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Davis tosses his bag to the side and sits on the huge slab of rock, looking warm despite just coming out of the frigid ocean. His eyes scan the horizon, the sun already gone with only the barest remnants of color left behind, and he looks calm, at peace. It’s so at odds with his normal composure that it gives me pause. I’m not sure how to handle him when he’s not scowling at me.
When the silence stretches and I feel like a dumbass for just standing there while Davis contemplates life on his rock, I turn to go.
“Wait. I’m sorry,” Davis calls out, and I freeze. I look over my shoulder and catch Davis’s eyes. “Sit for a sec.” He nods at the rock beside him. I hesitate for a bare second, but who am I kidding. Even when Davis is being a dick, I want to be next to him. To find out why he’s so prickly and peel back all those spiky layers. But only when I’m around. Everyone else can go fuck themselves. I shuffle over to the slab of rock and climb on beside him. Cold soaks through my jeans and instantly chills me. Both of us sit with our legs stretched in front of us, facing the gently lapping waves of the ocean.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask what he’s sorry about. For being a jerk to me since I’ve been on the island? Actually, he was an ass that first time we met, too. Or is he sorry for acting like he wants to fuck me into oblivion one minute and shutting a door in my face in the next? I don’t have time to ask those questions though, because Davis’s deep, soothing voice breaks the silence.
“When I was five, I started a fire in my bedroom. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even know how I did it. I just woke up from a nightmare and the blankets on my bed were on fire. By the time my parents came into the room, the fire was out, and I was fine, but my bed was ruined. When I was six, I flooded our backyard because I wanted to go down to the water that day and my dad told me no. That’s when my parents figured out, I could do magic. Nothing consistent and mainly when I was upset, but they both knew at that point that I had abilities.”
I turn my head to look at Davis and find his eyes are riveted to the ocean, but he doesn’t look focused on anything. My heart flutters wildly in my chest because this, this is something real. This is what’s hidden beneath the layers of gruff exterior. I tug at my sweatshirt, burying my chin in the protection of the thick material while wondering again how Davis isn’t a popsicle.
“My dad tried to get me to perform on cue. He’d demand I do something like, light a candle, fill a cup with water, but I could never make it happen. My mom tried to divert his attention, but it never worked for long.” Davis rubs his hand over his face, scratching at his jaw where his beard is almost grown out. “Whatever they did to form their Axis fucked with his head. Or maybe it brought out his true nature. I don’t know what he was like before that.” Davis shrugs, his brows drawn down.
“He tried other ways to get my magic to surface.” Davis exhales, but his body is stiff, anything but relaxed. “And when it didn’t work on me, he’d beat my mother.”
Silence falls between us, and I want to say something, but don’t want to say the wrong thing. Davis doesn’t strike me as someone who wants to be coddled. I want to know more about his family, about his dad and mom, even the painful parts, and I doubt pitying him is the way to keep him talking.
“My mom told me I had magic running in my veins from as far back as I can remember,” I say softly, turning my gaze to the sea. Allowing us to have this conversation with an ocean between us, as if it might make it easier to confess our secrets to the water instead of one another. “I don’t know exactly when I stopped thinking it was a fairytale come true and realized it was just how things are. She didn’t teach me much, and I could never start anything on fire, but I figured out that my magic came out in other unexpected ways.”
Davis shifts his body to face me, but I keep my eyes straight ahead, almost like I don’t want to startle him.
“At one of my schools the guidance counselor wanted me to get involved in the school.” I snort, remember how much I disliked his stupid ass. “Maybe he meant well, but I found him a little too touchy feely, in more ways than one, for my tastes.”
A low growl rumbles in Davis’s throat and I turn to look at him, my mouth open in surprise. There’s anger burning in Davis’s brown eyes. The flames of gold and green around the pupil darkening as he watches me.
“He didn’t do anything, he just gave me creepy vibes,” I quickly spit out. Not to defend the guy but because Davis looks like he might rip a tree out of the ground. “Anyway, he insisted I join a baking competition because all good little girls must love to bake.” I roll my eyes, my annoyance from an event over ten years ago rising to the surface. “He made it so that my participation was mandatory or else I’d get a fail in my study hall, which had a pass/fail based on attendance. It was bullshit, but I didn’t want to bother my mom trying to get out of it, so I made some damn cupcakes. The bastard was one of the judges and when he took a bite of my cupcakes—” I pause, a chuckle escaping from deep in my throat at the memory, “he started throwing up immediately. I had no idea I’d accidentally magicked the cupcakes to make him sick. They didn’t do it to anyone else, just him.”
Davis grunts, but it sounds like approval, and my smile widens. “That was the first time I realized I might be able to do real magic, but it had to have a container. I needed to mix things together and create a place to hold the magic. Which is how I got into making all the things I sell now.”
“You’re the alchemist.”
I look at Davis, who’s gone back to staring at the ocean. “Do you really think we could form an Axis? That we’re supposed to form one?”
Davis leans back, bracing his weight on his hands behind him and brushing his shoulder against mine. My eyes slide close as I try to control the spiraling ache building up in my belly. The heat radiating off of his skin is so intense I can feel it through the thick layer of my clothes, and it makes me want to rip them off and wrap myself in his arms instead.
This time when he looks at me, there’s something else burning beneath his gaze.
“I almost kissed you the first second I met you.”
My lips part in a silent gasp and my heart starts beating so fast that the world flickers in and out of existence for the space of a breath. The way he’s sitting makes his shirt ride up and his sweats are slung low, offering me a glimpse of bronzed skin that beckons to be touched.
“I think I knew we were connected from that first moment. My iomlán, I guess, although I didn’t know that’s what it was called. That you were mine, even if I didn’t understand it.”
What? I gape at him, completely blown away by that confession. When he says iomlán chills shoot up my spine and the hair stands up on the back of my neck. It’s a warning and a promise all at once.
“After I left you on Dani’s doorstep, I couldn’t get you out of my head. You’ve haunted me ever since, but at least you were somewhere else. Somewhere safe, somewhere hidden away from this place and Anthony and the possibility of an Axis. For us, the Axis has always represented the evils of magic. I don’t want any of that for you.”
I understand what he’s saying and the things he’s not admitting out loud. That having more magic scares him, or that he’s afraid he’ll turn into his dad.
“What about now?”
Davis stares at me, his face as open and vulnerable as I’ve ever seen him. “None of that’s changed. I don’t want you to get hurt and I hate that you’ve been drawn into this mess.” He yanks off his hat, running his fingers through his hair roughly. “I thought if you left the island, you could get away from the Axis, stay hidden like your mom wanted.”
Davis’s voice is impersonal, but his body tells a different story. Every muscle is tight and tense and his breathing is shallow, like he’s barely restraining himself. I jump up off the rock, needing to catch my breath and get my bearings. The sun has just set, but the moon is already hanging in the sky, a huge glowing orb above us. Energy snaps through my body, and each step I take away from Davis physically hurts.
I stand at the edge of the water, my shoes only just avoiding the gentle lap of the water. I know he’s behind me before Davis’s scent wraps around me, along with his arms. I sink back into his chest, unable to deny the need to lean into him.
“What changed? Why the sudden turnaround?”
