Page 15 of Midnight Between Us
Of course, that’s not enough.Of course he has a rebuttal for everything.
“I’m too close to this.”
“Emotionally?”
I hesitate.
And in that hesitation, he jumps again.“Just because you’re acquainted with the Timberbridge brothers doesn’t mean?—”
“We fucked when I was sixteen.”The words hit the air like shattered glass—blunt, jagged, ugly.As if I’m trying to make it sound like it didn’t mean anything.
There’s silence on the line.
“It was a long time ago,” he finally says.
“Not long enough.”
“You’re not in a relationship with him now.Any other excuses?”
I have so many, like I’m thirsty for his blood, and I might slit his throat once he’s healthy.Or that ...okay, whatever I say in anger won’t get me out of this.
I just say, “Fine.I’ll take him.”
“I’ll send someone in the morning to assess the clinic’s security,” he says.“Keep it quiet for now.”
Of course.Secrets always hold in Birchwood Springs—until they don’t.
When the call ends, I remain frozen, staring down the hallway toward the room where Keir lies—stitched together, silent, half here.
Someone tried to erase him from the world.They tried and failed.He’s still breathing.
And now he is mine to protect.
I am not the best person for this job.There are a dozen names that should come before mine, people who would know how to do this cleanly and carefully, without dragging the past through every decision.Hell, I might be the worst choice they could have made.
Maybe that is why I have to do it.
Maybe I owe it to the boy who once stood between me and every bad thing—the one who pulled me out of places I never properly thanked him for.
If I can focus on that—on who he was back then, not the man who left—maybe I can keep him alive.
Maybe I can keep myself from falling apart in the process.
ChapterFour
Keir
I’ve been sittingon this rock for ...who the fuck knows how long.
I’m freezing, yet I don’t feel anything.This cold ...it’s not normal.It’s the kind that makes your teeth chatter or your hands shake.This one’s deeper.Thicker.Like something’s crawled inside my bones and decided to fill every pore with it so I can’t move my body.
It’s raining.Not a downpour—just that unpredictable drizzle that clings to your skin and seeps through everything, making the world feel heavier than it already is.
I can’t tell where I am.
Or when.
Or how long I’ve been stuck here.
