Page 149 of Mine Again
The sound of her breaking pours salt into wounds already bleeding.
I’m already on the ground in front of her, already close, but it’s not enough. Not when she’s coming apart like this. Not when I’m barely holding it together myself.
I reach for her, my trembling hands brushing her arms. I give her every chance to pull away.
She doesn’t. She reaches back. Clutches.
In the next breath, I shift forward and wrap my arms around her, lifting her off the bench and into my lap. She collapses into me with a raw, broken sob that shreds through my chest like glass.
Her body melts into mine like it’s the only place she belongs.
And it is.
It always has been.
I bury my face in her hair and hold her like I’ll never let go. Because I won’t. Never again.
“I’ve got you,” I murmur into her neck. “I’ve got you,farfalla. I’vegotyou.”
Her hands press into my back, her palms on either side of my spine, pulling me closer too, not letting go either.
I kiss the top of her head. Once. Twice. Again. Like maybe if I kiss her enough, I can undo some of the damage.
Her sobs come harder. Like her body is purging five years of pain all at once.
“I didn’t know you were alive,” she chokes out. “I was so alone.”
“I know.” My voice is a breath, thick with guilt. “Farfalla, I know.”
I rock her gently, the way I used to when we were young and the world was still soft.
But now it’s sharp. Now it cuts.
And still, I’ll rock her through it.
Every second she’s in my arms, it hits me all over again. How close I came to losing her.
If Hale’s plan had worked.
If Moretti had married her.
If I hadn’t uncovered that last taunt in time…
She would’ve been gone.
A future without her isn’t a life. It’s avoid.And I’ve already spent too many years inside it.
I pull her tighter. My cheek presses against the top of her head. My heartbeat is erratic, uneven, like it’s trying to recalibrate now that she’s here with me.
“I should’ve come sooner,” I whisper. “I should’ve tried harder.”
She grips me fiercer, like she’s afraid I’ll vanish again.
“No,” she gasps, shaking her head. “You… d-did what y-you had to…” Her breath trembles through every syllable. “You were… pro—protecting m-m-me.”
Then the dam breaks. Her sobs come louder, rougher. Her whole body quakes in my arms like she’s falling apart at the seams.
It guts me, cutting deeper than any blade.
