Page 68

Bellamy: 17 missed calls

Dallas: 5 missed calls

The screen lights up again, Dallas’s name flashing across it.

I’m too fucked to do anything other than answer it.

“Hello?” I say down the phone, my voice surprisingly clear.

“Oh, thank the Lord, where are you? Your boyfriend is worried sick,” Dallas drawls down the line.

“I’m in the woods,” I say, pushing myself to sitting, wincing at the ache in my joints.

“Whittle it down for me, buddy. Where?” Dallas says.

It takes a moment for my brain to come back online. I pull up the maps app and figure out where the hell I am, relaying it to him.

“Alright. I’m bringing your man.”

My man.

The backs of my heels are raw as I wind my way out of the woods, following the moon until I come to a bank that leads me to the road.

A short time later, headlights slice through the dark, a small truck peeling down the asphalt. The vehicle has barely stopped when the door flies open and Bellamy bursts out.

I’m not exactly expecting a Hallmark-movie moment, where he runs up to me, jumps in my arms and we kiss like our lives depend on it. But I’m still surprised by the livid expression on his face.

He storms over to me, lifting his hands and curling his pointer fingers in a come here motion. I’m pulled forward by my belt loops, the surprise making me stumble over my feet. The pulling ceases when his hands finally connect with my chest, his fist curling into my shirt and yanking me down to his eye level.

“D-don’t you ever run away and leave me home alone with a strange man and a dead animal a-again, okay?” Bellamy stutters, his voice wobbling with wet anger.

My brain catches on that word and my heart swells hard and fast. Not your home, just home. God, I don’t deserve him.

I don’t waste another second, grabbing him and pulling him into me, cradling the back of his head as he burrows into my chest. I press a kiss into his hair, filling my aching lungs with his bergamot scent.

“I’m sorry, Bels. I just freaked out, I didn’t want to hurt you,” I murmur into the blonde waves, squeezing him tighter. He pushes back, tipping his head up to look at me.

“I can only help you if you let me, Sunday. You won’t hurt me like that, I know you won’t.”

“How do you know that, though? I’m pretty sure this thing inside me wants to hurt you, Bels. This parasite, this⁠—”

“I have faced marriage to a monster wearing a friendly mask. I’m not afraid of creatures caged by an angel,” he says, his words settling against me.

We stare into each other’s eyes, storm meeting sun, ice meeting fire. I want to kiss him so badly, but the sound of a door opening reminds me that Dallas is waiting.

“I don’t mean to ruin this darlin’ reunion, but Juno is having a hissy fit. I can drop you on the corner by the florist on the way back.”

I gently steer Bellamy back to the truck, tapping his ass lightly to get him to climb up into the cab. As soon as he’s settled, I turn back toward Dallas, figuring I need to come up with some kind of explanation, but he beats me to it.

“Look, I’ve got enough on my plate, so I won’t bother asking questions,” he says, dipping his voice low so Bellamy can’t hear. “But you owe me, big time.”

“I know, man. Thank you.” I mean it sincerely. We aren’t exactly close, but we help each other out when needed.

He claps me on the back firmly. “Good.” He turns to look through the truck window, where the soft blue light of Bellamy’s phone illuminates his face. He’s got his necklace in his mouth again. “He seems like a good one, Sunny. Keep him happy, alright?”

I have every intention of doing just that.

Because I love him.