Hayden’s gaze fell to my lips.
My heart did a stupid little jump that made me all warm and fuzzy. He liked me—really liked me.
Even after seeing my scars. It was like hitting the jackpot of awesome guys.
“Come on.” He patted the spot next to him again.
“It’s a Friday night. Shouldn’t you be out having fun or something?”
One corner of his mouth tipped up. “I’m having fun here. Lots.” He placed his hands behind his head.
Straightening out his legs, he nearly knocked me off the bed.
I didn’t have much of a choice. Carefully, I climbed over his legs and sat down on the other side.
“Lie down,” he ordered.
“Hayden.”
The smile grew. “Ember?”
I rolled my eyes, but did as he requested. “Happy?”
“Yep.”
Tilting my head so I could see him, I smiled when he winked at me. “You… you surprise me.”
Hayden rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow. “How do I surprise you?”
I bit my lip. “You worry about hurting me, but you never seem to worry about me hurting you. And I’m the one with the killer touch.”
“I don’t because I know you won’t hurt me.” His gaze drifted over my face, then lower. He wiggled closer. Our knees pressed together, sending sharp tingles down my legs.
“Can I ask you something? Personal?”
He sent me a sidelong glance. “Sure.”
“How old were you when Cromwell found you?”
His eyes moved back to the ceiling. The smile was gone. In its place was a dark, brooding look. “I was seven.”
“Were you still with your parents?”
A shake of the head, a fine tensing of muscles followed. “No. I was in foster care.”
I bit my lip. I didn’t have any experience with foster homes, but it was a fear that’d driven me to do everything possible to keep Olivia out of them. “How did Cromwell find you?”
Hayden relaxed and tipped his head down. “He came to the foster home—the eighth one in two years.” He stopped, laughed. “It was the beginning of summer, and he just showed up. The rest is history.”
“What is it about the Facility? It’s like they are so evil, but you’ve been there. It sounds like Cromwell worked for them. I don’t get it.”
“The Facility is complicated.”
“Well, try explaining it to me. I may end up there one day.”
Hayden frowned. “You’ll never end up there, Em.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
He flipped onto his back, but somehow he was closer than before. “I’d never allow it. The Facility isn’t evil, but they have their own methods of training. They’re harsh at times, demanding. To them, being gifted is everything. Their motto, ‘What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you,’ isn’t what Emerson believed when he said those words, you know?”
“How long were you there?” I asked, not really expecting him to answer.
“I… I was seven when I got there. Eleven when I left. So… four years, give or take a couple of months. It was better than foster care, but in a way, it was also worse. There were a lot of rules. They monitored every single moment, so I had no time to myself. And there were a lot of tests. They liked to… push you to your limits. To really test your control and see what it took for you to lose it.” He trailed off, staring at the ceiling. “Anyway, tell me something about you. Something I don’t know.”
There was a lot he wasn’t sharing, but I let it drop. “I don’t know. My favorite part of winter is the first snowfall. I… love the way autumn smells. I’ve never seen a shooting star.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “I haven’t, either.”
I smiled a little. “I’ve always looked, but I’ve never seen one.”
“I’ve never had a pet,” he admitted with a low laugh. “Not even a goldfish.”
“Goldfish don’t count, anyway.”
He laughed again and time slipped away from us. Only a pale slice of moonlight fell across the bed.
At some point, while we talked, I forgot that he could see the scars and I actually felt normal. But every so often, he’d stop talking and would look at me, and I knew what he wanted to do.
“It’s late,” Hayden announced after dragging his gaze from me. “Do you want to leave?”
I thought about it. “No. I’m not tired yet.”
“You wanted to leave earlier.”
“I also wanted to punch you earlier,” I pointed out. “You don’t want to do either of them now?”
“No.”
“Good. I have an idea,” he said. “You game?”
A strange, intense feeling coiled in my stomach. “Sure,” I breathed.
“Don’t move.” He sat up. “Don’t punch me, either.”
“No promises.” Punching him wasn’t what I had in mind.
“Just don’t freak out, all right?” Hayden shifted down, and then I felt his hand slide through my hair.
“Come over here.”
At first I didn’t get where “here” was, but it quickly became obvious. Somehow Hayden got me to put my head on his chest. Not that I needed a lot of urging.
On my side, my cheek lay against the soft material of his sweater and when he rested his hand against my lower back, I thought I’d die. This was almost as good as what’d happened earlier. Maybe it was even better, just lying there, concentrating on the steady thrumming of his heart and the wild fluttering of mine.
“Are you comfortable?” he murmured.
“Yeah,” I whispered, closing my eyes. Truth was I enjoyed this way too much, but I refused to let myself dwell on it. Thinking was overrated. So was reality. In the dark, anything seemed possible. This was possible.
“Good idea, huh?”
I smiled sleepily against his sweater. “Yeah, it was.”
He chuckled softly. The sound rumbled through me, curling my toes. Silence enveloped us and I started to drift off, content to just be this close to someone, to him.
Something jolted me straight up in bed. In the dark, I could make out the steady rise and fall of Hayden’s chest. For a moment, I didn’t know what bothered me.
Then it struck me.
Something in the memory of the accident Parker had resurfaced was really, super important. I couldn’t believe I’d missed it.
My parents had known about Olivia’s gift.
I turned to Hayden, needing to tell him. For a few seconds, I simply stared at him. Thick, sooty lashes fell against his cheeks, his lips parted with each deep breath he took. Asleep, the natural beauty of his face seemed even more alluring, more vulnerable. It was a shame to wake him up, to disturb him, but I figured this was pretty important. He’d want to know.
“Hayden?” I inched closer, resting on my knees beside his waist. “Wake up.”
He didn’t move; not even a lash stirred.
“Hayden, wake up. Come on, wake up.”
Nothing.
I placed my hands on his shoulders and shook him. “Come on. I have to tell you—” He shot up like a rocket, knocking me flat on my back. Then he was on me, sliding down my hips, straddling them, pinning my legs down. All of it happened so fast, was so unexpected, that I simply froze.
Holding himself up with his hands planted on either side of my head, Hayden lowered his. In that heartbeat, I didn’t recognize him, didn’t know the look in his eyes or the tense pull to his lips. He’d become a virtual stranger.
And I knew beyond a doubt he had no idea who I was.
“Hayden?” I whispered, putting one shaking hand on his chest. “It’s me.”
He blinked and inhaled sharply. “Don’t ever do that again, Ember.”
I stared up at him, my heart thundering in my chest. His eyes were darker than I’d ever seen.