Inbetween - Book 1 of the Guardian series

Chapter 12- Tethered

Amelia didn't sleep well. She wasn't even sure why she tried to sleep. As her mind kept reminding her she didn't have to sleep. But some part of her wanted to sleep, like that'd cure it, and she'd curled up tighter.

She'd ended up waking over and over though, aching, dreaming of that face. Over and over. It wasn't just a sexual ache, though after that kiss it was apart of it, it was something else. An ache for warmth, for closeness, for something Amelia had lost. Lying there with another's warmth beside her, with their arm over her, she'd forgotten how this was one part of Dylan she missed the most. The comfort of his warmth.

“Amelia. I need to talk with you.”

He'd said that after they'd slept together, warm bodies pressed up against each other, and she had been lying there in such a content daze. So happy. Amelia could have cried, she was so happy.

“What about?” I asked, staring at the ceiling, trying to not cry. I did it enough and I knew it sometimes made Dylan uncomfortable.

“What do you think about us? About ...you know, us?”

“I don't know. True love? Soul mates?” I offered the words lightly but I didn't feel light about them. Dylan had been there always like fate. I loved him. “I love us. You.”

He didn't speak for a long time and I thought he'd gone to sleep. Then without a word he shifted up, back to me, face in hands. Like he was trying to hold something in. It really looked like that, like he was trying to not vomit or something, and I knew something was wrong then.

“What's wrong?”

“Give me a second, Amie. I need to do something.” Dylan stood up and headed out for the living room. I slid up onto one arm and waited, confused. He was on the phone? It was just after midnight. I didn't hear the words, he was speaking so softly, but the call was quick. He returned after a while and paused in the door frame. Dylan's eyes were still avoiding mine. “Your aunt's coming now.”

“Coming why? How?” How the hell was she doing that? We were in another state. She was a six hour drive away.

“She drove in today. Amie. I-”The phone in his hand rang and he answered it, hissing softly, “I'll call you in the morning. No. Not yet. Not now.”

Now Dylan was starting to scare me. He was acting strange.

“Are you sick?” I slid up fast then, climbing out of bed in a hurry, sheets falling away with me and neither of us paid attention to them. Dylan shook his head and started to dress. Stunned I did the same, without knowing why, without understanding why my aunt would fly in today and then come over after midnight. “Dylan, what the hell?”

“I cheated on you.”

The words made no sense to me. I didn't understand them. Dylan just continued to refuse to look at me. He leaned against the wall,

“No, you didn't.” Was this about that stupid kiss he'd done at the party? “I saw the kiss. You were drunk. You never think when you're drunk.”

“It wasn't about the kiss at the party, Amie. Fuck. You're so... I don't deserve you.” He swore softly, squeezing his eyes shut. “I cheated on you. I love her.”

“No, that's impossible.” It was. I said it so simply. I refused to believe it. I moved closer and Dylan actually flinched. Like it hurt him to be too close to me. “Dylan, it isn't April fools.”

“You're my best friend. I love you. I really fucking love you. I just-” Dylan tried to look at me then.

Then it smashed into my head, my heart, everything, like my parents death had, like the way everything fucked up had. He wasn't lying. He wasn't fooling around. The remorse there, the guilt, and the way he flinched when I got it, I knew it.