Chapter 10
Ash
Well, spending my midnights magically scrubbing the locker rooms wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but they had to be done.
And it was the only time I could be in the athletics building without running into Silver.
He’d developed a habit of hanging around after practices, probably hoping to run into me.
But I couldn’t let that happen, not after what he’d told me.
The problem was two-fold. One, I liked him.
A lot. Far more than I should have after a couple of kisses.
Honestly, it made me feel pathetic. I knew that if I ran into him, I wouldn’t be able to resist his charms. And two, he was leaving at the end of the year.
Permanently. The last thing I wanted to do was fall for some guy who was guaranteed to leave me.
That would be devastating. So it was best that things between us just never got started to begin with.
I knew it was the smart thing to do, even if it felt like I was tearing myself apart.
Every night, I’d wait until the building was practically deserted before slipping in with my mop and bucket.
The shadows would help me move silently through the corridors, wrapping around me like a protective cloak.
Tonight was no different. I’d just finished the main shower area, my shadows extracting the grime with surprising efficiency.
Professor Blackwood would be proud because I’d finally gotten the hang of pulling out impurities without destroying the underlying structure.
Mostly. There was still that one tile near the drain that had mysteriously disintegrated, but I’d managed to patch it with a quick spell thanks to a handyman spell book from the library.
“Making progress,” I muttered to myself, watching as the shadows swirled around the floor, leaving gleaming tile in their wake.
I was so focused on my work that I didn’t hear the door open. Didn’t sense another presence until a familiar voice cut through the silence.
“Ash?”
My heart leapt into my throat as I spun around. Silver stood in the doorway, his purple skin almost luminous in the dim light, those silver eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my knees weak.
“S-Silver,” I stammered as my mop clattered to the floor. All my shadows suddenly dropped what they were doing and stretched toward him as if they craved his presence as much as I did. “What are you doing here?”
“I left my Advanced Pyrokinetics textbook in my locker by accident.” He just stood there, looking me up and down. “Why are you here so late?”
“Uh… ran out of time,” I said quickly. “Yep. Really b-busy with homework. Had to change my schedule. No way around it.”
Silver lifted one eyebrow, then crossed his arms. “You’re avoiding me, aren’t you?”
I froze, my mouth suddenly dry. Silver’s gaze was too intense, too knowing. My shadows coiled anxiously around my ankles, betraying my emotions.
“No,” I lied. “Of course not.”
“Bullshit.” Silver took a step closer, and my shadows stretched toward him like eager fingers. “You’ve been cleaning at midnight for the past week, haven’t you?”
My face burned. “I’ve just been busy with classes.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” Another step closer. I could smell his cologne now, that intoxicating scent that had haunted my dreams. “Why are you running from me?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m not running.”
“Then why do you look ready to bolt right now?” His voice softened. “What did I do wrong?”
The gentleness in his tone nearly broke me. I bent down to retrieve my fallen mop, needing something to do with my hands.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I admitted, staring at the wet tile instead of his face. “I just... I think it’s better if we don’t complicate things.”
“Complicate things?” Silver laughed, but there was no humor in it. “What’s complicated about two people who are clearly attracted to each other?”
“You’re leaving,” I said, finally looking up at him. “After graduation, you’re going back to the Twilight Realm. Forever. You said so yourself.”
Silver’s expression shifted, something like pain flashing across his features. “So that’s it? You’re writing this off before it even starts because I have to go home eventually?”
“What’s the point of starting something that has to end?” My voice came out sharper than I intended. “I’m not interested in being someone’s college fling before they go back to their real life.”
“Is that what you think this is?” Silver closed the distance between us in two quick strides. “A fling?”
My shadows swirled frantically as he approached, reaching for him despite my attempts to rein them in. Every inch of me ached to touch him, but I forced myself to stand my ground.
“What else could it be?” I asked, hating how small my voice sounded. “Humans aren’t allowed in the Twilight Realm. You told me that. So whatever this is, it has an expiration date.”
Silver’s hand reached for mine, hesitating just before contact. “Can I touch you?”
