Page 60 of Delta
His words shatter what pieces of my heart remain. Dylan had been so lost—so broken. He’d needed me, and I stopped trying to reach him because it was easiest for me. Because I was hurt by believing he’d just decided I wasn’t who he wanted to be with.
How naïve I was.
How sheltered.
“God doesn’t forget people. People forget how to pray.”
Dylan takes another step toward me, putting us closer than we’ve been since that ocean. “You saw the scars I carry. That’s only a small piece of what they put me through. I was forever changed in that prison, Emma. Soiled. Damaged. And I still don’t think I’m clean enough to even breathe the same air as you.”
“Clean enough? Is that what you think? That I’m too clean for you?”
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “You deserve better than half a man.”
“I don’t see half a man when I look at you, Dylan Hunt. Do you know what I do see?”
His gaze levels on mine.
“I see a man who’s seen the vilest parts of humanity yet still chooses to dedicate his life to saving it. I see a man who—despite his own pain—came for me when he could’ve sent any one of his brothers.” The tears continue rolling down my cheeks, but I make no move to wipe them away. “I see you, Dylan. Not your pain.”
A shudder runs through him, and he starts to move back but stops. “I don’t know how to be the guy you knew.”
“Good. Because I’m not the same either.”
Dylan nods, then closes his eyes and bows his head slightly. With trembling fingers, he reaches up and gently touches the side of my face.
I go completely still, afraid that if I don’t, then he’ll pull away.
After a few heartbeats, he does anyway, then takes a step back.
“There’s something I have to tell you. It’s why I came down here.”
“More? I feel like we just had the best conversation we’ve had in years.” I try to smile in order to somewhat defuse the tension between us, but Dylan doesn’t react. “What is it?”
He takes a deep breath. “Felicity is dead.”
“What?” His words hit me, shattering what little happiness I had over this breakthrough with Dylan. “What do you mean she’s dead?”
“She and the boutique owner were murdered. Local police are calling it a burglary gone wrong.”
I stumble back a step, the guilt over their deaths like a dagger to the heart. “It’s my fault they’re dead.”
“No, it’s not,” Dylan says, his tone level.
“Yes, it is. Felicity snuck me out; that woman at the boutique helped her. Dylan—” Eyes wide, I stare up at him in horror. “They’re dead because of me.”
“They’re dead because of the man who killed them—not you.”
“I can’t believe he killed them. Gio did this. Or Mattheus. Maybe Heath. Any of them could have been responsible. They’re all monsters.”
“I’m going to figure it out, okay?”
“You?” I look up at him. “No. You can’t go anywhere near them. The cops?—”
“Labeled it a robbery. Emma, he’s going to come for you again, and I won’t risk sitting around and waiting for some fictitious timer to run out. I want this over. I need this over.”
“Why?” That small voice at the back of my mind tells me it’s because he wants his space back. I’m here, and it’s hard for him with me this close. Didn’t he just tell me as much? But as much as I want to go back to my normal life, I’m also afraid that, once I leave this ranch, things will go back to the way they were between us.
Distant. Cold.
