Beyond(20)

“What’s the blush for?” Sam asks me, directing Dane’s attention to me.

“Oh nothing,” I say quickly. “Just a little warm out here, don’t you think?”

Sam looks at me like I’ve lost my mind, and Dane smirks, his hazel eyes knowing. He’s so observant it drives me crazy sometimes. Nothing gets past him. I felt comfortable with him though. I guess having a man lick every inch of your body does that. We also talked a lot after making love.

Pillow talk.

It was nice.

He was nice.

And he was all mine.

“I’m going for a run, are you coming?” Dane asks, putting down his bow and arrow next to the tree and stepping to me, his arm going around my hips like it was natural to be there.

“No,” I reply. “I promised Regan I’d go and see him. Plus my dad wants to see me.”

Dane nods. “Alright. I’ll see you at dinner.”

He kisses me on the forehead, says bye to Sam then takes off on his jog.

“Fuck he’s hot,” Sam mutters. I elbow him in the chest.

“You coming with me to see Regan? Or have you got shit to do?” I ask my friend.

Sam smiles. “I have shit to do but I also haven’t seen you in days, so I’ll tag along.”

I smile up at him.

I was lucky to have a friend like Sam.





When Gina sits next to me at dinner the next evening, a knowing smile playing on her pouty lips, I wait for her to make a comment. She always does.

“You look happy,” she muses. “Where is Dane? I haven’t seen him since the two of you snuck away after lunch yesterday.”

My cheeks heat. Yeah, we found time after lunch to get reacquainted between the sheets. I can’t seem to get enough of him, and lucky enough for me the feeling is mutual.

“How have you been handling things without him?” I ask, referring to her panic attacks. Dane hasn’t been running off at night, and I haven’t been with her as much—at least not how I was when Dane went away. First Dane helped her, then I did, and now I realize that we haven’t really been there for her recently.

“Lars has been around,” she replies casually, shrugging her slender shoulders. “His show of tough love seems to be working.”

“Tough love?” I ask, curious. Sounds like Lars.

“Instead of holding me or hugging me, he just talks to me in a strong, low tone. His presence seems to help. I don’t know. He kind of yells at me sometimes. Tells me there’s nothing to be scared of and that I’m being ridiculous.”

“So he yells at you to get you to stop having an attack?” I ask, my eyebrows rising.

Gina smirks. “Something like that.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Are you and Lars…?”

She giggles now, a carefree sound. “I can’t let you have all the fun now can I?”

“He doesn’t mind that you…” I trail off, not wanting to bring up the way she chooses to contribute to the community.

“I’m working on it,” is all I get in reply.

Interesting.

When I see Dane enter the room from the corner of my eye, I smile.

But my smile drops when I see the look on his face.

Everything else forgotten, I stand up and walk towards him. “What happened?”

His eyes gentle on me, and I can see the sympathy in them. The sadness.

“It’s your father.”





My dad was dead.

I was upset.

I was devastated.

Dr. James told me it was a heart attack that took him away from me; from everyone.

A heart attack.

The doctor couldn’t even look me in the face when he told me.

He stared at the floor.

I was numb.

Dad was our leader, but to me he was so much more.

He was the only family I had left.

He was the man that looked after me, made sure I had everything I would need. Yes, he was protective, but he was my rock. And how he was gone.

Dane runs a hand down my bare back, comforting me while I sob into my pillow. I’d taken a bath, and then fallen onto my bed, not knowing what to do with myself. I just felt… numb. I know I didn’t have the luxury of wallowing in self-pity for long, but I was going to take the time I did have to grieve for a man that saved us all. Everyone behind these walls, my dad saved. I was proud of him. I was going to miss him. Every damn day for the rest of my life.

I know Dane is upset too. He looked up to my dad, he respected him. It was now Dane’s turn to lead, not just the men that fought for us, but everyone. Times were changing. I knew how to run the castle, Dane knew how to lead the men. Together, we were going to do this.

We had no choice.





“You need to eat Olivia,” he tells me for the third time. “It’s been a week. You need to get out of bed.”

I roll over onto my back and stare up at him, standing there with a tray of food in his hand. I can see thick, chunky bread with fried eggs. My stomach rumbles on cue. I make myself sit up and scoot back so I’m sitting upright, leaning back against the wall.

“Thanks,” I reply, my voice husky.

He sits down next to me and hands me the food. “I had no idea how much your father had to do on a daily basis until today. Everyone with every problem comes to me and asks how to solve it,” he says, looking frustrated. He runs his hands through his hair, which is loose and at his shoulders.