“No,” I said before my brain could betray me. “You need to just leave me alone. There’s nothing going on between us. Just go… Just go find someone else to fuck.”
Silver retracted his hand, the hurt evident in his features. I hadn’t meant to be so harsh. But it was true, right? He had a reputation. I didn’t want to be just another notch in his belt. I was too annoyingly sensitive for that.
But I couldn’t apologize. I wasn’t even sure I could resist him if I stayed there much longer. Instead, I pushed around him, heading for the door, cleaning be damned. However, the moment I took a step, my foot flew out from under me, the floor still soaked from the mop I’d been holding.
I slipped backwards, my arms pinwheeling uselessly as I tried to catch myself. My stomach lurched as I braced for impact with the hard tile. Instead, strong arms wrapped around me from behind, catching me before I hit the ground.
“Careful,” Silver murmured, his breath warm against my ear.
That familiar electric current surged between us the moment his skin touched mine. My shadows went wild, darkening the entire room until only Silver’s glowing silver eyes were clearly visible in the gloom.
“Let me go,” I whispered, but there was no conviction in my voice.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” His arms tightened slightly around my waist, steadying me but not restricting me. I could pull away if I wanted to.
I didn’t.
“This isn’t fair,” I said, my voice trembling. “You can’t just show up here and—”
“And what? Save you from cracking your head open?” There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but something else too. Something raw and vulnerable that made my chest ache. “I didn’t plan this, Ash.”
He slowly turned me around to face him, his hands still on my waist. In the darkness my shadows had created, his purple skin seemed to glow with an inner light. Those silver eyes looked right through me, seeing everything I tried to hide.
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he admitted, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I’ve tried. Gods know I’ve tried.”
My breath caught in my throat. “Silver, please—”
“Tell me you don’t feel it too,” he challenged. “Tell me you don’t feel this... connection between us, and I’ll walk away right now. I’ll never bother you again.”
I opened my mouth to lie, to tell him I felt nothing, but the words wouldn’t come. My shadows betrayed me, wrapping around his ankles, his wrists, binding us together in tendrils of darkness.
“I can’t,” I finally whispered. “You know I can’t say that.”
His forehead dropped to rest against mine, and I closed my eyes, overwhelmed by his proximity. “Then stop running from me.”
“It’s going to hurt,” I said, my voice barely audible. “When you leave. It’s going to break me.”
“You don’t know that,” he argued, one hand moving to cup my cheek. “None of us knows what the future holds.”
“But you said—”
“Forget what I said.” His thumb traced my lower lip, sending shivers down my spine. “Right now, all I care about is this moment. With you.”
I knew I should push him away. I knew the smart thing would be to run, to protect myself from the inevitable heartbreak. But as his lips hovered just inches from mine, I couldn’t remember why that mattered anymore.
“Kiss me,” I breathed, giving in to the desire that had haunted me since the moment we’d met.
Silver didn’t need to be told twice. His lips crashed against mine, hungry and demanding in a way that made my entire body ignite.
The electric current that always sparked between us blazed into an inferno, coursing through my veins like liquid fire.
My shadows responded instantly, wrapping around us both in a cocoon of darkness that cut us off from the rest of the world.
His hands found my waist, pulling me flush against him. I could feel every hard plane of his body pressing into mine, the heat of him burning through my clothes. Without thinking, my arms wound around his neck, fingers tangling in his soft white hair as I kissed him back with everything I had.
“Gods, I missed you,” he murmured against my lips, his voice rough and wanting.
I couldn’t respond with words. Instead, I pulled him closer, deepening the kiss as my shadows swirled around us like a storm. Something crashed to the floor nearby—probably knocked over by my uncontrolled magic—but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Silver backed me up until I felt the cold tile wall against my shoulders. His hands slid under my shirt, his warm palms against my skin making me gasp into his mouth. The contrast between his hot touch and the cool wall sent shivers racing down my spine.
“Is this okay?” he whispered, breaking the kiss to look into my eyes. Even in the darkness, his silver gaze glowed with an otherworldly light.
“Yes,” I breathed. “Please don’t stop.”