Page 92 of Temptation
I bent down to retrieve my phone and saw Ash’s name reflecting on the screen.
“Ash,” I answered, my voice wavering and worried. He never called this early unless something important happened. “What happened?” I didn’t have to hear the words from him to understand that something definitely did happen.
“Moonshine,” he breathed out, and in that one word, I could feel everything he wanted to say—pain, worry, sorrow, fear, but most of all love. “Are you guys ready?”
“It’s still too early.” I frowned and sat on the bed. “You said at—”
“I know,” he cut me off. “I know, but there was a change of plans. My brother is coming with us.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I’ll explain everything, but we might need to leave sooner rather than later. I want to put some distance between Sebastian and Winworth.”
“Are you going to tell me why?”
“Later,” he murmured. “You and Dylan should get ready. I’ll be at your house in approximately fifteen minutes.”
“Did you eat?” I asked automatically. “Did Sebastian?”
“No, but we can worry about that later.”
“Ash—”
“There’s no time, Moonshine. I’ll explain everything, but right now I need you to trust me and to start moving. Get Dylan, prepare everything, and Skylar?”
“Yes?”
“You might want to prepare some clothes just in case. I’m not sure if we’ll be coming back to Winworth after today.”
“What? Ash—”
“As I said, I’ll explain everything. But just be ready. Please…” he trailed off. “I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.”
“But what about Dylan?”
He chuckled darkly, and I could almost see his face in my mind. “Moonshine, Dylan goes where we go. Remember what I said last night?”
“I do, but—”
“No, just do it, and I’ll explain things once I’m there.”
He dropped the call without saying goodbye, and I sat there on my bed, staring at my phone, more confused than ever. But God, his voice… I’d never heard him sound like that—worried, panicky. If he was bringing Sebastian, then something big happened, and I knew he wouldn’t try to move us all away if it wasn’t important.
“Dylan!” I yelled out and dashed toward the door. The hallway was empty, illuminated by wall lamps, but Dylan didn’t answer.
“Dylan!” I yelled out again, going through the hallway. I was all the way to his room when I heard footsteps.
“Little One?” he called out from downstairs, and I stopped at the rail, just above the stairs and looked down.
With dark circles around his eyes and his hair in disarray, he looked like a fallen angel. His skin was paler than usual, and the marks where Ash bit him were evident on his neck, but at least he wasn’t trying to hide it.
“Is everything okay?” he asked and started climbing up, taking two stairs at a time until he reached me. His hands took mine, and he looked down at me with questions in his eyes.
“It’s Ash—” I started, but he cut me off.
“What happened with Ash?” Was that worry I heard in his voice? His eyes looked over me frantically, waiting for an answer.
“No.” I shook my head and squeezed his hands. “Nothing happened. He’s okay.” At the same time the words left my mouth, his body relaxed and the tension that was littering his shoulders was gone.
