Page 91 of The Space Between
He isn’t crying but he’s wrecked. Silence fills the room, the words neither of us have said, neither of us wants to say, fill the room, so thick it’s almost suffocating. I let him fall apart. I know what it means to be held together by someone who never deserved to carry you… and I know what it means tofinally be safe enoughto fall.
Because that’s where I am, too.
We don’t speakfor a long time.
We just lie there with my fingers trailing along his spine and his breath ghosting against my skin.
Eventually, he pulls me into his chest, wrapping himself around me. He presses a kiss to the crown of my head and whispers, “Thank you for not letting me be alone in this bed anymore.”
My throat burns. I don’t speak. I just hold him tighter. Because sometimes,that’s enough.
And right now…this is perfect.
Gruene
She stays with me.
Even after everything I told her. Even after the storm I unleashed. Even after I put my hands on her body like I’dforgotten how to be gentle and let her see the darkest fucking parts of me—she stays.
I think she almost just said that she loved me.
I don’t know what the hell to do with that.
Blakelyn Walker doesn’t look at me like I’m broken.
She doesn’t flinch when I’m rough.
She doesn’t soften when I’m jagged.
She looks at me like I’m still here. Like I’m worth reaching for.
I haven’t felt that in so fucking long I almost don’t trust it.
She’s curled into my chest now, her breath warm against my skin, one leg hooked over mine like it belongs there… like I belong here.
I’m still inside her.
I’m soft. Spent. But anchored in a way I didn’t know I was desperate for.
I hold her tighter and wait for the usual ache in my ribs to suffocate me.
The guilt.
The fear.
The sharp fucking edge of knowing I’ve let someone else take up space in this bed.
But all I feel… is her.
She’s warm. She’s soft. She’s real.And I don’t move because if I do, I might shatter the only peace I’ve felt in six goddamn years.
We must have fallen asleep.
I slept…
I slept in my bed with Blakelyn curled into me.
The sun’s starting to set, again, by the time we drag ourselves into the shower.
