Page 129 of The Space Between
Of what I did.
Of what she saw.
Of what I almost became again.
I can still taste the blood in my mouth.
I can feel the way my knuckles split open when I hit his jaw… his ribs… his stomach… . I felt the bones splinter and I still didn’t stop.
I saw his dick out and the bruises forming on her face. I saw his hand wrapped around her wrist while she held a knife. I saw the blood on her thighs.
I thought—I thought I was too late.
I can hear her voice—shaky, sharp—cutting through everything when she screamed my name and asked me not to kill him… when she sobbed that she didn’t want me to go to jail… when she said she loved me after I almost beat her ex to death in front of her….
I didn’t say it back.
I want to say it back.
I should have… but I didn’t.
And now we’re inside.
And it’s quiet.
And she’s still holding my hand.
But I’m not sure I deserve it.
“I’m so sorry,Blakelyn. I didn’t mean to lose it,” I finally say.
Her gaze lifts from where our fingers are laced together on my couch. “You didn’t lose it,” she says softly.
I snort. “Ithrewhim into the wall and off the fucking porch, Blakelyn. I broke his nose and his ribs and maybe his jaw.”
“You protected me.” She whispers.
“I wanted to kill him. I still want to. Ihurthim.”
She shrugs. “I know.”
I blink.
Do the stupid thing, Gruene.
The hard thing.
Therealthing.
“I lost it because… I love you.” I say.
I said it. I just told her I love her.
She freezes. I stare at her, waiting for something.
Smiling softly, she reaches out, cupping my cheek. Her thumb grazes the place where Tyler’s punch glanced off my jaw.
“You love me?” she whispers.
