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“You’re going back to Onyx’s for the night,” she said before I could figure out how to tell her.
I nodded. “How did you know?”
“I know you. You don’t want to pick sides.” She sounded hurt.
“I’m going to hear him out. If his reasons aren’t good, then fuck him.” I didn’t realize I was reaching for her, until my fingers brushed her face as I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. The shock that raced through me was high voltage.
Touching Alys had never felt like that before. “I don’t blame you for staying here or for how you feel. Plus, our stuff is there, and I can bring you your computer in the morning,” I said.
Alys covered my hand with hers, and leaned her cheek into my palm. “I get it. Don’t let him take you with him.”
Not unless you’re coming too. That wasn’t a comforting response. “I’m not leaving you behind.” I kissed Alys on the forehead. On the way through the living room to the front door, I wished Aubrey and Evie good night and headed down to the street.
I probably should’ve messaged Onyx first to make sure this was all right. Oops. When I grabbed my phone, there were a handful of messages from him already. All along the lines of Hear me out. Get Alys to hear me out.
I sent one of my own.
Me: I’m coming over.
He answered almost immediately.
Onyx: I’m here.
When I walked into his house a few minutes later, he was in the living room perched on the edge of the couch. His smile wilted when he looked at me. “Just you?”
“I’m one hell of a prize on my own.” I was a smidge offended, but Alys and Onyx and that bond…
…that apparently wasn’t as unbreakable as I thought.
Onyx huffed and shook his head. “You’re certainly one of a kind, and I’m glad you’re here.”
Might as well get the tough stuff out of the way first. “Why are you leaving?”
“A colleague is retiring. He doesn’t want to see his place flounder, and he offered me a chance to give it new life like I did here.”
“Like we did here. We helped.” Though if I had to be logical, he started the project, he led the project, and it made sense he’d want to do it again. “But you don’t have to be there full time to do that. He asked and you just said sure, I can leave my life and my friends behind. Why not?”
Onyx clenched his jaw. “I don’t have to be here full time to see you and Alys, either.”
“Oh.” The reality sank in fast and hard. Technically he was right, but… “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because I knew it would take a lot of planning and I didn’t want us to fall apart while I was still here. I’ve been trying to figure out how to say something for months.”
A barrage of pieces slotted into my head all at once. “Xander knows. He’s been helping you sell.” My fucking brother. That was why he made so many trips down here, especially around the holidays last year. He hated this place—no way he was coming back so often without a good reason. “How many people did you ask to lie to us?”
Onyx scrubbed his face. “Only him. I promise.”
“Yeah.” I gave him a wilting look. This was too much, and I sank onto the couch, leaving a few feet between us, to drop my head into my hands. “You’re one of us. We’re not the Wonderland Crew without you.”
“It’s the next state. Less than a nine hour drive, where I’m going. Way faster flying. It’s not like I’m leaving forever and cutting off all ties.”
It wasn’t the same. Sure he would still just be a text away. Or a few hours’ flight away, but… Sigh.
There was no one I’d miss as much as him, except Alys, if they weren’t here. “You’re one of the best people I’ve ever known, and if you’re gone, I’ll be more lost than I already am.” I shouldn’t admit that out loud, but it felt good to finally say it to someone.
Onyx gave a dry chuckle. “You’re not lost.”
“I am.”
