It hovered out in front of me.
The tease of a dream.
The scrawling of beautiful words. Promises made in vain.
There is no place my heart won’t find you. My North Star.
But where would it leave us in the end?
Stumbling out of the stall, I went to the sink and splashed water on my face. Then I forced myself to suck down the riot of emotions, and I slipped back out into the lobby.
I squeezed through the crowd, mumbling, “Excuse me,” as I went, and I welcomed the frigid cold as I stepped out into the damp air. I tugged my coat tighter like it could shield me from it all, and I wound back around to where Logan had parked.
Winter clouds hung heavy in the night sky, though they’d parted near the moon that glowed from the heavens. Stars glittered in the crisp night like beacons that called through eternity.
I didn’t flinch when I felt the presence possess me from behind, the beautiful torment that surrounded me like an embrace that could snuff me out.
“It’s cold,” he murmured, Logan’s voice so low as he edged close.
He set his hands on the sides of my waist.
Tremors rushed.
A clash of ice and flames that tumbled down my spine.
My focus remained upturned, to the vastness that seemed so close, to the stars that glinted and shined in the sky.
Constellations written in mystery.
I felt as if I could reach out and touch them. Understand their meaning.
“Do you think it led us here?” I whispered into the lapping darkness.
Our old truth beat around us like a warning drum.
This man who had promised me that no matter where he went, wherever I went, or anything that tried to come between us, he would find his way back to me.
Fate.
Destiny.
Our destination.
My North Star.
“I used to believe it,” he muttered, “but it hurt too fucking bad when I discovered it was a lie.”
Was it?
Because I felt myself being swallowed whole.
By his arms that wrapped around me like a fortress.
By the beat of his heart into my back.
By his spirit that held me like eternity.
“Your family is amazing.” I pushed it out around the lump in my throat.