Page 67 of Perfect Bragg

He kisses my nose. “When it comes to you, none of my normal rules apply.”

Those words warm my heart in ways I thought it could never be warmed again. Uh-oh. I’m cracking.

“Everyone I love dies.” The words are out before I realize I’m going to speak.

His eyes widen. “Note I’m not making a joke about you having superpowers.”

“Duly noted.” I clear my throat. “When I was nine, I was driving in the car with my mom, dad, and brother to visit my cousin Amy and her family.” I pause. Saying those words out loud is harder than I thought.

Elder squeezes my hips in encouragement.

“We had an accident. Everyone died except me. It was my fault. The end.”

“Hold on. Slow down. What do you mean it was your fault? I thought you said you were nine years old. How could a car accident possibly be your fault?”

“It was.”

“Nope. I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t believe me?” I snarl.

“What do you know about it? Nothing. A big fat nothing. You can’t possibly know how my three-year-old brother Ethan was crying. How I tried to calm him but he started screaming. How his face turned red. How I yelled at my dad to stop the car. How he switched from the left to the right lane but didn’t notice the car in his blind spot. How the car hit us and my whole family died. How it was All. My. Fault.”

I’m wailing with tears flowing down my cheeks by the time I finish my tirade. Elder wraps his arms around me before hauling me near. He rubs his hands up and down my back as loud sobs rack my body.

“Darling, please stop. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

I rear back. “I deserve to make myself sick. I’m a murderer! I killed my whole family!”

He pinches my chin. “Hear me on this. You. Are. Not. A. Murderer.”

“I killed my family, which makes me a murderer.”

“No,” he growls. “A car killed them when it hit the car you were in. You had nothing to do with it.”

“But we wouldn’t have changed lanes if I hadn’t insisted we stop.”

“Your dad, who was an adult, was driving the car. Not you. You can’t accept responsibility for actions outside of your control.”

“But—”

“No. I refuse to allow you to carry around this responsibility which isn’t yours to carry any longer.”

“You refuse? You refuse?” Who the hell does he think he is?

“Yep. I refuse. Harmony Elaine Kingsley will no longer feel guilt for an accident she wasn’t responsible for.”

“You can’t snap your fingers and I’ll no longer feel guilty.”

He cocks a brow. “I can’t?” He snaps his fingers. “There. I just did.”

“I—” I slam my mouth shut when I realize what he’s doing. “Are you distracting me to stop me from crying?”

He kisses me. It’s one of those barely there whisper soft kisses. And, despite everything, I want more.

“You figured me out, stubborn girl,” he murmurs against my lips. “But I’m also right. You aren’t the guilty party.”

When he pulls away, I open my mouth to argue with him but stop when I realize it’s futile. Elder will never understand the guilt and fear I carry. How could he? He has a huge loving family. I have no one.

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