Page 197 of Before We Were

"Me too," I admit.

I lay beside her and her sleepy voice whispers, "You have a big heart, Nate. It's always in the right place."

I hold her tighter, breathing her in as she claims my arm around her waist.

"I'll keep the demons away if you do the same for me."

She doesn't know she already does.

As her breathing evens, something shifts inside me like tectonic plates realigning. I'm falling toward a truth I've fought too hard to ignore.

Falling for her isn't new, but this feels different. I mean she's always been the moon on some of the darkest nights, the voice pulling me from the abyss for most of my life. This has always been us. Written into the fabric of who we are like poetry carved in bone. We belong to each other in ways defying logic, always just beneath the surface.

But does she know it?

Does she feel it like I do?

Because I feel it in every bone, in every beat of my wrecked, bleeding heart that somehow still knows how to love because of her.

"For the record," she murmurs, soft as silk but certain as sunrise, "I like the dark parts of you, Nate. Almost more than the light, happy parts." She pulls me closer, eliminating even space for breath between us.

She's seen my buried skeletons, the shadows crawling through my soul like smoke through empty rooms. We've both got pasts that should've kept us apart, but now there's nothing left to hide.

The dark side of the moon—where my demons live, where I've buried my worst parts—she sees it all. Instead of running, she stays. She illuminates the darkest corners, proving light exists in shadows, like stars showing their beauty against the night sky.

In every lifetime, every universe, she's my constant.

And I'd follow her into darkness every time.

CHAPTER58

THE AFTERMATH

NORA

I waketo sunlight filtering through curtains and the uncanny sensation of being watched. Blinking sleep from my eyes, I turn to find Bones—my well-loved, lopsided stuffed animal—propped on the pillow beside me, his crooked button eyes watching like an old friend. Beneath one worn paw lies a folded note.

Had to go help Nick this morning and didn't want to wake you.

See you later.

N x

A soft smile tugs at my lips as my fingers trace over his familiar scrawl like trying to read braille. Memories of last night wash over me. Nate's arms around me, his steady warmth and quiet presence lulling me to sleep like the sweetest lullaby.

I can't remember the last time I felt safe.

Held.

Wanted.

Not the fleeting, superficial kind of wanted, but the kind that feels like a secret whispered just for you.

I push myself out of bed and head downstairs, only to be greeted by the familiar chaos of my brother and Jake. The blender's angry whir fills the kitchen as Ollie's exasperated voice booms with underlying affection.

"Jake! Get your lazy ass up!"

The words echo through the house, carrying notes of warmth that only years of friendship can create.

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