Page 68 of Beautiful Collide

What if the pilots aren’t telling us?

What if this is it? What if I die sitting next to Hudson? No. Stop. This is ridiculous.

You aren’t dying.

My pulse accelerates. Blood pounds through my veins at a rate that probably could cause a heart attack.

I’m lost in my thoughts ofwhat-ifwhen Hudson shifts.

Hudson.

Goddammit.

Why does it always have to be him? He is the one person in the world I don’t want to see me unraveling. Yet this man is always around when I’m having a panic attack.

I need to rein it in, but even as I think these words, I know it’s impossible. When I go down the path, it’s hard to push away my thoughts.

Then I feel it. His fingers brush against mine on the armrest.

Despite my efforts to be unaffected, my skin tingles at the contact.Traitor.

I freeze, glancing down at where our hands now touch.

His hand now fully covers mine.

I tilt my head up until my gaze meets his.

Locked in a stare, neither of us speaks.

The plane continues to shake uncontrollably.

His hand tightens around me. His fingers softly caress my skin.

“We’re okay,” he finally says. “Just breathe.”

His voice is calm and steady—a lifeline in the chaos.

I try to inhale, my head dropping to look at the floor. I’m trying desperately to calm down, but as the plane drops, I’m not sure I can.

His fingers continue to circle, but this time, his free hand reaches out and touches my chin. “Don’t look away from me.”

I obey.

When I meet his stare, I feel anchored to the world. It makes no sense, but his blue eyes seem to hold me hostage, and as he looks at me, I regulate my breathing.

“I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

And like in the closet and the gas station . . . for some reason, I believe him.

21

Molly

The faint humof skates on the ice fills the rink as I stand on the sidelines, pretending to scroll through my phone.

Really, I’m watching Hudson.

Not because I want to, of course. It’s purely circumstantial. He’s been on fire today, weaving through drills like the puck is his bitch.

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