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I need to see it turn to ash at his feet.
Crack.
“Why?” I shout, my hands slapping against my thighs as another choked sound spills from deep in my gut. The world is spinning, my reality shifting—everything I thought I knew is a lie. “I can’t just sit here and let him get away with it. I can’t. I need to hear him say it, Ro! I need to hear him admit to everything he’s done!”
I turn to him then, finding his knuckles white as he clings to the wheel, his back hunched, his head shaking. He’s whispering words I can’t make out and I try, I really do, but the world keeps spinning and it won’t stop, won’t stop, won’t…
“Roman!” I cry. “We have to go. If we leave now, we can make it to Divinity before traffic hits.” My heart is beating so fast, I can hardly breathe now. I squeeze my eyes shut and scrub at them and then scream when I see Mama’s pretty golden hair covered in blood.
“Stop.” I think I hear him say it, but…
Blood.
So much blood.
“Stop.”
He didn’t listen when she begged, didn’t listen when she told him to stop, when she asked him to get help, to….
“Stop!”
My mouth snaps shut and I realize I’d been screaming this entire time. The world finally stops spinning and everything comes back into focus. The truck, the busy downtown street, the sun setting and…
Roman.
His entire body is shaking, his skin pale, his eyes clenched tightly as he pants one word again and again…
“Stop, stop, stop…”
And beneath that, my love, my brave, strong Roman, is choking as he struggles to find air. My heart thuds for a whole new reason and I reach out a shaky hand, needing to check on him, to remind him I’m here. I was lost for a minute, but I’m here. I’ll always be here, with him.
My fingers gently land on his bowed back, and he sucks in a sharp breath as he jerks away. His wide eyes, darker than usual, land on me, red-rimmed and laced with anguish as his spine collides with the door. His hands are up as though he was afraid I was going to, going to…
His eyes flit between mine, seeing, but not, as silent tears stream down his devastated face.
“Ro?”
He doesn’t say anything.
“Roman. It’s me.”
Still nothing.
I go to reach for him again, my own tears blurring my vision. I move slow, so fucking slow, but he still presses against the harsh metal behind him. A sound so broken, so heartbreaking, spills from his lips, reminding me of a wounded animal.
“Ro,” I choke out, feeling helpless. “Baby, it’s me. It’s Eve, your Goldie. It’s me. I’m here. We’re in the truck. I’m here.”
I just keep repeating the words, my voice soft and quiet, the same way he’d spoken to me when I was broken and in his bed all those weeks ago. When I didn’t know what day it was, and could barely find the energy to breathe, to eat, to exist.
He was there then, and I’m here now.
“It’s Eve,” I repeat, but he still says nothing, still looks at me like he’s never seen me before, so I do the only thing I can think of—I do what he did for me.
I become the sunshine while he disappears into darkness.
“Here comes the sun,” I whisper, my voice raw. I can’t sing, not like him, but I can try. I’ll always try. “Here comes the sun.” I swallow roughly and he blinks rapidly, clearing his vision. “Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter.”
He shakes his head, his gaze finally meeting mine. “He smirked,” he breathes, and my heart stops. “His eyes—” He runs his hand over his face, but his tears don’t quit. “His eyes were the same—”
