Page 45 of Last Light

“I’ll be okay.”

“I know you will.” He clears his throat. “You want me to... to...”

“To what?”

“Hold you. Or somethin’.”

It never would have occurred to me, but that is exactly what I want him to do. I nod mutely.

He scoots over, and I roll over on my other side so he can spoon behind me. His arm wraps around me loosely, and I press back into his strength, his heat.

I start shaking again.

He nuzzles my hair, my shoulder. “I shoulda come faster,” he mumbles. “I’m so sorry, Layne.”

“You came fast enough. It wasn’t your fault either.” I remember the words Travis said to me earlier. I repeat them. “It was him. It was all him.”

Travis’s breath blows my loose hairs. His hand closes softly around my forearm. The length of his body is pressed into mine, and I’m surrounded by his scent.

I feel safe this way.

I start to feel better.

I stop trembling.

I know what he’s giving me right now isn’t personal. He’s a man who takes care of people, and I’m the only one he has.

It still means something to me.

This small space where I don’t have to always be strong.

I’ve known that life is hard since my parents died, and for four years I’ve known it’s even worse than that. It’s brutal. Merciless. It takes everything and rarely gives back. So I never expected to find this.

Comfort at the end of the world.

I close my eyes and fall asleep with Travis all around me.

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