Page 77 of Pretend it’s Forever

Because as I had fallen, my fingers digging into his shirt, he hadn’t been prepared for the imbalance.

So I slammed into the ground, barely holding onto the edge of the cliff by my fingernails, and Cale screamed beside me, arms outstretched, knife falling beside us, and then there was nothing.

He was gone.

And I was still going to die.

I tried to hold on, but my arms were weak, and there was no grip.

“Sophia!”

It didn’t sound like Cale’s voice, but maybe it was an angel’s. Did the grim reaper speak to you before he took your soul?

Tears fell down my cheeks as I struggled to keep hold, and then one arm slipped, and I knew this would be the end.

I would never see my babies again.

I would never see my family.

I would never see Carson.

“Sophia!”

And then strong arms were lifting me up, and I cried out in pain, agony.

And then somehow Carson was holding me, both of us shaking, and I was on the ground, in Carson’s lap, and somehow I was alive.

Somehow he was here.

“Holy shit,” Flynn burst out, and then he was on the ground next to us, awkwardly holding the two of us.

I could hear sirens in the distance, but it made no sense.

“How are you here?” I rasped.

I tried to look over the side of the cliff, but Carson moved me so I couldn’t glance over.

“Don’t look. Don’t look,” he whispered as his gaze raked my body, anger in every inch of his posture and eyes.

“How?” I rasped, tears now fully shaking my body.

“Your phone,” Flynn answered. “You had it in your pocket. But I guess you couldn’t reach it?” Flynn asked as tears covered his face as well.

“I tried,” I panted.

As the authorities ran towards us, Carson cupped my face and kissed my bruised and bloody lips.

“So strong. You did it. Although I should have,” he growled.

I would deal with that statement later, and what it meant, but I leaned against him, Flynn holding us both, and I let myself break.

“The girls?”

“They’re safe. The girls are safe. I love you. Don’t fucking do that again.”

“I love you, and I won’t. I won’t.”

And I let myself fall, in the arms of the man that I loved, the man that I trusted, with my family at my side, knowing I would never be alone.