Page 140 of Need You Now

That calms her, but the effort’s exhausting and she sinks lower into Seth’s arms, her head sliding to the side.

Sal’s hushed voice. “What happened on the dock, Lacey?”

“Beau,” Lacey murmurs, and it’s as if the air leaves the room. Sal lifts her eyes to Seth’s. Lacey feels Seth’s arms tighten around her. He’s so still, she wonders if he’s even breathing.

“Oh no,” Alabama whispers. A harsh curse blasts from somewhere across the room. Griff, Lacey thinks.

“He knocked me in the water.” She closes her eyes, her mind a confused mess. “He tried to take my locket, and I got scared. I thought ... he was the mugger. He was there ... but then he wasn’t.”

Sal lowers her head, a sob finally working her way out of her.

She’s not making sense, she knows that. Everything’s fuzzy, almost disembodied. A strange, weightless, floating feeling.

Sleep. She wants to sleep. She’s warm here in Seth’s arms, her mind too murky to puzzle out anything else.

She hears her sister’s voice, wobbly, urgent. “Don’t go to sleep, Lacey.”

She sags lower in Seth’s arms, her eyes fluttering as the room blinks in and out around her.

“Lacey?” Seth says brokenly. “Lace, baby, you gotta stay with me. You hear me? I need you here.”

She wants to listen, but she’s tired. So tired. The haze in her mind keeps growing. Swallowing her down just like the blackness of that lake.

But she has to do something first.

Seth. She needs Seth.

She needs to tell him she loves him, that he’s her favorite person in the world, but her lips are frozen and her eyes are anchors. Heavy. Falling. The dark looks nice, welcoming, and so she gives up.

She gives in to the dark.

Seth sits on the couch in the living room, forehead against his clasped hands, staring into the crackling fire.

Thirty minutes ago, Luke and Jace returned with the doctor. Now, upstairs, Lacey’s getting checked over. It seems like he’s been waiting an eternity. Fear, god-awful fear has him paralyzed. He’s unraveling not knowing how she is.

Tears burning his eyelids, Seth buries his face in his hands. Lets guilt drag him down into the abyss.

Lacey’s words haunt him. What Beau did. Cornering her, scaring her like that, and Seth has no one to blame but himself. He knew the guy was bad news, had tried to cut him a break, but it was the worst mistake he could have made. It made Lacey vulnerable. Hell, it made all of his friends and family vulnerable.

He hates that he wasn’t there for Lacey in her worst moment, hates that he failed to protect her like he promised he would.

Regret washes over him.

Fuck. He and Lacey—they just got to this place he’s been wanting to get to, and now ...

Now he could lose her.

The thought so staggering, so damn awful he can barely breathe.

Christ, let her be okay.

She can’t leave him. Not when he’s finally found who he’s been needing all his life.

Jolted from his thoughts, Seth blinks as a warm blanket covers his shoulders. He looks up in surprise at Alabama, tucking a quilt around him. “You got cold clothes,” she drawls, sympathy etched all over her pretty face.

Seth presses fingers into his wet eyes, nods his thanks.

“He don’t need a blanket, sweetheart, he needs a drink.” Griff stands over him, his arm draped around his wife.

---