Tad and Mom are still losing their ever-loving mind while drilling holes in the pots and pans, drilling a hole in my brain. But the boys are laughing up a storm. Twin versions of their father, but far happier by a miracle mile.
I wrap my arms around Logan. “My white knight.” I press out a shy smile his way. “The man who always knows what to say.”
A dark laugh strums from him as he shakes his head just barely. He rides his eyes up and down my body. “You’ve rendered me speechless. You do realize that you look an awful lot like the prom queen.”
“You look an awful lot like theking.”
He tips his head, amused. “It’s a good thing we’re going together then.”
“Let’s get out of here, Logan. Let’s take back the night.” My life—our happily ever after, while trying to forget the version of Gage we still love.
I kiss the boys, thank my sisters for keeping an eye on them, and Logan and I take off to where it all began—West Paragon High.
Paragon is chilled to the bone, the fog wafting in and out in waves, but you can still make out Cerberus loud and proud on the side of the boys’ gym. There’s a backlight on him and you can see the ferocity of each of his wicked heads. Whoever thought it a good idea to gift a three-headed dog as the mascot of West must have been wicked themselves. I’m betting it was a Count.
Logan and I park in the overflow near the forest that butts up to the school. He helps me out of the Mustang like a perfect gentleman—that and the fact I needed a good yank to excavate all this tulle I’ve sandwiched into the vehicle. I fall into his arms and a laugh bubbles from me for a second. His serious gaze is pinned on mine, and with the moon glowing like a spotlight over us, his eyes look illuminated like burning embers that refuse to let their fire die out its magic. That’s Logan Oliver in a nutshell. Magic.
An owl calls out from deep in the forest and we both glance that way. Those dark unknowable woods illuminated with a lavender mist sends a chill running up my spine.
“It’s like we’ve traveled back in time—and not on purpose,” I say. “It’s as if we’re back at West all those years ago. Any minute now, a clown Fem is going to rush out from between those haunted evergreens and bear its yellow fangs at us.”
“The good old days.” Logan doesn’t quantify it with a laugh. “And now it’s Gage who’s far more frightening than any clown with knife-sharp teeth. His soul is discolored, and his fangs really know how to go for the jugular.”
“But thank God for Ezrina. Thank God for Cooper Flanders’ brilliant mind. We’re taking back what’s ours, Logan.” I reach up and give the stubble on his cheek a quick scratch. “And I’m taking back what’s mine.” My breath plumes between us as I say it. “It’s time for me to move on. And tonight, I’m celebrating it like a victory.”
That side-lying dimple I gifted him way back when digs in deep and it makes me a touch sad as much as it does magnify his comely features.
“Skyla, I need you to know that in moving on, with whatever happens between us, I don’t want to hate Gage. If anything, I think we should come from a place of pity.” Tears glint in his eyes, making them look holographic in nature. “We should remember who he really is at his core, who he was, and understand that he’s sick, he’s insane.” He presses out a sorrowful smile. “I don’t want to tell you what to feel. That’s not where I’m headed. But in all fairness, I need you to know that I feel compassion for him, sympathy. I still care very deeply about him.” He bows his head for a moment and takes a deep breath. “And I understand if that puts you off about me, about us.”
“It doesn’t.” I lean in until I catch his gaze. “In fact, I feel the exact same way. I’m not angry that you don’t hate him. I don’t hate who he was, who he might still be at the core. Although, at the moment, he’s lost without reason. And I thank you for making your position known.”
He shakes his head, his lips curving toward the moon. “To be clear, I stand with you—with our people. You come before Gage in every sense of the word. You are my heart, you are my soul, you are my home, Skyla. I just didn’t want there to be any surprises. No more secrets. We’re done with those forever.”
I squint over at him, my chest falling to his. “Are you sure about that, Oliver?”
“I’m sure.” His tongue edges over his lower lip as if he were readying to indulge in a meal he’s been craving for a very long time. “We’d better get in there before I’m incapacitated to walk.”
A warm laugh bubbles from me. “Sorry not sorry?” I shrug as we stagger our way toward the gym where a giant banner readsWelcome West Paragon High Alumni to the Comeback Prom!
I think on it a moment. “Do you realize that I don’t recall one major dance ever being held in the gym? Certainly not a prom. But then, this way, all the money they collect goes straight to the smart board fund. I’d hate to see this place held back in scholastic times.” I wrap my arms around Logan as we make our way to the boxy building bursting with lavender light and music so loud it vibrates the ground beneath our feet. “Our kids will be at West one day.” I catch myself and hold my breath at the malfeasance I just let fly. How dare I toy with Logan’s heart and promise him children. I meant the boys, but I’m too ashamed to admit it.
His fingers squeeze mine.
I hear you.He tucks a quick kiss to my forehead and my cheeks burn with fire.
“Come here.” I pull him into the shadow of an evergreen as couples in formal attire stream into the building. I scour his features for a hint of grief, but I can’t seem to detect it and I’m glad. “You know I love you, Logan. My head—it’s exploded with everything that’s happened these last few months. And my heart feels as if it’s waiting to beat again, as if it’s holding its breath, afraid to join the land of the living.” I glance back at those dark foreboding woods. “But tonight is different. Tonight I live. I’ve been determined from the beginning to take back what belongs to our people, and tonight I take back everything else as well, including my fearful heart.”
“That’s what I want to hear.” Logan wraps his arms around me tightly, a death grip of a bear hug before he relents.
“Well, look what we have here!” a female voice chirps and we turn to find Chloe and Gage headed this way, her hand leashed to his, his body dragging a foot behind her. “I think we’ve found a couple of lovebirds.” Her dark eyes glitter like cesspools.
I glance to Gage to find his face set in a scowl, the shadows fall over his features, and it looks as if he’s twisting with anger, with pain, with an agony too dark and scary to ever comprehend.
Logan grunts, “I’d say the same, but I don’t believe what the two of you share even comes close to love. I don’t think either of you understands the word.”
Gage pumps out a quiet laugh. “I understand the word far more than you will ever know. In fact, I’d go out on a limb and say that I understand intimately how deep it runs, how dangerous it can be, how unstable it can make you feel. I understand how it feels to drown in it, to plunge yourself into a hellish pit all in the name of love.” He wraps an arm around Chloe and glares at the gym.
A dark laugh rumbles in my chest, and he shoots an incredulous look my way.
