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For her beautiful beat.
Nothing.
Her chest isn’t moving.
She isn’t breathing.
That little light that shined inside since I met her—it’s gone. I can’t feel it. Her sun. Her glow. My sunflower.
That connection that tethered her to me.
I can’t reach her.
The thought sends me to the fucking grave.
A keening, protective cry rises out of me. “No. No!” I shake her. “Ruby!”
I lift her petite frame into my arms, clinging to her, burying my face in her neck. Her head falls backward over my elbow. She feels broken and fragile and so fucking lifeless that I lose my goddamn mind.
“Don’t do this,” I whisper, rocking her against me. “Don’t fucking leave me.” I stroke her damp hair, dark from the rain. “Baby, please. Come back to me. Wake up. Wake the fuck up.”
“Charlie.” Davis grabs my shoulder. He’s on his knees beside me. There’s sorrow and fear in Davis’s eyes and it terrifies me. He’s always composed.
When he isn’t, it means—
“She’s not breathing,” I scream.
Ford has his phone to his ear, his face grave. “We need an ambulance!” he barks. “Now! Get here now!”
“Put her down,” Davis instructs. “Put her down, Charlie.”
My skin turns to ice. The world has shut off. Tears burn my eyelids. My fucking heart has stopped beating.
How do you start a heart?
You just kiss me, Cowboy.
Words from a lifetime ago.
Words that jumpstart me.
I lay her tiny body down on the grass and start chest compressions.
Tipping her head back, I lock my lips over hers.
All of my air, all of my life, she can have it.
“Breathe,breathe,” I demand against her already cold lips. “Don’t do this to me. Don’t you fucking leave me. Please, Ruby.Please.”
Time slows down.
Stops.
Ican’t stop. I can’t.
Not when she needs me.
Her beautiful heart—I won’t let it go.
