“It’s not...”I swallowed hard.“It’s not about that.”
I wasn’t lying, not really.It was about everything.All at once.
I opened my mouth to reassure him, to say something, anything, to make this feel less like...
But the back door slammed open, boots thudded across the floorboards.
“Dad...”Eli’s voice cracked, breathless, sharp around the edges.“Dad, I just got a call from Chase...he was first on scene at a crash...”
He looked up mid-sentence.He saw me and froze.All the colour drained from his face, and in that half-second of silence, I felt the shift.The ground tilting.The warning my heart recognized before the words could say it out loud.No, please let me be wrong.
My voice came out small.A pained croak, “H-who?”
Eli didn’t answer, his jaw clenched, his eyes flicked to his dad, to me and then stuck to the floor.
“Who was in the accident, Eli?”I begged.
I don’t know how I stayed upright, because everything in me knew.My knees were already buckling, my heartbeat already spiking and then dropping into a dangerous, hollow quiet.
He breathed out, a sound more broken than spoken.“Nate.”
My ears rang, like the world had been dropped into water.Like, sound was coming from somewhere too far away to reach me.
John said something my brain didn't register, sharp and horrified...it felt like it came from another room, another universe.
I blinked, and the room spun.
“No,” I said, but it sounded like a child’s plea.“No.Where?Where, Eli?”
He swallowed, throat bobbing.“Old Highway eight...black ice...multiple vehicles...Chase said...It’s... bad, Tessa.”
My fingers fumbled for my keys before I consciously decided to move; they slipped right out of my hand and clattered onto the wood floor.I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see.But I had to go.
“I...I can d-drive...”I stammered, but my hands were shaking too hard to pick the keys up.
Eli stepped forward instantly, already grabbing his coat.
“You are not going by yourself, Tessa,” he said, firm.“I’ll drive.”
John moved fast, grabbing his phone, “I’ll find Kenzie and mom...just go.”
But I barely heard him; I was already stumbling toward the door.Already half running, half falling down the porch steps.
The cold slapped me in the face, freezing the tears like a new permanent fixture.Snow crunched under my boots.Eli reached me in two strides, guiding me toward his truck.
I don't remember putting my seatbelt on, but I felt it tuck in.The sound of the door slamming made me gasp and shake even harder.Somewhere in the fog, I heard the engine roaring to life.My hands pressed to my stomach without my permission...protective, terrified, instinctual.And I repeated...Please.Please, not him.Not like this.Not now.Please, please, please...I can't lose him.This can't be it.
Chapter 45 - Tessa
I don’t remember most of the drive.Just… noise.Not out loud, but inside me.A rushing, roaring, suffocating noise that made my ribs feel too tight around my lungs.I remember Eli’s voice sounding far away, even though he was right beside me.I remember my pulse in my teeth.I remember gripping the handle above the window so hard my wrist cramped.But the world didn’t slam back into focus until the night outside his truck window shifted.
Until I saw the glow.
Someone had lit flares along the side of the road to mark off the accident.I could see Chase's truck blocking the other end, his lights shining bright.My breath stalled, and I scanned the wreck, looking for one vehicle, one person.My stomach dropped so violently I tasted metal.
“Eli…” My voice didn’t sound human.
He was already slowing down, trying to find a safe place for us to pull over.
