Page 83 of His Every Move

“I was going to end it. End it all. Eli, you’ve said it before—you’ve told me how when you find your one true love, you never want to let them go. I don’t want to let you go. Ever. So I was going to wake you up, kiss you, then kill us both.”

I blinked as if that would suddenly clean the slate and make this all okay.

There it was. A full confession. He was going to kill me. I didn’t know what got into me—maybe a heavy dose of adrenaline could be blamed—but I laughed. Literally fucking laughed. Shock was giving way to the same anger that radiated off Benji as if he were a flickering blue flame. “Here? You were going to kill me in a shitty casting office? What the actual fuck?”

Zack’s head reeled back. He looked around the dingy room. “It was… the only place with last-minute reservations open. I faked a casting company. I knew you’d come if I made the audition sound big enough.”

“Why not just invite me to your place? At least there, I could have died on the couchIlent you money to buy.” Benji tilted his head and glanced in my direction. This was fucking insane. I felt like I was losing my mind. How could this actually be happening? “Zack, we could have been best friends for the rest of our lives. I would have always had your back. Always been there if you needed?—”

“Don’t you fucking see! That’s what makes this even worse. You’re always so close, and I still can’t even touch you. Like at the masquerade party. I wanted to fuck you so bad. When I saw you leave to the private room, I almost killed everyone in that fucking party. I was about to find a knife and go on a fucking stabbing spree. That’s how wild you drive me. It’s fucked-up.”

Benji’s finger twitched on the trigger. It was clear in Zack’s tone that he wasn’t joking in the slightest. He meant every single word he uttered. He really was ready to kill everyone just because I let him down. How had I ever been so close to someone so broken? And not even realize it?

He dropped the needle. It rolled to a stop near my feet. I took a breath, hoping this was a sign it was all drawing to an end. Nothing needed to be escalated from here. There was no saving the friendship, but at least no one had to get hurt today. That’s what mattered most. I wanted us all to be able to walk away from here so that we could all eventually heal from this somehow. That wouldn’t happen if blood had been shed today.

“Just let us call the police,” Benji said. He didn’t lower the gun. Its presence in the room felt like being locked in a cage with a lethal tiger. I was just glad that it was Benji who held its leash. “We can get you help. Get you better.”

“No you can’t. Nothing except having Eli will make this better. I’m broken. Ruined. Eli, you ruined me.”

I shook my head, the anger turning into a hollow sadness. “I would have tried to help however I could.”

“No. You broke me.” Zack’s face turned into a snarl. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. It was small but looked lethal, the sharp steel glittering in the surgical white lighting. Benji looked like he was about to shoot. I was about to watch my ex-best friend’s brains get blown out all across the wall.

“Zack, please, put that down,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

Zack’s eyes darted wildly between Benji and me. Panic flashed across his face, his breathing rapid and shallow. I could see the exact moment something inside him snapped. A guttural, animalistic scream ripped from his throat as he lunged toward us.

“Eli, move!” Benji shouted, stepping protectively in front of me. My body froze, trapped in the paralyzing vise of shock and fear. Zack closed the distance in less than a heartbeat, the knife aimed straight at Benji’s throat. In one fluid motion, Benji twisted his body, sidestepping the knife’s deadly trajectory, bringing the grip of the gun up hard and swift against Zack’s temple.

A sharp crack echoed through the room.

Zack staggered, his knees buckling beneath him. He collapsed to the floor in a heap, his eyes rolling back, the knife slipping from his fingers. The silence that followed was deafening, broken only by the sound of our ragged breaths.

Benji stood over Zack’s unconscious form, chest heaving, gun still gripped tightly in his shaking hand. Slowly, he lowered the weapon, turning toward me.

Holy shit. It was over. This entire saga had come to an end. All my fear, my anxieties, my worries, they all had been leading to this. There would be a lot of time and therapy that was going to be needed to fully comprehend all of this, but at least it was over.

I was safe.Wewere safe.

I turned away from Zack and leaned against Benji, my heart still racing. He pulled me into a protective embrace. The strength and warmth of his body instantly enveloped me, grounding me back to reality, pulling me into the moment. Benji had come to rescue me. From the start. If it wasn’t for him, this could have all ended very differently.

“Fuck, Eli,” Benji whispered, his voice trembling as he clutched me tighter. “Fuck. I thought—shit, I thought I was going to lose you. Are you okay? Hurt at all?”

“No, I’m okay. I’m okay.” I buried my face into his chest, breathing him in, feeling his heartbeat pound steadily beneath my cheek. It was the sweetest sound in the world. “You saved me,” I whispered, voice thick with tears. “Benji, you saved my life.”

His arms tightened around me, his hand gently stroking the back of my head. “I would have torn this city apart looking for you. You’re everything to me, Eli. Everything.”

My vision blurred with tears. My best friend had betrayed me, nearly killed me, and the one man I’d been hesitant to fully trust had risked everything to save my life. There were no more questions left unanswered, no more doubts lingering in my heart.

“I don’t want to hold back anymore,” I murmured, lifting my head to look into Benji’s deep, soulful eyes. “Life’s way too short for that.”

He cupped my face in his large hands, brushing away my tears with his thumb. “What do you mean?” he asked softly, uncertainty flickering briefly in his expression.

“I mean I love you, Benji. I love you so fucking much, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the other day. I should have. I don’t want to live with any what-ifs.” The words spilled from me effortlessly, truth resonating with every syllable. I’d never meant those words more than when I said them to this man. He opened my eyes to a world that was full of love and companionship. He never once judged me, never looked down on me. He made me happy in every single way imaginable.

How could I not love this man?

Benji’s eyes widened slightly, surprise quickly melting away into pure, unbridled joy. His smile stretched wide, illuminating his entire face. Even under these terrible fluorescent lights in this cramped space, he still looked good.

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