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Where are you?

When she didn’t answer for five minutes, he grew impatient and worried.

Aiden:

I’m serious. Please tell me where you are. I’m worried. I’m sorry.

Another several minutes. He gripped his hair.

Aiden:

Charlotte don’t do this to me

Aiden:

come on

After finding out a rogue snuck onto campus, he didn’t want her to be alone; but more than that, he didn’t want to leave their encounter in the cafeteria unresolved.

His eyes burned. The blurred screen made writing texts difficult. He blinked away the moisture in his eyes. If he weren’t running on sheer panic, he might feel embarrassment for texting her like a needy child, but he needed to know he hadn’t messed up.

He couldn’t mess up; he’d just got her.

Aiden:

Where are you

Charlotte:

I’m in the woods.

He stuffed his phone in his pocket and ran down the hall until he burst through the back doors of the academy into the shaded back path that ran between the forest and the back of the academy.

She could be anywhere in the forest.

Aiden:

Where in the woods?

Charlotte:

The benches across from the back doors. I went straight back from those. Are you coming out here?

He didn’t want her to run or try to stop him. If she asked him not to come, he would respect her wishes, so he didn’t answer to avoid being put in that situation.

Stuffing the phone back in his pocket, he ran into the forest, looking left and right, searching for any sight of her. She shouldn’t be in the forest alone with rogues about.

He’d moved so deep into the forest he wondered if he’d passed her when a shock of vibrant red hair caught his eye. His steps slowed, and he rubbed his chest. He needed to make things right. After witnessing how the unstable bond between his friends came close to tearing them apart, he would do anything to avoid it with his own bond.

“Why are you all the way out here?” he asked, voice low as he approached with cautious footsteps.

He couldn’t even see the academy from where they were. Pine trees surrounded them deep in the forest. The sizeable gaps overhead between the skinny pines reaching high above them allowed the sun to filter through and make it easy to traverse the dense foliage.

Climbing over a fallen log, he came to a stop a few feet in front of Charlotte.

“I’ve come out here a couple of times when you’ve been busy.” Her lips twisted to the side. “Before the stalker, I mean. When I thought he was dead and I was safe.” Her shoulders sagged, and the defeat she felt echoed his own. “I probably shouldn’t be out here now that we know otherwise.” She cleared her throat, holding a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun that hit her face when she looked up at him.

“Can we talk?”