Together We Caught Fire by Eva V. Gibson

Author:Eva V. Gibson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2020-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

20

HIS HANDS CAUGHT ME RIGHT before the worst of it, dragged me, shrieking, from a bloodbath of skin and veins and splintered bone.

“Lane? Lane, look at me.”

I blinked through bleary eyes, taking in the brick walls and blocks of wood, the blown-glass art, Paul’s empty bed. Connor shifted his hold on me as I sagged, easing me back onto the pillows. The party had been far from over when I’d collapsed beside his unconscious form; now the warehouse loomed around us, a cavern of shadows and stillness. His drafting table OttLite was on, his work scattered across the surface, abandoned in his haste to wake me.

I’d known it was a risk, dreaming in a strange place—knew she’d always find me, wherever I closed my eyes. Still, some tiny, optimistic part of me had hoped for a reprieve. Hoped that Connor’s presence would act as a barrier between sleep and sorrow. Guess not.

I drew a rasping breath, gathering the shards of my voice.

“Sorry. Sorry, sorry. I’m okay. I am.”

“I know. It was just a dream.” He crawled up beside me anyway and leaned against the wall, wrapped me in the blanket, then in his arms. “Go back to sleep.”

“Oh. No, that’s not happening anytime soon. You can keep working—I’m fine.”

“I know you are.” But he didn’t move. “Is this a regular thing?”

“Since I was five.”

He fell silent, catching the meaning in the timeline. His breath moved slow and warm against my temple; his heart beat strong against my back, twisted its way into my lungs. Triggered a confusing, too-familiar ache that didn’t belong anywhere near the moment. My head turned and tipped toward him, forehead pressing against his cheek, and it wasn’t so bad at all, letting someone hold me up.

“How long was I asleep, Connor?”

“No idea.” I felt his smile against the bridge of my nose. “I woke up, and everyone was gone but you. Did Sadie get home okay?”

“Grey picked her up. She left me her keys. … I can get going if you need me to. I didn’t mean to sleep so long.”

“Stay. If you want.”

My bones ached with the weight of his words. I looked up and met his eyes, found my reflection, and so much more. He was so close to that edge—less than a step between safe and sorry. I couldn’t unsee it. I didn’t want to.

“I will. A little longer, anyway.”

“As long as you like. Lane.” He tucked my hair behind my ear, tipped forward slowly until our foreheads met. “You look so sad.”

“I’m sorry. It’s not you. I don’t know what it is, really. It’s—”

“It’s everything,” he whispered, “and nothing. All at once.”

He caught the tear before it reached my cheek, smoothing it beneath my eye. He wasn’t quick enough to catch the one that followed, though; after that, he stopped trying. Too many words trembled on my tongue, all far beyond our boundaries. All aching to finally be said.

Instead, the dream snuck past them and fell into the world—how the bathroom itself

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