Page 164 of The Best of Us

I’d just been somewhere else. Far away from here. Much warmer, more colorful, and with so much light.

“Juliette,” I rasped, my throat raw from the water.

Hands were everywhere, trying to help me sit, but I couldn’t quite make out who was around me. Everything blurred together, my senses still lagging behind reality.

“You were dead,” someone whispered. “It’s a miracle.” Was that Izzy?

Izzy’s here? Why is she here?

“Dad.”

At my son’s voice, I fought to focus, pushing through the fog.

“I’m here,” I managed, searching blindly until I found his hand. I heard sobs of relief around me. “I’m here,” I repeated, trying to squeeze his fingers. “And I love you, too. I love you both.”

“You heard me?” he cried out. “But you were . . .?”

I was what?Someone helped me try to sit again, wrapping something around me. A dry shirt? Blanket?

I blinked against the harsh brightness, my vision struggling to adjust. Around me, people were crowded on the rocks, their faces still blurred at the edges of my awareness. Sirens wailed somewhere off in the distance. Not good.

“The countdown . . . time . . . how much left?” I mumbled, still half out of it.

“Emilia bought us some time with the police, but we need to get you out of here before they arrive. We have a Zodiac ready to take you to the yacht. It’s close by.”

Was that Hudson?

“Is everyone okay?” I forced out, only to collapse back, my body too weak to hold itself upright. “Did any of us die?”

“Just you, man. Just you.”Alessandro?“And don’t you ever do it again.”

I closed my eyes, still shaking. Pain tore through my chest and up my back.

Everything after that became hazy flashes of movement, voices drifting in and out, until I realized we were on the yacht, and I was in the bedroom below deck.

“Where are we going?” My voice was hoarse. My throat still sore.

“You’re going to the hospital.” Juliette was next to me on the bed, holding my hand. “You scared me.”

“You scared all of us,” Enzo muttered from somewhere in the room.

I blinked, shifting my gaze from the angel who saved me to track down my brother. The room was packed. Colin, Alessandro, Izzy, and Hudson were there, too.

“I missed that sniper,” Hudson said, shaking his head as Izzy clung to him. “I’m so fucking sorry he got you.”

“No,” I whispered, my voice still ragged. “I’m not.”

Hudson frowned. “What?”

“I got to see Bianca.”

At my remark, a heavy silence fell over the room.

Shock flashed across Enzo’s face. “What?”

I exhaled slowly, the memory forming so clearly in my mind it was as if she were right there with us. It was real. I knew it was. It had to be.

“Want to know what Heaven’s like?” Tears burned the corners of my eyes, one slipping down my cheek. “I didn’t go to Hell. Can ya believe that?”

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