Page 95 of The Space Between
It’s not rough. It’s not violent. It’sgrieving and healingat once… mixed with something I’m not ready to name yet.
We’re tangledin limbs and the sheets. My chest is under her cheeks. Her fingers trace lazy circles over my ribs. I’m not even sure she knows she’s gliding them over the puckered skin there.
“Why me?” I ask without meaning to. She lifts her head, looking at me. “Why now?”
She blinks. “You mean why you, the man who tried to push me away six hundred different times?”
I huff out a breath, almost chuckling and she smiles. “Because I’m drawn to you, Gruene. You… call to me… I care about you. And because… you make me feel safe.” I go still. “And alive.” She presses her palm over my heart. I know she feels it racing. “And because the first time you looked at me, I saw a storm you didn’t think anyone could stand inside… and Iwantedto.”
I have no words.
None.
So, I just reach for her, holding her tighter and let the silence carry the weight of what neither of us is ready to say out loud.
She kind of did… again… but I can’t… I want to, but I can’t.
It’s there.
It’s fucking there.
But I can’t say it. Not yet.
CHAPTER 16
Blakelyn
It’s stilldark outside when my alarm starts blaring. I roll over fast, my heart hammering, and slap the screen to shut it up. My body’s already awake—jolted with nerves and anticipation before my feet even hit the floor.
It’s August.
It’s August.
And today is my first official day.
I’m a teacher again.
My chest tightens with that realization. Not in the panicked, suffocating way I used to feel in the middle of Tyler’s house when the world felt like it was closing in. This time, it’s different. This time it’s a weight Ichoseto carry. A job Ifoughtto get. A place Iescaped toand planted myself in, hoping it would grow into something solid under my feet.
I sit on the edge of the bed in the quiet cabin. The air is thick with August heat, even before the sun’s up. The ceiling fan rattles above me. Crickets still hum outside. My nerves spike like I’m twenty-two, again, and stepping into a classroom for the first time.
I’m not her.
I’m not that version of myself anymore.
I know how to survive now.
I’ve learned how to leave when I need to.
How to rebuild.
And maybe… just maybe, how to let someone in again.
Though. I haven’t seen Gruene since Saturday and it’s Monday.
I’ve told myself it’s because he’s been slammed at work, and I’ve been in and out of my classroom every day, all day.
I make coffee on autopilot, pad barefoot over the worn wood, and try to ignore the tight pull in my stomach that has nothing to do with the school day ahead and everything to do with the man who kissed me like he wanted to rewrite time, and then, disappeared again like he regretted it….
