Page 138 of What We Don't Say: Part Two

Sloane: You have been staring at the hallway since she left.

Theo: Rude.

The laugh that slips out of me is small, but it’s real. Another message appears before I can put the phone down.

Dash: I’m in the hall. Do you want me to stay there?

I let my thumb rest over the keyboard for a moment.

Callie: Give me five minutes?

Dash: Take as long as you need.

Theo sends a heart. Sloane sends three. Idris reacts to Sloane’s messages with a thumbs-down. Another small laugh slips through my lips before I set the phone beside me with the screen still facing up.

A soft knock comes several minutes later. Dash opens the door only after I answer, then steps inside and leaves it partly open behind him.

“We are worried,” he says. His gaze moves over the room before returning to me, and his hands remain loose at his sides.

“You and Theo?” I ask.

“All of us.” He comes closer but stops before reaching for me. “Theo asked where you went twice. Sloane reminded him, and Idris showed him that your light was still on.”

I touch the bracelet at my wrist. Three sections glow steadily, each one lit by someone in the other room. Dash’s remains dark because he is already standing in front of me. “I told them where I was going.”

“You did.” Dash looks toward the bed, then back at me. “I thought you might need a minute after Zana called.”

“I did need one.” I sit on the edge of the mattress and watch him remain near the door. “I needed to remember what this room was.”

His expression changes, though he does not pretend not to understand. “It was somewhere you could lock the door.”

“It was somewhere you made safe for me.”

Dash’s throat moves. He looks away for a moment, his attention settling on the chair where he spent more than one night while I slept.

“You needed somewhere no one could take from you,” he says. “I gave you a room.”

“You gave me more than that.” I reach for him, and Dash crosses the remaining distance before placing his hand in mine. “You gave me enough time to survive what they had done.”

His fingers close around mine. He lowers himself in front of me, one knee against the rug, and rests his other hand lightly on my thigh.

“If you need to stay in here tonight, I can keep everyone back,” he says. “I can stay outside the door, or I can sit with you. You decide.”

I look at him and understand that he is still prepared to offer every kind of distance except the one I no longer want. He has waited through Sloane returning, Idris reclaiming his place, Theo choosing me again, and every old bond settling into my body.

“Life is too fleeting,” I tell him. “I can't keep waiting for what is already mine.”

Dash’s hand stills against my thigh. The hope that moves across his face is sharp enough to hurt, but he keeps his voice steady when he answers.

“Callie, you don't owe me a bond because everyone else has one.”

“This isn't about everyone else.” I slide forward until our knees touch and place both hands against his face. “I knew I wanted you before they came back. I knew it in the kitchen, in your bed, and every time you sat outside this door because you were afraid I would wake alone.”

His eyes close briefly beneath my palms. When they open again, the restraint in them is almost painful.

“Garrett came into this house six days ago,” he says. “You are still shaken, and I will not use that to take something permanent from you.”

“Garrett didn't make me choose you.” I trace my thumbs over his cheeks and lean closer. “He reminded me how much time I have already wasted pretending I need a better reason.”