Page 15 of All Hallows' Maze
“Over the moon.” Laughing at whatever expression I lazily managed, he kissed me. The act felt surreal after years of brief, stolen touches. He kissed me differently than he had at the gate, and I favored both sides of him.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you every day.”
“You do or did, rather.” He shook his head, trailing his fingers down my cheek before brushing his thumb over my bottom lip.
“Not even close. This is far better.” His words were a whisper over my mouth, and the deeper he pushed the more I wanted to repeat our night.
“Is that anevery timething for you?” It’d been exhilarating, but not something I was sure I could keep up with on a frequent basis.
“No, no.” His hand smoothed over my shoulder and down to my thigh where he drew winding patterns. “There’s a softer side, I promise.”
Dakota pushed off the ground and stood up, fixing his clothes before reaching down to adjust mine. He slid his arms under my knees and shoulders to hoist me into the air. Looking around, everything was dark and indistinguishable with no clear sign on how to leave. He walked with confidence as he approached one of the maze openings.
“You know the way back?”
“Let’s say I have a great sense of direction,” he said with a sly grin as he looked down at me. Sure enough, he didn’t hit a single dead end.
“Dakota?” He hummed in response as he walked us up and down the alleys. “What did you mean earlier?” The thought of clarifying put my stomach in a knot.
“If it’s the fact that it’s only been you, just that. We’ve been intertwined for more than ten years. There was never a different ending. March solidified there was no coming back from you—that my need for you would never subside. I had no direction and nothing to offer you, so, I didn’t.” His steps are sure, but he doesn’t look at me.
“But Meredith—”
“Was a distraction.” He halted, holding me against him tighter as he took a deep breath. “It’s cruel to say it like that, I know, but truly she was a distraction and almost a test of if I could. To which, I failed.” Quiet steps continued as his words from months ago came back to me.
A future I wasn’t planning for.
I won’t bargain you out of my life.
The gate came into view, and I was impressed that he navigated it without error. I’d been a weaving lunatic running down every alley hoping it led somewhere. He set me down and grabbed his jacket from the ground, tying it around my waist and kissing the top of my head.
“I promised Everett, so I need to get the keys back to him soon, but can I take you home? Back to my place, I mean.”
“Sleepover?” I mused and he laughed.
“Something like that.” His hands went to my hair and he made adjustments so that I was presentable.
“Take me home, Wilder.” Hand in hand, we left in our comfortable silence that already felt more like home than anything else.
* * *
The locker closed,now empty, as Dakota handed me my helmet. I turned it over in my hands as he fussed with his things. My anticipation of the night had been a miss, but somehow relatively accurate. There was a weight lifted knowing that the entire time he’d planned to say something first, or rather do something first. I smiled to myself, thinking about how silly it would’ve been if I’d said what I planned on after the bathroom. I could’ve kicked myself. All he needed was for me to wait a handful of minutes longer.
I followed alongside him as we left the park. A season pass offered many things, but this night was the best one it’d gifted me. Looking around, I spotted Everett walking around the fountain. Nothing more than a silent nod was exchanged between them as Dakota threw him the keys.
“You two becoming fast friends?” I asked as we pushed through the turnstiles, declining the park attendant’s offer to stamp our hands for easy re-entry. The walkway to the parking lot was long and empty. Arguably, we were probably the earliest guests to leave for the night.
“He’s a good guy, actually,” he said, nodding and coming to a stop at the edge of the sidewalk. “I stopped by after our first trip and ran into him. After I recognized from that night, we started chatting and discovered a few overlapping interests.” There was a coyness about him, and it almost seemed like he was embarrassed to be admitting this to me.
“Me and Is?” I guessed, and by the flush of his cheeks I knew I was right.
“Yeah,” he said, laughing the word and biting at the edge of his bottom lip. “He asked about her and wanted to know if she was doing okay, that sort of thing. Then he asked about us.”
“Us as in…”
“Assumed we were…us.” His cheeks were brighter now, and his eye contact was mostly held with the helmet in his hands.
“What was your response to that?” I didn’t know what kind of answer I wanted, but the words left my mouth before I could talk myself out of it. It was my turn to fidget with the chin strap when he looked up at me.
