It wasn’t until I felt her leg curl with mine, the chill of her bare body against my side and her soft voice drifting across the surface of my skin, that I stopped. “You can get through this, Blaine. Hold on with me and take a deep breath.”
I was so close, only Laney pulled me back.
She believed in my strength before I had.
She is the reason I am alive.
She taught me how to take my next breath.
The news of Laney’s death had pulverized me, leaving my sutured heart in fractured pieces.
“Her throat was slit, deeply, and there was a gunshot wound in her forehead.”Keaton’s words were an undulating wave that only seemed to crash down on me more powerfully every time the vicious cycle retreated before returning, and it was often, too often.
The way they chose to end her was disturbing. Did I give them the idea?The very motive?
My breath is clipped with a gasp when my phone chirps from the passenger seat. I flex my sweaty palms around the leather steering wheel in an attempt to resist the urge to snatch it up while driving.
I do it anyway, and through the fog of tears misted over my orbs, I see Cameryn’s name blinking at me from the dim screen.
Cameryn
We are here. Where are you?
We, as in her and Tyler, back in Shadow Heads to pay tribute to Laney. Two people who think I still live here, who have no idea what I’ve been through, what Laney and I went through,together.
After our phone call a week ago, Cameryn has messaged me every other day, and when the news of Laney’s death made its way through social media, she had tried calling me,multiple times, but I declined every single one.
She knows something is up, the tone of her messages different.
It’s all him.
Tyler.
That’s why I haven’t replied to her, or even hinted that I would be seeing them today, becauseI won’t.I fucking refuse. I’m going to hide in the shadows, and then I’ll leave.
I swipe at the screen, flicking out of the thread as I take a deep, calming breath. Passing the rusted metal sign welcoming me into Shadow Heads, I take a few short turns before reaching the off-street beside the graveyard. When I look at the time, I see that I’m ten minutes late. Throwing my black beanie over my head and tucking my hair into the back of my gray puffer jacket, I shove out of my car and slam the door shut behind me.
A deep chill invades my bones when I step through the same iron gates I was dragged out of more than five months ago. It creaks the same way it did that night, and I try to ignore the sound, focusing on the dull sun peeking through the shadowed trees instead.
My parents' graves always felt like a place of safety, only now they’re everything but. Their resting place is where my deep-rooted trauma was planted, where the very bones of who I used to be now remain.
I weave myself around older decrepit headstones before walking along the tree line toward the newer section of the graveyard. I’m standing in the shadows, hidden among the trees, as I spot Laney’s deep mahogany casket, topped with fresh white lilies and an array of yellow roses. There is a small group of about fifteen people spread out around the open plot, and it takes me no more than five seconds to spot Cameryn and Tyler. They’re both in all black, beanies over their heads, with large glasses covering their faces. If you didn’t know that two rockstars were attending, you would think they were just regular citizens, and I can tell that is exactly what they were going for.
Those two together turn heads.
But today, they aren’t the only ones in hiding.
I tuck my chin into my jacket, taking a deep breath as I try to steady my thrumming heart, walking a few steps closer to the border. A twig snaps beneath the sole of my black boots and my body comes to an instant halt.
I can’t do this.
Folding my arms over my chest, a chill slithers its way down my spine. My legs shake, my teeth beginning their chaotic chant as they slam together.
Yeah, I definitely can’t do this.
Spinning around, I fly into a solid wall of muscle and instant terror bites through my veins, its incisors sharp and out for blood.
My hands try to shove the person in front of me, only an arm wraps around my waist and a large hand finds a place at the back of my beanie.
