Page 137 of Breaker

“What the fuck do you mean she’s not here?” he shouts. “She wasn’t at my house, when I got back from meeting with Rune, so I assumed…” His voice trails off. “I swear to god that girl’s going to give me a heart attack.”

Him?I’m about to lose my mind.

“Wait,” I say, pulling my phone from my pocket. I pull up the app and check for notifications in case she went to Rune’s. Rune left hours ago and never returned. I regret not installing cameras around Harlow’s house. “Do your security cameras extend out to the road?”

Harlow pulls his phone out and thumbs through it. With a curse he pockets his phone, teeth grinding. “She hopped in an Uber.” He points to my glass, but his words barely break through the panic curling up like snakes in my head. “Don’t drive. I have a feeling I know where she went,” he says, his calm demeanor settling my nerves a little.

On his way back to the bay door, he says over his shoulder. “Next time you get the urge to break shit, take a minute tobreathe. I can’t have you going off the rails every time you get pissed off.”

Chapter 43

Striker

Awarm embrace. A gentle caress of fingers trailing over my jaw. Tracing my ear. Down the bridge of my nose.

“It’s okay. I have you.”

I recognize the voice, but it doesn’t match the feel of the fingers trailing along my cheeks, to my lips.

He never touches me.

“Are you really here?” My voice is weak, raspy. When I open my eyes, it’s so dark I can only make out his silhouette. Moonlight bleeds into the cavern around him, his uniform a ghastly blue hue.

“Yes,” he whispers. “Don’t die on me.”

I shake my head. No. I don’t plan on dying. Not when I’ve been fighting so hard to live. But his words don’t sit right. He didn’t say that to me that day he found me in the cave.

Someone else said it, years later.

On another day in this bloody place.

The day we lost a piece of our hearts.

He turns and moonlight hits his mask. I expect to see the all black mask like he wore that day, but it’s the one I’ve grown so used to seeing over the years.

But it’s not his.

I shake my head confused because time seems to be folding in on itself, mixing up days and events, when I realize my head’s cradled in his lap. Just like that day and the one before.

I’m so weak, I can barely move when I try to sit.

“No, don’t move,” he whispers. “I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.”

He helps me sit. Stand. Things happen too fast. I can barely see in front of me, but I can feel his heat. The rough Kevlar of his vest under my palm. The course material of his uniform. His hand on my lower back now, another on my neck, checking my pulse.

In my head, I tell him I’m dehydrated so my pulse is too fast, but that’s a lie. It’s racing because of the way he’s touching me.

“Did you get them?” I ask.

We did. We did. We did. His voice goes on like an echo.

His mask comes off and my chest caves in. I miss him so much. My heart picks up pace as I stare at his lips. We’re so close I can feel his breath on my face. Taste the air he’s exhaling, filling my lungs with spice and smokey sin.

When his mouth brushes mine, I freeze. It’s just a whisper of flesh against flesh, but it sends fire through my blood, and I feel suddenly alive.

Awake.

I bolt up in bed, my fingers brushing my lips, eyes blinking to focus in the dark room. Next to me Delilah grumbles and sits up, running her hand up and down my back.

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