Page 131 of The Space Between
“I’m not running again,” she says.
It’s done… no more hiding… no more pretending we’re not wrecked and healing and still scared of the dark.
We are. Both of us.
But we’re alsohere…
Together.
And whatever comes next, we face it.
Side by side.
CHAPTER 22
Blakelyn
I don’t rememberthe last time I felt this tired. Not just body tired—though I am that too—but soul tired. That bone-deep exhaustion that settles in when you’ve screamed with every part of your heart and finally run out of air.
The adrenaline and shock wore off sometime late last night.
Tyler was going to rape me. Again. And then, he’d probably have killed me.
The full scope that that could have been the outcome of yesterday hit me in the middle of the night and I broke. I couldn’t hold it together.
Someone I thought loved me at one point was not just planning on raping me yesterday, but that I had allowed him to… I hadn’t fought back when he’d hurt me physically, mentally, and sexually over and over and over again in the past.
He wanted to break my body and my spirit because I dared to leave him… and then, he was going to kill me.
How did I get here?
Gruene held me all night like I was breakable. Every time I moved, it hurt. When my cheek would brush against the pillowcase, I’d wince. When I’d flip or try to turn, I’d gasp while pain would shoot down my leg and up my side. When I’d forget about my wrist and try to use it, the agony would consume me and he’d instantly be awake, asking if I was okay… if I needed anything… if I wanted him to leave the bed and lie on the floor or the couch.
I said no. Every time. I didn’t want him to move… to leave me.
I’m awake now, unable to sleep. And I keep checking onhim.
The bruise on his jaw. The splits in his knuckles— they look like ground meat. The way his teeth clench—even in sleep.
Pressing my lips to his temple once, softly, I whisper. “Thank you for saving me.”
He did.
He showed up when Tyler pushed past every line I ever dared to draw. And when I stood beside him and said the things I never thought I’d say out loud again—he didn’t run.
He stayed.
He held on.
He told me he loved me.
I reminded him I said it first and he smiled.
For a few minutes… the world went still
But morning comes.
And life doesn’t slow down for love.
