“Done.” Sylus kisses my cheek before he yells over my head. “Dove!”
Levi rushes into the hallway, Pebble fluttering slightly on his shoulder as he stops short, his wide eyes darting between Sylus and Annabelle. “What the hell happened?” he demands as he steps closer, his gaze dropping to me. “You okay, Little Bird?”
“She’s okay,” Sylus answers for me, though his tone is strained.
Levi’s focus sharpens on Sylus as if he doesn’t believe him but goes with the flow anyway. “What do you need?”
“Can you drive Belle home in your fancy Jeep, please? I don’t want her getting stuck with a rideshare.”
“Of course I will.” He steps closer to Annabelle, placing an arm around her. “Whenever you’re ready, girl, but you can stay as long as you want.”
Annabelle nods, but her attention stays on me. She reaches out, her fingers wrapping around my forearm in a gentle squeeze. “Text me later, okay?”
“I will. I’m sorry.”
Sylus doesn’t wait any longer. His grip tightens as he carries me toward the stairs, the sound of Levi and Annabelle’s quiet voices fading as we ascend. My head falls against his shoulder, and I press my face into the crook of his neck, sobbing against his skin as he carries me up the stairs.
“Shh,” he murmurs as his arms tighten around me. “Shh, Sparkle. I’ve got you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Nicholas will never forgive me.
The thought loops relentlessly in my mind, growing louder with every passing second, as tears spill down my cheeks and soak into Sylus’s shirt while my fingers clutch at the fabric.
He pushes open the door to his room and steps inside, nudging it shut with his foot before he lowers me onto his bed, sitting beside me as he pulls me back into his chest. His hand strokes my hair in slow, soothing motions, his lips brushing against my temple. “I’ve got you.”
“I don’t deserve it. I’m not worth the hassle you guys are going through because of me.”
“Stop.” He pulls back to look at me, his thumbs wiping at the tears still streaming down my cheeks. “You’re everything. Do you hear me? Everything. You’re the bravest, smartest, most incredible person I’ve ever met.” My breath catches, and I blink up at him, his words quieting my sobs, allowing him to continue. “You’re a fucking force, Sparkle. You walk into a room, and it changes. People notice you. They can’t help it. And yeah,sometimes you mess up, we all do, but you’re real. You’re you. And I love you for that. All of it.”
“Sylus, don’t?—”
“Don’t what?” he interrupts. “Tell you the truth? I love you. I love everything about you. And I’ll be damned if I let you carry this alone. We made you do it. We pushed you into this mess. I’ll make it right for you.”
“You can’t.”
“Yes, I can.” He holds out his hand, his pinky extended. “I’ll fix this for you.”
Despite the tears, a weak laugh escapes me. “You can’t pinky promise your way out of everything.”
“Watch me.” His pinky hooks around mine, and he kisses our joined fingers before his hand moves to my cheek again, tilting my face up toward his.
His kiss is gentle at first, tender as if he’s trying to put me back together piece by piece. But then my hands find their way to his chest, clutching at him as though he’s my lifeline, and the kiss deepens. His fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me closer, and then it’s just us. No guilt. No pain. Just us.
The weight in my chest lifts enough to let me breathe again as his hands move to cradle my waist, holding me as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear. But exhaustion creeps in, heavier with every passing moment, pulling me under—a tide I can’t fight. My body feels like it’s sinking, weighed down by everything from today. The crushing guilt with Nicholas, the hope and confusion with Ace, and Sylus’s unwavering love. Hell, even the fact that I haven’t seen much of Koen today.
It’s all too much.
My default instinct claws at me, whispering the same thing it always does when I feel like this—to find release. Let someone soothe me, drown it all out with touch. But tonight, even that feels too much. My body is too exhausted to move, my limbsheavy with fatigue, and yet the ache for comfort remains, an itch I can’t scratch.
“Baby?” Sylus murmurs, pulling me from the spiral as his lips pause against mine.
“Mm-hmm,” I manage, my head tilting forward to rest against his shoulder.
He pulls my head back by my hair to look at me. “Tired?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You can sleep.” His lips press to my temple, lingering there as a promise. “I’ll hold you.”
