As if committing the image of me to memory, he drank in the sight of my face. His jaw tightened over the bruise on my cheek, and my hand twitched to cover it.
But I lifted my chin instead.
Blake nodded, pointing at me as he said, “You’re not on your own, kid. Never forget that again.”
That time, as the emotions of the past four months caught up to me, I didn’t flinch when he said it. It felt different somehow. Like the kind of love that mattered.
“Thanks…” I gave him a watery smile. “Old friend.”
Blake smiled, his wide grin striking me like an arrow through the heart.
I’d missed him, more than I’d let myself admit over the past four months.
Ducking into the backseat, I assured Adam I was fine a hundred times before he let me buckle my seatbelt and closed the door. As he climbed into the front seat, Blake started the car.
As we pulled away, I kept my eyes on the street.
I didn’t look back at the house.
The adrenaline fueling me through the night plummeted, and with the boys coming down from it, too, the drive passed in silence. Fury remained etched on their faces, not directed at me but still hard to swallow. Finn loved reminding me how I relied on them to clean up my messes.
Tonight, he’d been right. They’d had to do exactly that.
Streetlights flickered on the quiet back roads. Traffic lights blinked yellow and red, the colors blurring together as Finn’s cruel voice filled my head. It took a second to realize it wasn’t the lights, but my vision, and I swiped at the tears slipping over my cheeks, muffling a cry into the sleeve of my hoodie.
Blake and Adam shared a look, but neither of them spoke.
Gratitude filled my chest as they let me cry in silence. After experiencing my bleakest moment in their presence, I couldn’t take anymore. It weighed on my mind, repeating in words I’d heard so often it was hard not to believe them.
Even with them beside me, and even knowing Finn had been cruel when he’d said it, I felt suddenly, inexplicably alone.
I choked back the sobs threatening to break free from my throat, trapping everything inside me. When we reached our place, Adam led us into the building while Blake took up the rear behind me, but they let me go inside the apartment first.
Following me to my bedroom door, they waited for me to tell them what I needed.
I wrapped my arms around myself and faced them. “Thank you both. For showing up tonight. For…everything.” My voice shook. “I think…I need to sleep now. I can figure the rest out in the morning.”
“Whatever you need,” Adam said automatically.
He gave me a quick hug and stepped back. Blake nodded beside him but didn’t approach.
With Finn’s voice in my head, I couldn’t take the first step either. I’d used all my courage tonight, but the absence of his touch, when I desperately needed it, threatened to break me.
With a pathetic wave, I went inside my room and shut the door. Fully dressed and a complete mess, I crawled straight under the covers. I let the emotions of the night wash over me, and I cried until I got them all out.
You’re not on your own, kid.
On some level, Blake was right, so I didn’t understand why it hurt so much, but as the word echoed in my head, mixing with the ghost of Finn’s, the certainty that I was—and always would be—alone overwhelmed me.
Deep, guttural sobs wracked my body until exhaustion forced my body still.
I stared at my bedroom door in the dark, clutching the tiny elephant pendant. Along with it, Blake had given me the answer.
He was my family. He would always be.
And just like Adam always did, like they both had countless times before, Blake showed up for me. He loved me.
But even after everything that had happened between us and countless rejections, it was just like Finn had said. He’d been right the night he struck me.Istill couldn’t let go of the hope that Blake’s love might deepen one day.
