Page 62 of Temptation
“Then we fight them. We can fight them.”
“We can’t.” He sighed. “We can’t fight them because I don’t know where they are. I don’t have enough information about them, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to protect you here. I came to Winworth to kill Judah for what he did to my parents. I never thought that I would need to fight against the Syndicate.”
“The who?” I asked, confusion lacing every word.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, I need to get you out of here. We need a plan and we need it now.”
He took a hold of my hand again and started walking, pulling me with him.
“Ash,” I tried. “Stop. Please stop,” I whispered.
“We can’t stop. Not now. I need you safe and that’s it. They could be everywhere. They could infil—”
“We can trust Dylan,” I cut him off. Silence greeted me, and when I looked up, I could see the anger blazing through his eyes. But there was something else there. Something I didn’t want to think about.
“Dylan?” he all but spat out, and I knew that this wouldn’t be a fight I could win. “Your brother?”
“He’s not my brother. Not really,” I revealed. “And he’s not a monster.”
“I can’t believe this.” He shook his head, and without looking at me, started walking, leaving me behind.
“Ash!” I called out, but he didn’t turn back. “Stop!”
I ran after him, fighting the exhaustion threatening to take over my body. I grabbed the railing, dragging myself after him, as my breathing turned choppy.
“Ash,” I gasped. “Please. Stop.”
“Out of all the people,” he yelled. “Out of all the monsters in this godforsaken town, you think we can trust him?”
“We can.”
“We can’t!” he roared as he turned toward me. “He took you away. He’s sick just like the rest of them.”
“He’s not,” I counterattacked. “There’s good in him. He’s not the monster you think he is.”
“I don’t care! He tortured you, planned on doing God knows what, and you’re defending him?”
“I’m not—” I closed the distance between us and pressed my hand to his chest. “I’m not defending him. I’m not justifying what he did, but if we need somebody to help us, it could be him.”
“No.”
“Ash, please listen to me. If what you’re saying is true—”
“It is.”
I glared at him, trying to calm my temper, but it was hard when he was behaving like a stubborn mule.
“Ash,” I started slowly. “We can at least talk to him.”
“Absofuckinglutely not!” He turned around and went straight toward the door, once again leaving me behind.
The door slammed shut behind him, while my eye twitched at his outburst. This wasn’t about trusting Dylan or hating him for what he did.
This was jealousy. Pure, unhinged jealousy.
Was I okay with everything Dylan had done? Absolutely not. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was one of the people that could help. Maybe even the only one, considering that he had a lot more connections than a bunch of rich kids from Winworth, who until yesterday, were quite literally hiding behind their parents and their money.
I stormed outside, seeing Ash leaning against the wall, with one leg propped against the white surface. His arms were crossed, face turned into an angry glare, and I could feel the tension rolling off him even from this distance.
