#also drafting

I rounded the open bonnet to find Zaphron fiddling with a bunch of wires in the battery bay.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be playing with electrics in the rain,” I said, peering at the car’s innards—and definitely not noticing how Zaphron’s white shirt had gone transparent in the downpour.

“While I appreciate the safety lesson,” he said, his wet hair hanging in his eyes as he glanced over his shoulder. “It’s the only option if we’re going to get out of here.”

I bit my lip and watched him fiddle with the wiring a little longer. His clothes clung to him in the rain, every movement of his shoulders and chest visible under the soaked weight of his shirt.

Focus Astrid. Stop the guy from frying himself on engine wires.

“Zaph.” I reached out and put my hand on his forearm. His skin felt warm despite the chill of the rain and I nearly retracted my fingers in surprise. “Just leave it. Until the storm passes at least.”

He stopped what he was doing and cast a pointed look in my direction. “There’s a reason no one stuck around here after the weather warning. It’s not safe.”

I let go of his arm and rolled my eyes. “It’s got to be safer than willingly making yourself an electrical conductor.”

He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth to cover a grin and turned away. “Alright.” He closed the car bonnet, leaning back on it casually—as if rain wasn’t hammering down on both of us. “I guess we’re staying here then.”

“Um.” I motioned wildly to the cabin. Droplets of water were clinging to my eyelashes and beginning to run down my neck. “Can we go back inside then?”

“Sure,” Zaphron said, getting slowly to his feet. “But it’s not like either of us could get any more drenched.” He tugged at his wet shirt and gestured to my clothes, which were now just as clingy as his. The weight of his gaze lingered on me a moment longer than necessary, lighting a firecracker in my stomach.

I swallowed, watching the water dripping from his hair, rolling down his face in rivulets. For the briefest moment I had an overwhelming urge to disrupt the tiny torrents with my fingers and sweep his jet-black fringe from his eyes. Would he want me to?

The moment passed quickly as Zaphron’s eyes drifted over my shoulder. All hints of his bitten-lipped smirk disappeared. I followed his gaze, letting out an involuntary gasp.

The storm front was perfectly visible out to the east. A mile-high tidal wave of angry purple-black cloud was advancing on grey skies. The flicker of lighting and distant rumbles of thunder were ominous.  

I sank down into the sand, rubbing my temples. Spinifex whipped against my shoulders in the wind. “That’s not very motivating,” I said, glancing up in time to meet his eyes before he directed them back out to sea. “You’re telling me if I were to lay down and do nothing for the rest of my life, that would be the way it was always going to be?”

“If that’s what you did, then I guess so,” he answered with a shrug. “But you would be making that your future.” He sank down in the dune beside me, his shoulder grazing mine. “Wouldn’t you want what comes after this to be built on you doing your best?” His gaze caught mine and for a tiny moment my breath froze in my throat, tears spontaneously welling in my eyes.

My emotion made his gaze intensify and he cocked his head to one side, wiping a tear from my jaw with his thumb. A confused smile dimpled his cheek. “Why are you crying?”

I sobbed a laugh and closed my eyes, burying my face in my knees to stifle a loud sniffle. “I think I’ve need to hear that for a while now,” I said, my mouth muffled against my jeans.

“Block Universe Theory?” Jet’s voice gave away even more confusion and I laughed, lifting my head to look at him through subsiding tears.  

“Yeah, something like that.”

“I was,” I said, rolling my tongue over my teeth. “Engaged, I mean. A while ago.” 

The steam of Dom’s chuckle plumed in the frigid night air. “The woman who doesn’t believe in marriage was engaged? What happened?”

I took a massive gulp of my drink and let out a sigh—watching it cloud in front of my face. “He cheated on me.”

Dom’s expression faltered, the smirk sliding off his lips entirely.

“More than once,” I continued, matter-of-factly, “with his best mate’s sister.”

“Jesus.” Dom’s voice dropped low; its usual authority gone. It sounded wrong. “That sucks.”

“He was a fucking cretin,” I said, shrugging. “But what really got me was how many people knew about it while it was happening—and not one of them told me.”

Dom’s dark eyes met mine and something significant shifted in his expression. “That’s why you do it then?” he said, more like a musing than a question he wanted me to answer. His pupils were bottomless in the pub’s limited outdoor lighting as he inched closer, trying to read my face. The rabble inside faded to a distant buzz. We were so close I could make out the dark dots of stubble on his cheeks. The smell of his citrus cologne laced each of my breaths.

Step away Elle, he’s your boss—and not your biggest fan.