Page 235 of There's No Us Without You
I’ll cling to it like a lifeline. Thethump thumpcalming my own racing heart.
After everything he’s been through, I’m glad he’s still here, doing life with me. If I lost him too, I’m not sure I’d survive this.
An emptiness sets up in my chest, the death of my brother leaving a huge hole that will never be filled. We had a shared past shaped by too many experiences no child should ever have to endure, but in the end, our hatred for each other wasn’t real.
I never hated Tyler. My love for him never faded; it just got lost along the way. He was the second person in my life I ever got to love—the first being my mother.
I just hope he knew that—even if I never said it until the very end—before he took his last breath.
He sacrificed himself for me. For Eden. For Emerson.
His love for us was greater than any other I’ve ever known. I guess we weren’t much different, my brother and me; I was prepared to do the same for him, and the two people I love the most in this world.
If I could go back, I’d jump in front of that bullet. I’d die knowing my whole heart was safe because it belongs to them. All three of them would have had a piece, and as long as they stuck together, my heart would remain whole.
Burying my head against Emerson’s chest, I break. “He’s gone, Em.” Tears, more tears. “I’m never going to see him again.” My entire body is shaking, my heart beating so hard I swear it may just crack.
Every time I move, my head throbs to the beat of my pulse, bouncing and banging inside my skull.
“I’ve got you.” Emerson tightens his arm around me. “Always.”
“It fucking hurts.” My voice is muffled against his chest. “I won’t survive this.”
Pulling back, Emerson grips my shoulders, a frown set on his handsome face. “You will survive it.” He brushes a thumb over my cheek. “You know why?”
My bottom lip trembles. “Wh . . . why?”
“Because you have me, and I won’t let you fall. You understand me, Willis Becker?”
Nodding, I slam my body against his again and hold onto him until my tears dry up and I can’t stand any longer.
SIXTY-SIX
Emerson
It’safter 11 p.m. when Will walks in the front door. He doesn’t bother to look at me when he passes through the space between the lounge room and kitchen.
“I’m going to shower,” he says, before disappearing up the stairs, his footsteps heavy.
I sigh and run a hand through my hair. This is the second time in as many days where Will has been called into the police station to go over his statement of what happened to Tyler four nights ago.
After Tyler was shot, Brady did the runner, dumped the van and stole a car, then went into hiding. The police finally caught up with him, thanks to Tyler’s previous intel. Apparently, he was hiding out in some abandoned warehouse two suburbs away with a skeleton crew of deadbeat arseholes, sleeping on mattresses covered in piss, vomit, and god knows what else.
From what Will has told me, Brady’s gang had been on their radar for months, and what happened to Tyler was more than enough reason to swoop in and arrest the motherfuckers.
Not that it means anything to Will. His brother sacrificing himself shouldn’t be used to the advantage of the police—Tyler’s death means nothing to them and everything to him.
I don’t know what to do in this situation, so I sit on the couch in silence. Will should come to me if he needs me, right? The last thing I want is to push him away by demanding he open up, but I also can’t sit here doing nothing while my best friend and love of my life suffers in his own version of hell.
Maybe Wren will know what to do when he gets here. Will needs his family right now, so I called Wren and Koby a couple days ago to let them know what happened. They’ve assured me they’ll be back for the funeral.
Everything’s a mess.
For starters, Will has decided silence is his way of coping... which honestly isn’t that much different from when we were just friends.
Secondly, Eden isn’t here.
And thirdly, I’m fucking struggling to shower myself, let alone wipe my own arse.
