Page 91 of Forever Always

He froze but didn’t let go of the knife. He wasn’t seeing’ anything, completely lost in his head.

I ignored the disgusting fuckin’ body and crawled so I was directly in front of my butterfly. That meant I was directly under the knife, but it was a chance I was willing to take.

Riley looked like he’d come straight out of a horror movie. His face was completely coated in blood, and it somehow made those bright blue eyes even more obvious. His fingers twitched, but I didn’t move.

“Riley, it’s me, sweetheart. It’s Beckett. I’m here. I’m safe. You did it. You saved me. You killed him.”

For a while, there was nothing. I didn’t dare reach out to touch him even if I wanted to. All I could hear was his sobs and the sound of my beating heart.

Riley blinked. “B-b-beckett?” He hiccupped.

“Yeah, butterfly, it’s me.”

“You’re alive?”

I snorted at that. “Yeah, I’m alive.”

His eyes cleared, but before I could grab him or block him from what he’d done, he found Mr. Chase’s body. The knife clattered to ground, just missing me, and the Riley twisted away before he started to puke everywhere.

I pocketed the knife, just in fuckin’ case, before going to Riley. I couldn’t fuckin’ stop myself. I had to touch him. I held him from behind until he had nothing left in him and the sobs started again. I spun him around so he was facing me, and he buried his head in my chest. I’d never held him so fuckin’ close. His whole body was shaking, and I was afraid he was having a seizure.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You’re okay, butterfly. You did so fuckin’ good. Thank you. You saved me. I love you. I love you so much. My good, perfect butterfly. I love you. You’re okay.”

I kept holding him tight, and muttered soft words as I petted his hair. He wouldn’t calm down. Why wouldn’t he calm down? I knew enough to know we had to fuckin’ move, but Riley was like dead weight on top of me, and I couldn’t get my muscles to function enough to go anywhere.

What were we gonna do?

It hit me as Riley finally passed out from sheer exhaustion on top of me. Luckily, my phone had managed to stay in my pocket through all the bullshit.

It took some work, but I got it out and luckily still had the number saved. I had no idea what time it was or if he was even in the country, but I had to try. If anyone knew what to do in this fucked situation, it would be him.

It was a fuckin’ miracle that he answered on the third ring. “Hello?” He sounded tired, like I’d woken him up, but I didn’t care. Please be in town or at least in the country. Fuckin’ please.

“Wesley, it’s Beckett. We need your help.”

CHAPTER 33

RILEY

I had flashes of awareness, where I knew exactly where I was, who I was with, and what had happened. In between those, it was a void. It wasn’t even darkness, just nothing. I was losing whole chunks of time, and I couldn’t remember a thing about it. Was this how it felt for Beckett? Why was it happening? I guessed it was my brain trying to protect me, but every time I became aware and I was somewhere else, I started to panic.

Now, I was in the most comfortable bed I’d ever felt in my life, with the softest sheets. That meant I wasn’t in jail, right? Jail wouldn’t be this soft. I stretched my arm, accidentally hitting something hard. The thing grunted. Beckett.

I smiled, relieved. I had no idea where I was, but Beckett was right there. His arm snaked around me and pulled me closer.

“Sleep, butterfly.”

I tried to twist my head to see him, but he was holding me so tightly that even that was hard. So I just relaxed into the cloudlike sheets and closed my eyes, as I tried to piece things together.

My throat was on fire, and I really wanted water, but moving was impossible right now. I did the next best thing and inhaled Beckett’s scent. I hoped to ground myself despite my confusion.

He didn’t smell exactly like Beckett, like maybe he’d used a different body wash. I frowned. Why would he use different body wash? I sniffed again.

“Why’re you smellin’ me? Go back to sleep. M’tired.”

“You smell weird.”

“At Wesley’s. Had to use whatever he had. You smell weird too.”

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