Page 106 of Chasing Lyric
My eyes take her in one last time as my chest tightens. Leaving her is harder than I’d thought, but I have work tomorrow. Well, technically, it’s today. Actually, in a few hours, so I’d better get some sleep.
“Goodnight, Lyri… I’ll be back tomorrow. Sleep well,” I whisper, so I don’t wake her. I place my hand on her window in a last-ditch effort to be near her. I take a deep breath, then turn and head for my car.
I feel lighter somehow.
Tired but lighter.
Seeing her like that, red-eyed, wrecked, still trying to hold herself together, hit me harder than I expected. It gutted me. But she made it through. And even if she didn’t know I was there, I was. Watching. Making sure she was okay. That counts for something, even if only to me.
I don’t know what she thinks I am to her now. But I know what she is to me,fucking everything. And until she looks me in the eye and tells me to back off, I’m staying right here because when I give a damn, I don’t do it halfway. I don’t walk away when things get messy. I plant my feet, take the hits, and show up again the next day.
That’s what love looks like when it’s real, raw, relentless, and unapologetically mine.
And the way I feel about her? It doesn’t back down. It doesn’t fade.
I just need to find a way to makehersee it.
Phase two starts now, with Dax at my side.
But until we pull it off, I’ll drive past her place at night.
Just once.
Just to know she’s there, safe, until lights out, and her world’s shut away.
It settles something in me. Quiets the storm in my chest, even if only for a moment.
Maybe it’s not the healthiest way to cope. But I’ve never claimed to be the poster boy for clean choices.
And hell, right now?
I’ll take whatever keeps me steady long enough to get her back.
Chapter Twenty-One
CHASE
A Week Later
I’ve been stopping by Lyric’s house to check on her.
I’ve found a route that takes advantage of the dead spots of the sensor light, then I leave before the Laguna Beach Security patrol car drives by.
She’s much the same, though.
Wallowing in misery.
I hate seeing her this way. I just want to make her feel better, but Dax has a plan.
Phase two.
It’s Monday morning, and after more than a week of plotting, we’re finally putting the damn thing into motion. The nerves sit deep in my gut, churning like I’m about to walk into the ring with my hands still taped and bleeding. This has to land better than the basket. I can’t afford another blow like that. Not when the stakes areher.
We pull up in Dax’s car a block down from Lyric’s house, tucked behind a row of parked SUVs. The engine cuts, but the thump of my heartbeat doesn’t. It drums hard and fast in my chest, tightening everything inside me until I feel like I might explode before I even step out of the car.
My jaw clenches. My palms are damp against my jeans. Every part of me is tense, coiled, and waiting.
This is it.
