Page 266 of Breathe Like Hell

She finally nodded.

It gutted me.

It fucking gutted me.

She graduated, and I wasn’t there. I didn’t get to see it.

I held my arms out and she dropped down, crawling onto my lap and burying her face in the curve of my neck, her whole body trembling.

“I’m so fucking proud of you,” I said hugging her tightly, wrapping my body around hers, holding her safe against my chest. Maybe I was pretending this hug was to comfort her, but I needed it more. I needed to feel her like this. She was alive and she was safe. My throat felt prickly, thorns wrapping around me. “I knew you could do it, Masters.”

She sobbed louder, clinging to me, her hair soft under my palm.

“I wish you were there so much,” she cried. “It was horrible.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, my voice breaking as I choked up. Even if I was here now, I could never get that day back. How much else have I missed?

“We can talk about it later,” she said, sniffling, wiping her eyes even as the tears kept coming, her chest spasming with little suppressed sobs. “I want to make sure you are safe at home.”

“I’m okay, baby girl. I’m here now. Okay?” I murmured, sounding a lot more confident than I felt. I honestly wanted to break down, for more reasons than I could count. Not here, not now. My head was still reeling, my thoughts racing fast enough to make me dizzy, but I didn’t want to lose my shit in this forest. I could be strong for Dakota. Strong enough not to let her down now, after she’d somehow brought me back from the dead.

“Okay,” she whispered. Miracle girl.

Dakota and Mason both helped me walk through the forest to Mason’s car where I laid down in the backseat. It reminded me of when we’d killed Aamon. That felt like a lifetime ago. Two lifetimes ago.

My stomach was turning by the time we pulled up at my house.

Dakota grasped my hand, a surge of coldness engulfing me, taking me by surprise.

She’d made both of us invisible.

I was grateful for it, because I knew I wasn’t able to do it, and walking outside while unclothed and covered in black veining wasn’t a good idea—even if it was mostly dark now. Mason helped me stumble inside, not letting me collapse on the couch the way I wanted to, and instead half-carrying me up the stairs to my bedroom. He shrugged my arm off his shoulders, my body weight sagging onto the mattress.

The only thing I could think about was how Dakota’s scent was on my pillows.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

DAKOTA

Micah was asleep only moments after his head hit the pillow, his eyelids twitching while he dreamed. I watched him, hardly blinking, terrified he’d disappear again if I took my eyes off of him. I still couldn’t stop my tears from forming.

I had no idea what had caused him to come back, and I was completely, paralyzingly afraid that he would be stolen from me again at any second. It wasn’t the shark teeth, but I couldn’t think of what else was different between today and all the other days I’d tried that same imaginary ritual.

It didn’t take long before the bedroom door opened and Mason entered, making my pulse jump. I climbed off the bed silently, going over to him, motioning to be quiet. He just nodded, already understanding, bringing his hands up to gently hold my face.

We stared at each other, exhaustion making our eyelids heavy and our irises dull.

People like us shouldn’t be together.

We’ll just keep sinking forever.

There’s not a bottom to this darkness, no depth at which we can try to acclimate.

I know that now.

With Micah back, we had to face what we’d done to each other, had to face all the ways our relationship had shattered in his absence. Somehow, we were more broken than before, more cracks in our reflections, more darkness in our blood. I’d always known we couldn’t last forever, but I’d never expected to be forced headfirst into that future so quickly and inarguably.

Now, we were sitting in a strange aftermath.