I stop the truck, step out, and hit a latch hidden beneath a rock.The ground shifts with a groaning hum, revealing a steel-reinforced garage door.
Kelly’s eyes widen.“What is this?”
“Somewhere safe,” I answer.“Safer than anywhere else.”
Once we’re inside the underground garage and the door seals behind us, the sudden quiet is shocking.No rain.No thunder.Only the low hum of generators.
Kelly looks around concrete walls, steel beams, pallets of supplies, two bikes tarped in the corner.
Then she looks at me.
Really looks.
“You’re shaking,” she whispers.
I freeze.
I didn’t notice it, but she’s right.My hands are trembling slightly.The adrenaline crash.The fear spike.The sight of her face when she thought something might’ve happened to me.
I try to shove it down, hide it, bury it.
But she steps closer.
Then closer.
Then she places both palms flat on my chest.
Warm.Soft.Steady.
“Ledger,” she whispers, “it’s okay to be scared too.”
I close my eyes, jaw clenching.
“You almost lost me,” she says softly, “and I almost lost you.”
“You didn’t,” I choke out.“You won’t.”
“But that’s why you’re shaking,” she says gently.“Because it was close.”
I open my eyes.
Her face is inches from mine.
Her breath warm on my skin.
Her voice trembling with truth.
“You matter to me,” she says quietly, fiercely and it knocks the wind out of me.“And I matter to you.”
Every part of me wants to grab her and kiss her until she remembers everything.
Every part of me wants to hold her until the shaking stops.
Every part of me wants to hide her from the world until it earns the right to get close to her again.
But I can’t lose control.
Not now.
