Page 54 of When the Storm Breaks
That does it.
“What the fuck were you thinking, Calla?” The words tear out of me, and the rawness in my own voice surprises me. My chest is heaving now, heat creeping up the back of my neck. “You think he had something to do with this, so your solution is to show up alone? In the dark? You really thought that wasn’t going to get you hurt?”
The anger’s pouring out of me, but underneath it, something elseis unraveling.
Something closer to fear.
Her tears spill over, unrestrained, choked sobs breaking through the words she’s barely managing to hold together.
“I know, okay? I get it,” she cries, her voice shaking, breaths fast and uneven. “I just… I can’t do this without Jules.”
The admission fractures something in her—like she’s been holding back an avalanche, and this is the moment it crashes down.
“We did everything together, and now she’s just gone. I can’t leave my apartment. I don’t do anything. I can’t go anywhere. I’m lost.”
Then she shatters completely.
Her face twists with anguish as a wail tears from her throat—a sound so full of pain it knocks the air from my lungs.
She throws her arms up, helpless.
“We had all these plans… and she’s just gone!”
Her grief fills the car like a living thing, pressing in on all sides.
I don’t know what to say. Don’t know how to fix this. She’s breaking apart right in front of me, and all I can do is watch.
I want to tell her that I understand—that I know what it’s like to drown in the emptiness someone left behind—but what would that change?
It won’t bring Jules back. It won’t stop the ache.
Nothing will.
She pulls in a breath, trying to steady herself, but it barely helps.
“I just need to figure it out,” she whispers, the fire in her voice flickering low. “I just need to fix it.”
Her whole body slumps, completely still, exhaustion bleeding through every inch of her. The dark smudges beneath her eyes. Theway her breaths drag like they physically hurt.
My body moves before my brain can catch up, before reason has the chance to stop me.
My hand finds her face, desperate, pulling her toward me. Her breath catches, but she doesn’t pull away.
My other hand braces the shoulder of the passenger’s seat, anchoring me as I close the space between us.
I watch her.
I see it—the shock, the hesitation.
All tangled with something darker.
My mouth crashes against hers.
Her soft gasp is swallowed between us, and I take it—take all of it. Everything she’s been holding back.
She stiffens for half a second before something gives. Her lips part beneath mine, melting into the kiss.
I don’t stop. Ican’t.
