Page 34 of Don’t Let Him In

My stomach hollows. I’m frozen, yet somehow plummeting.

An endless descent.

He crouches behind me, threading an arm across my middle and closing the last sliver of distance between us until he has me flush to his chest. I’m afraid to blink. Afraid to move as pressure crowds my ribcage, threatening to split me open.

“For us to be together,” he whispers against my ear. His free hand collects the hair from my face, tucking it back with unbearable tenderness. “Nobody will ever get between us again, Stacy.”

The foreign name rings through me, momentarily drowning out everything else.

“I promise,” he murmurs, still smoothing my hair. His voice sounds increasingly remote. “I’ll keep you safe. It won’t be like before.”

Thunder rolls somewhere beyond the trees. A cold drop lands on my cheek, mingling with the tears already tracking my face. Another follows. Then another.

Within seconds, rain pelts the ground around us, flattening the grass and darkening the leaves beneath my knees. Neither of us moves. Lightning flashes, catching on rainwater sluicing over the body at the bottom.

Manson covers my eyes, shielding me from the view. His mouth grazes the back of my neck, pressing a slow kiss into my skin. His lips travel higher, trembling as they linger beneath my ear.

“You’re safe now,” he whispers, cinching his arm tighter around my waist. “I’ll never let anything come between us again.”

The End