Into the Light (University of Isles #2)

29. Chapter 29

Chapter twenty-nine

We drove so fast toward Ash’s rock. As we pulled into the clearing, I practically leaped off the back, grateful that my fear of riding this metal contraption has somewhat dissipated since I met Rain.

“Come on,” I said, sprinting down the path toward the rock. Just as the morning light made its way into the clearing, lighting up the view, I was grateful it wasn’t raining.

“What’re we looking for?” Rain asked, and I loved that he didn’t call me names or think I was being absurd, especially after both of us, his whole team, and so many people had combed this area a hundred times over trying to find the answers.

“It is right in front of you,” I repeated my brother’s words over and over again as I stared out at the clearing.

Rain came up next to me and said, “Tell me about what you guys did up here.” My brows furrowed because I wasn’t sure if this was the time to start talking about what we did.

“It may help jog your memory.” He shrugged. “Come on, mi pareja, tell me.”

“Okay,” I whispered, standing there and staring out at the clearing. “After class one day, he took me here.”

“The class with the fucking creep professor,” Rain muttered.

“Yeah.” I huffed. “But the thing was he had this whole picnic set up right on the flat part of the rock and then—”

“Wait,” I shouted, and ran to where he’d pitched the tent originally and where we had the picnic. It was the only part of the rock that was flat so there was nothing underneath us as we were . . . intimate.

I ran over to where I swear the spot was, but there was a huge boulder in the corner we used to set up the blanket for our picnics.

“This was it, Rain,” I demanded. “We need to move this rock.”

I attempted to move it, but he only side-eyed me. “Ember, this rock didn’t suddenly come from the heavens to this spot. Are you sure?”

“I swear. He must’ve come here beforehand to move it, but there is something not right about this.” I looked at the boulder with determination. “Do you think we can move this?”

“Let’s do it,” he said with one of his charming grins before grasping the bottom of it so his entire body weight was pressed into the boulder.

“You push it while I lift it up.”

I nodded, and as soon as he had it millimeters off the ground, I pushed the boulder forward giving it a little momentum and it slid down the clearing.

“If it was here this entire time, wouldn’t you have noticed it was more stuck to the earth?” I asked.

“I’m not sure that’s the proper term, but yeah, I assume if it was always here I’d expect to see more moss growing from the bottom.”

“And it wouldn’t have just slid forward this easily,” I added, and he chuckled.

As Rain straightened, I spotted two plastic Ziploc bags where the boulder once was.

“Look,” I pointed, silently thanking the world for making sure moving this boulder wasn’t for nothing. “I knew it.”

I reached into the little nook and pulled out the two plastic bags. Inside the bags were two letters with our names addressed right on the front in large, black Sharpie.

“I knew it,” I repeated, the tears streaming down my face. “This is it.”

I held the letters tight to my chest as if holding them closer meant I was holding him . I sniffled and then finally came back into the reality I was standing on this freaking rock yet again, but this time, with all the answers I’d begged for.

I looked up and Rain was tearing up. “It’s okay,” I whispered through my own sobs as I closed the distance between us, and he wrapped me in his arms.

“There are two letters.”

“Yes,” I said frantically, handing him his little Ziploc bag. “This one is yours.”

He lifted it up before doing the same thing I did and clutched it against his chest with one arm while the other held me tightly. The two loves of his life.

“I think I need . . .” I didn’t leave his side because I knew if I did, my legs would buckle from beneath me.

“I want to go read this, too.” He went back to the bike down the clearing. Just as he was about to be out of sight, he turned back around and drank me in, his gaze pausing on me.

I had the same thought as him. I’d wondered if what was written inside this letter would change us. It shouldn’t, but Ash had that power. “I’ll be there when I’m done, I promise.”

He hung his head low and turned back on his path.

I swallowed a few times before settling on sitting atop one of the trunks of the trees near the view where I’d found his phone. It made me feel closer to him.

I peeled the bag open with my sweaty hands. It was so hot even though it was well in the forties, inside, I was burning with nerves.

I took a deep breath.

“You can do this,” I whispered to the trees before I pulled the letter from the bag and smelled it. It smelled like pine which I knew probably was a mere coincidence because we were in a pine forest, but I wanted to pretend like it was Ash. His familiar scent. His words. His script.

I slowly opened the letter, and it was handwritten to perfection. God, this is the closest I’d felt to him in so long. Even with his phone in my hand, he wrote this. His last letter.