Page 50 of Inseverable (Carolina Beach)

God, please let me die with them.

“Oh, Jesus,” my angel whispers. “Sweet Jesus.”

The slamming of a door, the trample of steps rushing forward, and fingers sweeping along my sweat-soaked brow. “I’m going to take care of you. You hear me? You’re safe, and-and strong, and you’re going to be fine . . .”

I wrench away. She’s wrong, dead wrong.

Another blast. Another death.

Something crashes to the floor. “Shit—I’m sorry,” Trin says. “I’m so sorry.”

The sound of pouring rain drifts in, growing louder, filtering the next blast. I don’t know what’s happening. Something pushes into my ears.

“Hey?hey. It’s okay. Don’t fight me. They’re earplugs I bought to cushion the sound.”

I shake my head, not understanding. Not caring to either. I need to run. Need to get the boys out. Need to carry Lewis. He’s not moving. Christ, why isn’t he moving?

I push up from my bed only to be wrenched back down.

Lips find mine, warm and sweet. I welcome them, taking the kiss deep and digging my fingers into hair as smooth as silk.

The mouth and body I crave and need withdraw abruptly. I haul both back, but again I’m denied.

“Later. I promise,” she tells me. “Right now let me help you, okay?” She struggles to catch her breath. “I’m going to try to put these plugs in again, all right?”

I don’t respond, waiting to understand. Something soft forces its way deep into my ear canal. This time I don’t fight it.

“That’s it,” she says, her voice is muffled and the sound of pouring rain dims. “Just like that.”

Next explosion. Next death. They’re weak, those sounds, but I jolt with each one.

“Lewis is dead,” I tell her.

She pauses and smooths my hair. “He’s at peace, Callahan. I swear he is.”

Something in her voice makes me believe her. “Shhh,” she says. “One more. One more and we’re good.”

Pressure against my ear, and the world fades. I remember a body curling around me. I remember hands stroking the length of my spine. I remember shaking. Why was I so cold?

Life ends.

Butsheis with me.

Something tickles my nose. I bat it away, but there it remains. I fight the sleep engulfing me and try to push away the itch, lifting my head when I realize its hair.

Trinity is lying on top of me. I think she’s asleep until she tilts her chin and rubs her eyes, squinting at the sunlight trickling in through the windows.

“Hey,” she says, sounding far away.

She inches upward, using her legs to slide her body along my chest. Her eyes flicker from side to side. “Keep still a moment and I’ll fix you right up,” she tells me.

She lifts her hands and reaches for me. With a sudden pop the room fills with sound. The air conditioning blasts in the corner, a bird sings outside, and in the distance the sea’s lullaby welcomes me home.

Trin leans in, skimming her lips over mine. “You okay?” she whispers against my mouth. She cocks her head when I don’t answer. “I think the fireworks were too much, especially since it hasn’t been long since you left Iraq,” she explains. “When I arrived at the bar, Jed told me you couldn’t take it and had to leave. I swung by the drugstore and bought one of those white noise CDs?one with rainfall sounds—only it had a four-hour running time so I bought these, too.”

She lifts the ear plugs, showing them to me before tossing them into the waste can beside my bed. “They seemed to help,” she continues. “The thing is, you were in such bad shape I couldn’t leave you. I hope you don’t mind that I stayed. As far as the plugs, I bought a whole container of them. Maybe you should keep using them and the CD together. They helped you settle and?”

I crash my lips against hers. Instead of pulling away and denying me like she did last night, her mouth invades me. Her lips suck, her teeth nibble, stirring moans loud enough to vibrate my chest.

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