Chapter 50
Mila
Nova was a liar, but in the end, we all lied. No man was free of sins. Nova kept her word and never told the guys about my plans to escape.She was more loyal to me than the Kings were. We bitches had each other ’ s backs.
Yes, she used me to get closer to Titan, but I don ’ t think it was all for the taste of revenge. I think Nova fought to be loved again. Titan was the only man that could love someone like her.
Nova ’ s real name was Elsa. Titan thought she had died years ago and blamed himself for it. Their story was more fruitful than mine and Dash’s.
Titan and Nova had a chance at love again.
Yes, Nova is a loaded gun who is still pissed. Her plans for revenge didn ’ t work out as she had hoped, but she stayed in Titan ’ s bed, sleeping with him and not smothering him with her pillow.
She loves him, and he loves her. As odd as their love story is, it ’ s going to have a happy ending. I just know it.
It makes me jealous, but I want that for Nova. I want her walls to soften so someone can touch them again. I ’ m a hopeless romantic who wants everyone to have a happy ending because I can ’ t.
The smell of wet paint and music combine as I enter my art class. The very last person I anticipate seeing is standing at their canvas, paintbrush in hand, painting.
As far as I can tell, Blaze is completely safe and sound. As if sensing me, Blaze stops painting and looks at me with regret. My shoulders fall as I walk toward him with my guards a few steps behind me.
“ You ’ re still alive,” I mutter, dropping my bag at the easel.
He licks his lips. “ I shouldn ’ t have done it.”
“ So why did you?” I tilt my head up, attempting to meet his gaze, but he shies away.
“ I didn ’ t want to. I value our friendship.”
“ Who made you?”
He meets my gaze with his green eyes. “ How do you know someone made me?”
“ You ’ re a silly buffoon, but you ’ re not an idiot. You know we ’ re just friends.”
He grabs his brush and glances at my guards.
There’s my answer.
“ Dash?” I whisper as I face my canvas. I don ’ t speak as I boil over with so much bitterness and resentment.
Dash actually did this. It ’ s not enough to take away my hopes and dreams; he had to try to take away my friend.
He truly wants me to be alone in the cage he has made for me.
That...is the final blow. I feel face down in the dirt. I've reached my lowest point, and I'll make sure he knows what this feels like.
Blaze shrugs. He ’ s scared.
“ I ’ m sorry.”
“ Not as much as I am. I should have refused.”
“ I ’ m happy you didn ’ t.”
What did Dash expect? Was it a test to see if I would accept the lips of another?
I drop my brush but don ’ t hear it hit the ground over my pounding heart. I want to run wild and free like I did when I rushed away from dinner with my father and Dom.
Look how that ended.
“ Mila?” Blaze reaches out to touch me. A guard steps closer. My rage intensifies with each shallow breath. I can ’ t get enough air. My lungs and my world start to tip as my sight narrows.
Taking my last breath would be less painful than what I ’ m enduring right now.
◆◆◆
“ A panic attack,” the university doctor informs my guards. Her hair is pulled up in a tight bun, and her white coat is crisp and clean. Instead of smelling like antiseptic, the university medical center has a spa-like scent.
I remember the smell when the guys rushed me here after Dom stabbed me. It functions as a full-blown hospital with a surgery room just in case a student here needs emergency surgery like I did. Believe it or not, it happens frequently. The students here are desperate to do stupid things before they graduate and have to fall into line.
“ I ’ ll call the boss.”
“ I ’ m going to have my nurse give her an IV.”
“ Why?” The guard questions.
“ She needs fluids and to relax.” The doctor stresses, “ Your presence did this, so it would be best if you stood outside so she could calm down.”
With a hesitant look, the guard stands outside the door, keeping it slightly ajar.
“ I hate men like that. Big bears just hovering over us.” She gives me a friendly smirk and heads to the door to bring her nurse inside. “ I ’ ll go add my notes to your chart.”
As soon as the doctor is gone, I tell the nurse, “ I don ’ t require any fluids.”
“ Are you sure? It will make you feel better.”
I roll my eyes, “ Only freedom will make me feel better.”
“ What if I can give you that?” Her voice drops to a sly whisper.
My tired eyes jolt open to see a familiar face I haven’t seen in years. “ Avery Hailstone?” We attended Silverstone together.
“ In the flesh.” She smirks, then looks over her shoulder. The doctor is still talking to my guards. Wait, she ’ s not talking; she ’ s distracting them.
