Page 48 of Tower
“He’s dead.”
Sick wasn’t wearing his seat belt. The impact clearly threw him forward to hit the windshield and then slung him back into the seat. But I don’t know if the accident killed him or if Levi did when he arrived. The amount of blood looks more like a gunshot than injuries from a car wreck.
To tell the truth, I don’t much care.
“Can you get him out of there?” I ask Levi. “I don’t want him to bleed all over my dad’s truck.”
It’s probably a silly, irrelevant concern, but it feels important to me.
Levi doesn’t even hesitate. He climbs into the ditch and opens the driver’s side door. Then he drags Sick’s body out of the cab of the truck and into the overgrown weeds of the pasture. He leaves it there as he checks inside the pickup and then walks around, assessing the damage.
His motorcycle is parked on the road behind us. I notice it for the first time.
When he returns to stand above me on the road, he says, “Gonna have to get some guys out here to fix a tire and push it out of the ditch. But I think it’ll still be drivable.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
I’m not sure what it is that hits him then. Maybe the crisis mode from before finally empties out.
Whatever the reason, Levi crumples. It’s some sort of emotional collapse.
He drops to his knees beside me. Right there on the worn road. His face twists dramatically. “Jesus Christ, Hailey, I thought I lost you. You were gone.”
“I didn’t run away.” My voice sounds strange. Stretched. But I’m thinking better now despite the throbbing of my head.
“I knew you didn’t. I knew you wouldn’t’ve left me that way. Not without a word. And, despite all my obsessin’, you were right before. You never once put yourself in danger by doin’ somethin’ stupid, and I knew you wouldn’t’ve gone off on your own. I knew you were taken. I thought it was too late. Then when I saw you curled up in the truck, I was sure you were dead.” He sucks in a raspy breath. “You weredead.”
“I almost was.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He takes a couple more ragged breaths to compose himself again.
“How did you get here so fast from the river?”
“I didn’t get to the river. I didn’t get even halfway there before I realized I never shoulda left you like that. So I turned right around and came back to you, only to find you were gone. I can’t live through that kinda nightmare again.” He reaches to hold both my hands.
“Levi.”
He’s still on his knees, clutching my hands and gazing at me. “I’m so sorry for all of it. I think I was still tryin’ to… to come to terms with whether I took advantage. That’s why I reacted sobad about keepin’ you safe. But this is the truth, Hailey. I’ll work every day of my life with no rest and no reward if it means I get to keep you safe and keep you happy and keep you in my life. I don’t care how hard it is. I don’t care how much it scares me. You deserve to have everythin’ and that includes your freedom. As much freedom as this world will allow.”
I choke out a little sob and lift a hand to cover my mouth.
“I mean it, sweetheart. I’m not gonna keep you locked in a tower. I’ve seen how much happier you are when you’re free. And I want that for you. I want everythin’ for you. So I’ll fight however hard I need to fight to hold onto that for you.”
I burst into tears and throw myself at his chest.
The force of my need almost throws both of us onto the ground, but he manages to hold himself up as he wraps both arms around me.
As I cry, he’s still talking. “Oh my fuckin’ God, sweetheart. I might’ve made way too many mistakes in my life, but I refuse to make any more with you. I’m not gonna fuck this one up. I don’t think everythin’ was right between us from the beginning, but I know for damn sure everythin’s right between usnow. I know I don’t deserve you, but no one on this entire goddamn planet deserves you. So I’m gonna have you. And I’m gonna hold on to you and I’m gonna make you happy and I’m gonna give you anythin’ you need, even if it’s hard. I’m gonna do it for the rest of my life if you’ll have me.”
I pull out of his hug so I can beam at him. “I’ll have you. For the rest of my life, I’ll have you.”
Maybe it’s a miracle. I never thought I’d see it. But he’s definitely, all-in beaming back at me.
“And I’m sure we can keep working on things so I can feel basically free but you’re not having to run circles to keep me safe. I think we can figure it out.”
“I think we can figure it out too.”
With that, we realize simultaneously that it’s time to get up off the road. We aren’t safe out here in the open. We need to get back to base.
