for yourselves.”
“It’s not like that, Jack,” I said, “and you know it. How could we not fall in love with Dyana after over four years of listeningto you talk about her? It’s like we know her, too. Besides, it just might take all three of us to convince her to give any of us a chance.”
“Face it, buddy,” Evan said with a grin, “you need us.”
“I need her,” Jack replied as all the anger drained from his body. He lowered himself into a chair like an eighty-year-old man. “Only, I don’t think Dyana wants me. I don’t know what happened to her, and she refuses to talk about it, but based on the little she did say, I don’t think any of it was good. I don’t care if Dyana’s changed. Who hasn’t? I just want to be with her.” He let out a labored sigh and then looked up at us. “I’ll do whatever it takes, even if that means sharing her with my idiot best friends.” He paused a few seconds before smirking. “Though I don’t know what she’d see in you.”
A wave of relief rushed through me. “Please,” I scoffed, “ladies love me.” I was grateful that the conversation went better than I expected, but I was eager to change the subject. I looked at Evan and the pile of tools on the table. “What’s all this?”