“ I haven ’ t seen you since The Cleansing,” I mutter, my body on alert as she hangs the IV bag up and then unwraps the line.
I ’ ll never forget that night, but Avery was a small detail I haven ’ t thought of in a very long time. She stood by me and Dante when Dash was forced to fight. She stopped me from running after Dash when he left with Cassandra. She had a hungry look in her eyes. She wanted to escape our world, but she didn ’ t want to run; no, she wanted to set it on fire and watch it burn.
The night of The Cleansing.
I take a step forward, but a hand grabs my shoulder, spinning me around. I ball my fist and swing, aiming as high as I can. The figure ducks and I miss as expected. Only it ’ s not Cillian or Dante; I spot them leaving the clearing, and a new pain enters my bleeding chest.
“ Let him go,” the person holding me back says. I look up to see Avery Hailstone again—my classmate who wanted to fight and bet on Dash to win.
“ Dash doesn ’ t want her. He… he is lying. He didn ’ t sleep with me as a game. He ’ s lying.” I ramble.
I don ’ t have time for this. I step to the side. I need to get to Dash.
Avery grabs me again. I swing my fist again, but she dodges.“What are you doing?” I snap as I rush towards the tree line. Where is he? Is he sprinting back to the dorms to fuck Casandra?
I swear to God, if he touches her that way, I won ’ t forgive him!
“ Helping you.”
“ You don ’ t know me,” I growl. It ’ s so dark now that I can barely make out the trees as I weave my way through them.
“ I know,” Avery replies, “ but I was you once.” Her words make my feet trip on a branch. My knees hit the ground hard, and my palms rub and scrape the soil, cutting me.
“ Where is your line, Mila?”
I push myself up.
“ Are you going to chase him forever? Watch him push and shove you away with his actions?”
I spin around. “ I don ’ t need your help! Leave me alone.”
“ You will be alone if you keep this up. Men like Dash will take the best of you; he ’ s like a tide. He will come in and sweep parts of you away. Day after day until you are eroded and nothing is left.” I can hear a haunting pain mixed with her words.
“ So what should I do?” I hiss in annoyance as my eyes scan the forest for Dash.
Avery steps in front of me, grabs my chin, and tips my face up. “ Become a storm. Make your waves.” She releases me. “ What you ’ re doing now is acting like a small wind battering impenetrable walls. It ’ s exhausting and deplorable. Try something else.” She crosses her arms.
I find my feet remaining still as my ears listen.
“ Stop trying to break through his defense. Men like him don ’ t break. You ’ ll never get over his walls, either.”
I ingest a stone that feels like it ’ s attached to my feet, trapping me under a crushing truth.
Avery ’ s eyes light up the darkness. “ But you can get under his walls, seep through his mind like water rushes into a crack. Slowly, those breaks will widen until you ’ re all he can think about again. Then the ball is in your court.” She smirks and steps back, holding my eyes for a moment, then turns and leaves me.
I sink to my knees.
Avery is right.
“ You were right. Dash took and took, and now I ’ m nothing.”
With a rip, she opens the plastic and takes out the needle. “ It ’ s just IV fluids. I ’ m not here to kill you.” She takes my arm and starts to search for my vein.
“ Why are you here?” I ’ m so confused.
Pinch! The needle breaks my skin, finding its target. “ Are you ready to be a storm, or are you just a tiny grain of sand about to disappear in the vast ocean?” She presses tape to the needle, keeping it in place. “ Do you want to be buried under the water or rule over it?”
“ I…I don ’ t understand.”
“ My time since graduation has been spent assisting those who require help. You ’ re not the first, and you won ’ t be the last. I heard about the wedding; then I saw the other photos. Do you want my help or not?”
With my eyes on the door, I see the doctor cross her arms and attempt to prolong the chat with my guard.
“ Dash will kill you.”
“ If he finds me.” Avery ’ s lips pull up with sinister flare.
I shake my head.
“ Trust me. If you want to escape, I can help you. You ’ re not the only one here who is about to vanish.”
I swallow, feeling it hit my empty stomach. “ And go where?” Can I trust her?
“ Next time you go to your art class, excuse yourself and go to the storage room. I can tell you more then.”
She speaks louder, “ All set.” She grins as she turns to leave, keeping her eyes down to avoid my guards.
I look at the IV in my arm and then back at the door. I ’ ve been too trusting in the past and paid dearly for it, but Avery has a vendetta. I saw it the night of The Cleansing.
It can ’ t hurt to hear her out. Can it?