Everything.
The door creaked slowly open and I stepped inside, freezing mid-step.
Logan was sitting beneath the bay window, his knees bent, his head buried in his hands. At my sharp intake of air, Logan’s head jerked up, his red-rimmed eyes rounding with surprise. Though pulled back, his hair was messy, sticking up in every direction, while smears of dirt and dark bruising colored both his cheeks and forehead.
“Willow,” he stammered, hastily swiping at his eyes with the heels of his palms. “What the fuck—how did you get here? Is Luke—” Pausing, he shook his head as if to clear it. “I mean, where’s Luke?”
Unbuckling my pack, I let it clatter to the floor. Crossing the room, I dropped down beside Logan and quickly took his hand in mine, clutching it to my chest. A shiver swept through me, followed by a sigh of relief so great tears pricked my eyes. “Luke doesn’t want anything to do with us,” I whispered.
“Us?” he asked, blinking at our joined hands.
“Us.”
Logan’s hand squeezed mine. “You came after me,” he said, his voice hoarse. Raw. It matched how he looked. “On your own… Jesus Christ, Willow, I would have never left if I’d thought you do something so fucking stupid.”
“Me?” I looked up at him with half a scowl. “You realize you’re the one who left first?” Still scowling, I pulled my hand from his. “Besides, I realized something important.”
Logan recaptured my hand and threaded his fingers through mine once more, gripping it twice as tightly. “Tell me what you realized.”
Sighing, I slumped against him, resting my head on his shoulder. “Just that I never thanked you for saving my life.”
Snorting, Logan bent his head to mine. “Which time?”
A slow-growing smile split my scowl. “All of them. Every stupid time.”
Laughing, Logan pulled me into his lap and pressed his mouth to mine. I clutched him tightly, burying my hands in his hair and deepened our embrace, stroking his tongue with mine. Eventually our kisses slowed and fell away. Forehead to forehead, his hands on my hips, Logan shuddered through his next breath.
“Willow… ” he trailed off and swallowed. “I never thanked you for saving my life either.”
I pulled back, our gazes colliding, both of our eyes filling with tears. Memories flooded me—some good, some sad, and some downright horrific. But for the first time, I didn’t shove them away and bury them beneath a mountain of guilt and regret.
For the first time, I simply let them come.
And then, one by one, I let them go.
