Page 29 of What We Become

“I know. I’ve got you.”

I pull off her socks first, then carefully unfasten the gown at her neck. She lifts her arms as much as she can and lets me ease it away from the capped IV and bandages.

She doesn’t flinch when I touch her.

It’s the opposite. Her shoulders loosen. Her breathing slows.

Trust.

After everything I’ve done, she still gives it to me without making me ask.

The gown lands on the floor. She sits in front of me in nothing but bandages, burns, and bruises. There’s a dark mark along her jaw. Raw skin around her ankles. A line across her ribs where the foam hardened against her body.

The sight of it reaches inside my chest and twists. But I don’t retreat. I take the handheld shower head from the wall, turn the water on, and test the temperature against my wrist.

“My shampoo and conditioner are in the bag you brought,” she says.

“Of course.”

I hand her the shower head and step into the room.

My hands start shaking before I reach the duffel. For one second, I stand there with my fists clenched at my sides and listen to the water striking the tile.

She’s alive.

She’s ten feet away.

She’s waiting for me.

Last night, I sat in a house that smelled like garlic and wine while Milo searched traffic cameras, and every old fear I’ve ever had came back wearing new clothes.

This is what happens when you let yourself love something.

This is what happens when you bring someone into your darkness.

This is what happens when you believe you get to keep her.

For several hours, those thoughts felt like facts.

They don’t now.

Stephen put her in that wall. Stephen drugged her. Restrained her. Filled the space around her with foam and left her to die.

Our life is dangerous. Loving us is dangerous.

But pushing Sage away didn’t protect her from the rope. It only made her face that danger believing one of the men she loved didn’t want her.

I’m never doing that again.

The fear can come back. But it doesn’t get to make the call.

I find the bottles and return to the bathroom. They knock together in my hands when I kneel beside her.

Her head tilts. “You nervous, Ward?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Her mouth curves. “What if I promise that this time I won’t like it?”