Maeve bumps her knee against mine. “Yeah, but you’re not running from her anymore.”
That makes my throat go tight.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say, voice soft.
She nods. “This year will be better.”
“Deal.”
And we sit there a while longer, sipping cocoa and watching the last fireworks fade into stars.
Everyone has gone to bed.The house has grown quiet, save for the low hum of heaters and the occasional creak of old wood settling into winter. But I can’t sleep.
I turn over and watch Jace’s face as he sleeps. He looks so peaceful. I slowly move out from under his arm. He stirs, his face scrunches with frustration for a moment then smoothes back out.
I slip outside onto the back terrace, sweater pulled tight, breath fogging in the cold air. The sky above me is wide and ink-dark, scattered with stars. I tilt my head back, letting the silence press against me.
“Hey, Tex,” I whisper. My voice barely stirs the air. “You’d hate how soft I’ve gone.”
A laugh tries to rise but dies before it can reach my throat.
I sit down on the cold stone steps, pulling my knees to my chest. For a while, I just stare at the stars—at the expanse of sky that he used to say looked better when you were bruised and bleeding because then it meant you were still alive to see it.
“You were right,” I murmur. “About a lot of things.”
I pull the sleeves over my hands, jaw clenching.
“I miss you.” I can barely get the words out. I wipe my cheeks. “I hopeyou and Ellie are having a blast. But the selfish part of me wishes you were still here with me.”
I picture his face. His smile. The way his eyes would soften when they focused on me. He was the biggest, scariest guy in the room, but I knew he would never hurt anyone he loved.
And helovedme.
I didn’t deserve that love. I didn’t deserve his kindness. I'm the reason he's not here with me now, looking at me with those knowing eyes, telling me to dance it out.
A feeling washes over me. Tex would be pissed with this train of thought. He wouldn’t accept it. Daniel was the one who fired the gun.
“I will get him. Everyone and anyone who had a hand in it. I won’t stop until they’re all dead.”
I don’t care how powerful they think they are. I’m done running. Done with them thinking they’ve won.
“I’m going to burn down everything they’ve built,” I whisper. “And I’ll do it for you.”
The stars don’t answer. But a gust of wind rolls over the hills, cold and biting, and somehow I know he heard me.
The wind shifts again behind me. Softer this time. Warmer.
I don’t turn. I don’t need to. I feel him before I hear him—the measured hush of his footsteps on the stone, the subtle way the air bends around his presence.
Jace sits beside me without a word, his shoulder brushing mine, close but not crowding. He wraps a blanket around us. For a long moment, we just stare at the sky together.
He doesn’t ask what I’m doing. Doesn’t try to pull me into a conversation or tell me to come inside. He just sits. Quiet. Waiting. Eventually, I let my head tip onto his shoulder.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I murmur.
“I figured.”
We watch our breath curl in the cold night air, stars glittering above us like broken glass scattered across black velvet.
