Page 120 of The Otherworld

The Kiss

ORCA

Is he jealous?

That question echoes through my mind as I watch Adam, waiting to glimpse a hint of envy in his beautiful blue eyes. But if he feels anything, he doesn’t let it show. He needs secret books and ink and sleepless nights to put his feelings into words. Like little birds, they jump away from me when I try to get close. I feel foolish for looking for a sign.

He hasn’t changed his mind. He still wants me to go home.

I wish we were back at the lighthouse, where things were simple. I wish I could turn back the clock and freeze time, to live forever in that moment when he loved me. When he wanted me. When I could feel his desire in the air between us, like an electric charge before a storm.

Now I can’t find the tether that once connected our hearts. I feel a pull inside me, but when I follow that rope through the darkness, I never reach the other end. I can’t tell if his heart is still mine.

It’s a deeper pain than the day he left my island. Because even when I’d lost him, I still had his love.

Now, I have lost that too.

And it is the worst sorrow I’ve ever known.

On the drive to the harbor, his words from last night circle back through my mind. Leaving you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I knew it was the right thing… You have so much life to live.

Doesn’t he realize I don’t want to live that life without him?

I can’t live my life without him.

He may be the first man I’ve ever met, but I don’t care to meet anyone else. He and I are soulmates—destined to be together.

How can I make him see that?

When we arrive at the harbor, the sky is nearly dark. Jack pulls the truck into a parking space so that we are backed up to the water’s edge.

“Any closer, and we would be going for a swim,” I point out.

He laughs, reaching into the backseat to pull out a pile of blankets and pillows. I watch as he tosses everything into the bed of the truck, then drops the tailgate and helps me climb up.

He sprawls out on his back, leaning against the pillows, his smile a streak of white in the purple dark. I flop down beside him and pull the blanket over us to block out the cold breeze. For a long moment, we lie in silence, staring up at the sky spread over the harbor like great shadowy wings.

“I don’t see any fireworks,” I say to Jack after a long pause. “Just a lot of indigo.”

“Oh, yeah, your favorite color.”

“Mm-hmm.” I point to the edge of the horizon, where the purple-blue fallout of sunset glows in the gathering dark. “See it?”

Jack nods. “I see it.”

That’s when a burst of bright gold fills the sky, illuminating Jack’s face for a split second before—

BANG!

The explosion is so loud and sudden, I jump a foot into the air.

Jack chuckles at my surprise. “Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you: it’s going to be loud.”

I smack him for leaving out that minor detail, but his boyish smile and the wild joy in his eyes make it impossible to be truly angry with him.

“Look,” he says, pointing out over the water.

A shimmering streak of light shoots up from the darkness and bursts open in the sky, sending streams of brilliant crimson in every direction with another ear-splitting BANG! Three more chase after it—blue, white, and green.

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