Page 92 of Where the Darkness Goes

And yet, I’m starting to feel her slipping away.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

TESSA — PRESENT DAY

Something heavy sits on my chest, making it hard to take a breath. When I open my eyes, something bright shines in them. I wince, squeezing them shut. The world is so bright, and my head is full of concrete. I can’t…focus. Can’t…

I’m drifting again, floating.

In the distance, someone is talking. A TV maybe, but just one voice.

A man’s voice.

His voice.

“Not like this. He doesn’t get to win, Tessa. Do you hear me? That man took you from me once. I refuse to let him take you again. I love you too much for this to be it. You have to wake up.”

Garrett.My heart swells at the thought of him, warms as if touched by sunshine. Eyes still closed, I reach for him. His head is lying on me, and I run my fingers through his hair. He tenses under my touch, and after a few moments, I hear him whisper, “She doesn’t get to go like this. I can’t lose her, man. I’m not letting her go. This can’t be it for her.”

He thinks I’m Will.I open my mouth, clawing to find my voice, though the muscles don’t seem to want to work. My throat is dry and scratchy, like it’s filled with sand. I can’t seem toswallow. I clear my throat, forcing air out in the form of words. “It’s…not.”

His body goes still against me—completely frozen—then, slowly, the weight is lifted from my stomach. I force my eyes open again, needing to see his face.

“Tessa?” His voice is hesitant, like he doesn’t believe it.

How long have I been out?

The light burns my eyes, but I can’t close them because there he is. “Oh my god.” The words come out of his mouth on a choked sob. He clutches my face, pressing a kiss to my head, my cheeks, my nose, my lips. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. You’re awake. Can you hear me? Are you okay? Oh my god. Will!”

Sleep fights for me, clawing me back to its depths, but then my brother is in my face, and they’re both laughing and hugging and squeezing my hands.

“She’s okay. She’s okay,” Garrett repeats over and over, like he needs to hear it to believe it himself.

“We should get the doctor,” Will says, though neither of them move.

“Are you okay?” Garrett croaks. “Are you hurting?”

“Do you remember what happened?” Will sits down on the edge of my bed, and Garrett takes the spot on the opposite side.

The memories come in flashes. Mom. Garrett. Will. Pastor Charles. It’s all there. The truth and the lies, the heartbreak and the secrets. Britney is gone. Mom still isn’t better. Garrett loves me.

My eyes flick to him, a bit more of what he said moments ago coming back to me. “You love me.” It’s not a question. I don’t have to wonder anymore. It’s just a fact. A safe space to land. Mad and sad and hurt as I am, he is my soft place to land. My light in the darkness.

He kisses my hand. “I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you.”

Will pretends to roll his eyes, then looks at me again. “Did you happen to forget all the stuff about being mad at me?”

I fight to suppress my smile. Of course I haven’t forgotten, but none of it matters anymore. I don’t need to know how it’s going to work out to know that it will. I have the two men I need in my life—my two best friends—and the rest will come with time.

The guys spend the next few minutes taking turns filling me in on everything I missed: That Pastor Charles is being held in jail for attacking me. That Mom and Mabel have been conspiring against him together for years. That Britney was sleeping with Pastor Charles. That he killed her to protect that secret, as well as his others. That Sheriff Ward believes us. That Mabel has told Sheriff Ward she’s willing to testify and say Charles acted alone, leaving the boys out of the investigation into the stolen goods. That they’ve just been waiting for me to wake up, to come home to them.

“I think that’s everything,” Garrett says, tracing a line down my finger. “It’s a lot to take in.”

It is, but it’s what I needed to hear. “The victims in this are getting their justice. We did that.”

He places a hand on my stomach, and Fourth of July sparklers ignite under my skin. “I’m so sorry we left you alone.”

Alone.I remember that feeling with Pastor Charles at the house. How I was so completely alone. I never want to feel that way again. “But you saved me.”

---