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“What happened?”

“Someone died,” he whispers, tears filling his eyes as he looks away from me and my heart aches in my chest, stealing my breath as tears sting my eyes and thoughts of my mom and dad flash through my mind.

“I’m so sorry, Sawyer.”

His gaze meets mine and he traps a lock of my hair between his fingers as he shakes his head. “I can’t believe I met you.”

“Why not?” I ask, trying desperately to keep up with the ever changing topic.

“I said I was done. I wasn’t gonna date anyone else until I fixed my shit and then there you were… like an angel. My angel.”

Tears fills my eyes at the pain in his voice. “Sawyer.”

“It’s gonna hurt like hell when you leave me. I don’t want to let you go.”

“Who said I was leaving?” I ask, trying to guide his gaze back to mine but he shakes off my hand.

“You will. I’m not good enough for you.”

I push out of his arms and the panic in his eyes breaks my heart as I turn and straddle his legs, placing my hands on his chest. “Why would you think that?”

“I’m never enough, Juliette. Never good enough to save them. Never good enough to love…just never enough.”

I shake my head and cup his cheek, forcing his gaze to mine as my chest hurts fiercely. “I think you’re everything, Sawyer.”

We stare at each other for a moment before he scoffs and picks me up with ease. He stands and sets me back down in the chair before disappearing into his room without another word and slamming the door. The sound reverberates through the house and tears spring to my eyes as I stare at the floor, wondering where the hell I went wrong but the more I replay what just happened in my head, the less sense it makes. Sucking in a breath, I wipe my tears and start cleaning off the table to distract myself.

Once everything is cleaned up and the food is in the fridge for later, I grab my phone and walk down the hallway to my room directly across from his. Pausing outside his door, I press my hand to the wood and my lips wobble. My mind is a jumbled mess after everything that just happened and as much as I know it’s going to haunt me tonight, I also know that we won’t be able to solve anything until he’s sober. If there is even anything left to solve.

* * * *

I pull my sweater tighter around my body to ward off the morning chill as the sun begins peeking through the trees, making the world around me glisten. Fighting to keep my eyes open, I press the back of my fingers to my lips as I yawn and shake my head. Last night was awful and I spent hours tossing and turning before giving up around four a.m. The house was so quiet that I had to get out so I just started walking and stumbled onto this cute little park a couple of blocks away from Sawyer’s house. There’s a small fountain in the middle surrounded by a gorgeous garden full of bright, colorful flowers. Leading away from the fountain are walking paths that stretch into the woods and I would be tempted to go explore if I wasn’t so damn exhausted. Birds chirp sweetly from the trees and the sound of bubbling water washes over me, melting away my stress. It’s so serene that I may just never leave.

“All right, woman,” a voice says from behind me and I turn as Mercedes walks up to the bench with a drink carrier and a paper bag in her hands. “You wanna tell me why you have my ass out here at six in the morning?”

I take one of the coffees from the drink carrier and flash her a smile. “Maybe I just like your company.”

“Bull shit. No one likes my company at six in the morning. What’s going on? How did last night go?”

“Oh, just peachy,” I answer as I roll my eyes and she nods as understanding washes over her face and she takes a sip of her own coffee.

“Ah, I see. What happened?”

“Nothing.”

She sighs. “Again with the bull shit. Give me all the deets. What happened after you called me last night?”

I take a sip of my coffee and shake my head, irritated by her persistence. “So, after I hung up with you, he stumbles into the house, drunk and when I said drunk, I mean druuunnnk.”

“Oh.” She purses her lips in disapproval and I nod, staring at the fountain in front of me.

“Yeah. And then he tells me that someone died yesterday but when I tried to get him to tell me who, he just started calling me his angel and saying that it was going to suck when I left him.”

She arches a brow. “What the fuck?”

“Exactly.” I dig a donut out of the bag and take a bite. “Then, I ask him who said I was leaving and he says I will because he’s not good enough for me and that he’s not good enough for anyone.”

“What did you say to that?”