Page 210 of Pretty Little Lies

Without much luck on my sight, I work at my hands, forcing them to push me upward so I can find cover between vehicles.

It’s not until a large but gentle hand lands on the back of my shoulder that I recoil for the second time, another agonizing gasp leaving my mouth and I’m immediately pissed.

“McQueen.”

An immediate whimper and wave of relief fills my chest as my body reacts like magic to the sound ofhisvoice.

The cracks to my eyes break open like someone just saidopen sesameand it worked. The fact that he’s here does odd and insane things to my beating heart. The way my body sighs in comfort that he’s back within my grasp, somewhat.

“Don’t move, baby. I don’t know if you have anything broken or?—”

“Just get me up,” I emit, slowly turning my head to glimpse at Reeve from over my shoulder, and he’s breathtaking.

Those hazel eyes glimmer against the parking lot lamps overheard and that sandy blonde hair that’s a little longer than before carelessly waves to me from the slight breeze.

Those boyish features of his, the shaven lines of his jaw make my heart clench and faithfully beat to the sight of him.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “You’re so beautiful, Reevie.”

His brow quickly pops as he holds my gaze. “How many times did you get hit in the head?”

“Only a few dozen.” He frowns, and I take a chance to reach out and run my hands through his hair. It hurts, but not as bad as I thought. I’ll have bruises, but no broken limbs have been discovered yet. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

“Yeah.” He breaks his stare from me and looks over toward the cars. “I am too.”

“How?” Reeve peers back down at me. “Why are you here?”

“I came to see you. I wanted…” I see the look of civil war battling out in his head. I’m sure Torin isn’t fangirling over the fact of anyone seeing me right now.

“You shouldn’t be here, huh?”

A flash of anger creeps along Reeve’s face and he locks his jaw. “C’mon.” His hands wrap around my biceps. “Can you get up?”

“I don’t know.”

Slowly, he helps me get to my feet and I need his support for a moment. However, this is hard to deal with because I know why he’s here.

I just have to keep myself from crying when he breaks up with me.

The smell of the ocean fills my nostrils as he leans closer, but it does nothing to calm me. It only desires to drown me because I’ll never find anyone else close enough to Reeve in my entire life.

“Why?” His question is a choked-out singular word that he doesn’t bother hiding how much pain stands behind it. “Why did you do it, Bay?”

“He was trying to kill me.” Reeve’s face twists as he remains grounded in his spot, only a foot away from me. “Torin wouldn’t listen to me and…” I meet his hardened gaze, aware that this is the only time I might have the opportunity to do this. “I don’t know what you saw, but I’m going to assume it wasn’t the part where Judah was on top of me, choking me out.”

“No,” he clips out, nostrils flaring. “Didn’t see that.”

I open my mouth, but my next comment is delayed. I know he’s trying to read me. To see if I’m full of shit. He has years withTorin and only months with me. His loyalty needs to stick with his brother, and he knows that.

But not everything is black and white all the time. The color always brightens up the picture and shows the hidden clues behind things that happened.

“I don’t expect you to stand by my side,” I offer through my trembling jaw. “I know how important it is to stick by your family.He’syour family.”

“He wants tokillyou, Bay. How do I stand by and let that happen?” His confession shakes me right to my core. I know Torin was pissed,ispissed, but murdering me?

There’s no fucking way.

Take this seriously, Bay. We don’t have time to fuck around and find out if he’s serious.

---