AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Where you’re trying to lock the door, but the key just keeps turning?”
I bite my lip and nod, warmth, and something else, filling my chest at the fact that he remembered it.
“Only this time, I didn’t wake up when it got to the other side.” I take a deep breath. “It was vines. Vines with thorns all over. They pushed through the door and were wrapping themselves around me. Scratching me. I was so scared I froze. But then I heard myself tell them to go away. That they weren’t welcome. I sounded so calm. So in control.”
“Then what happened?” Dax searches my face as I smile at the bird, dancing my fingertips over its wing.
“Then they shrank back. They went back through the door and disappeared.”
“Hey,” Dax coaxes softly. “You did that. Youarethe one in control.”
I drop my eyes to the bird and back up, biting my lip shyly. “I never used to feel it. And seeing Gareth and Casey these past few days… it threw me. I can’t deny it didn’t. But even after all that, I still feel better than I did before I came here.” I take a deep breath, lifting my eyes. “It’s you, Dax. You’ve helped me.”
“I’ve done nothing.” The lines at the corners of his eyes deepen with his smile. “It’s all you. You allowed yourself to believe that you had nothing to give, that the world got the worst of you. But I’ve always seen your best. That’s always been who you are.”
“And I see your best, Dax Silver,” I muse as I trace my fingers down to his chest and around the compass that sits over his heart.
“Now that’s a trick of the light. It’s all how you choose to see it.”
“Don’t.” I continue to trace the hands of the compass that point west. “Don’t believe you haven’t got goodness in you too, Dax. I feel it.” I rest my palm over his heart and splay my fingers out. “Right in here.”
He takes my hand, bringing it to his lips. “Did I tell you you’re beautiful, Sunbeam?”
“Like a million times.” He laughs as I stroke his lips.
“Will you tell me something else?”
“Like what?” He slides his mouth to my wrist and kisses my pulse.
“Why do you call me Sunbeam?”
He looks into my eyes for what feels like forever before dropping my hand and reaching for his phone. Disappointment pulls down inside me, making my chest heavy as he stays silent.
He frowns as he looks at my face, then wraps one arm around me and pulls me into his side. I need to get used to the fact that this is just the way it is with him. He has secrets. Where he goes when he leaves the estate. The ‘other world’ he’s mentioned that he doesn’t want me tangled up in. No matter how deep into my scars I let Dax see, maybe he will never let me see his.
He swipes into his photographs and brings up an album. “Here.” He hands the phone to me.
The screen is filled with the image of the most breathtaking sunset, the sky a mix of pinks, brighter than I’ve ever seen.
“Did you take this?” I tilt my face up to him.
“Keep going.” He inhales deeply, his eyes locked on his phone as I turn and swipe.
Image after image of beautiful sunsets fill the screen.
“When we were kids, Mom used to tell me and Jasmin that people who died found ways to tell you they loved you. She told us that she would make the sunsets brighter on the days we needed reminding.”
“So all these photos—?”
“Were the days I felt like she was up there.” A bittersweet smile spreads across his lips before I steal it away with a kiss.
“That’s why the compass points west, for the sunset.” I press my forehead to his, my heart swelling with the depth of feelings I have for him.
“Yeah. It’s the first one I got after she died.” He snakes a hand around the back of my neck as I sink into him. “I knew on the days I saw those bright sunbeams that there’s always something worth being grateful for.”
“Sunbeams.”
“Yeah.” His eyes shine. Then he presses his lips to mine with a whisper,“Sunbeams.”
