Page 63 of Fire Island
Mo ghràdh.
Irry told me she’d been in an accident. What fucking accident? Where was she for two whole damn weeks while I was held up in the hospital, clueless?
She—
I fly from the bedroom and stumble my way down the stairs. The front door slams against the wall behind me as I send gravel flying, crossing the small path from the house to the shack.
Halting abruptly at the door, I find her light off.
I rest a palm on the door.
My heart flings against my ribs. I can’t spend another second without her.
Seventeen
EVIE
The door rattles. Heavy breathing—more like consecutive rasps—comes from the other side of it. Now, I’m glad for the chair I stuck under the doorknob. I feel safe here with Cal, I really do. But the knowledge that Timothy is still somewhere in the world will always have my nerve up.
“Evie,” Cal groans.
Evie.
Not Eve.
I sit up.
“God, baby girl.Please... Please, let me in.” His voice breaks on the last syllable.
“Cal?” I scramble from the bunk and fly to the door. Knocking the chair out of the way, I tug it open. His choppy rasps that barely hold back sobs disintegrate as I find him distraught.
Tears shine on his cheeks. His face is wrecked, and he shakes as he heaves through every lungful. Standing rooted to the spot, his hands hang, his eyes burning into mine.
“Cal,” I whimper.
He sets his face and takes one step closer before strong arms sweep underneath me and I’m in his hold, hugged to his chestbefore the next heartbeat has a chance to fall. I wrap my arms around his neck and study his face through my own stream of tears.
“How will you ever forgive me, mo ghràdh?”
I huff a strangled laugh that comes out more like a whimper as my head shakes. “Nothing to forgive, sweet man.”
His raw exhale turns into a moan as his face sinks into my hair. Wordlessly, he lifts his head and turns on his heel, walking into the house. He kicks the door closed behind us and takes the steps one by one, his gaze never leaving me.
He stops and lowers me onto my side of the bed, and I can’t help but scrunch up my face to stem the ridiculous flow of tears that refuses to stop. He crawls into the bed and hauls me into his arms.
“Never again, Evie.”
I sob in his embrace, fingers curling around his neck, fingertips sweeping through his hair. I wail in his hold until my face feels too swollen to take a proper breath. “I thought I lost you.” My voice cracks, and I haul in a ragged parcel of air. “Twice.”
He chugs through a sob and tightens his hold.
“You broke your promise,” he rasps.
“I know,” I wail.
“I’m so fucking thankful you did.”
“Don’t youeversend me away again.”
