Lies, lies, lies. You’re making it all up. It’s too late. Too late.
“Sir, we’re still assessing?—”
“I don’t give a fuck. My boyfriend is having an episode!”
“Does he need medical attention as well?”
“Don’t know yet, but you gotta back up. Andrea, bring him to me.”
Too many voices. My eyes won’t focus.
“Cade, look at me, love.”
A blurry silhouette.Blink. Clearer.Blink.Dark hair with streaks of red.Blink. Freckles across the bridge of her slightly upturned nose.Blink.Chocolate eyes that peer up at me with so much love and genuine concern, it resuscitates me.
The most beautiful smile blooms on her lips.
Nails tickle my palm. Our fingers link.
“I’m sorry I left you,” Andrea whispers, cheeks glistening with fresh tears. “Come on, Seba wants you.”
My legs lock.
Wants you to join him. Plot 304. Join us. Where you belong.In the dirt.
“No, no, no, babe, he’s right here, see?” She begs.
“Baby, you promised to find me first.Find me.”
Four times, I was drowned to the point of unconsciousness. I used to think, maybe that’s what did me in. But I’ve come to understand that some pieces of medidjoin her. Some died at the bottom of a bathtub. Others took a quieter approach, vanishing into smoke in the middle of the night. Photos I don’t remember taking or notes I don’t remember writing. Gaps of time that are completely blank, as if they didn’t exist at all.
But I remember every single word Sebastian Holt and Andrea Sinclair have ever said to me. Every single touch, carved into my heart. Pieces of me might be gone forever, but the cracks left in my soul have been filled.
“Drea,” I choke, my fingers strangling hers. I can't even look. “Don’t lie to me.”Please, please. “Is he real?”
She sniffles. “Yeah, babe. He's real. And he loves you. Just as much as I do. And he really needs you right now. He's ok, just a little concussed and pretty freaked out.”
“Ok,” I rasp, allowing her to guide me to the right...
Rough, callused fingers curl around my free hand.
Warm. Solid. His thumb gently rubs my knuckles. The protective shield my brain created shatters. Noise. So much noise. And movement. The blinders are off and the entire world returns to high definition.
Sebastian sits on the shallow step below the altar, a nasty raised lump on the side of his head, two white strips holding a gnarly gash closed. His lips twitch into a sad smile. “C’mere.”
I collapse onto him. “Don’t scare me like that again, please, I can’t— I can’t?—”
“You’re ok, we’re ok. We’re all ok,” he whispers against my ear, voice thick. I’m cradled in his lap, fully enmeshed and it’s still not enough to reassure me. He clutches me back like he’s making sure I’m real too, kissing my cheek, my eyes, my mouth.
Here. In front of all these people.
In a fucking church.
He called me hisboyfriend.
He called mebaby.
Here.
