Page 66 of Sage Haven
Then his voice dropped, low and sharp. “Do us both a favor and run. We both know you’re relatively good at that.”
He released me without warning.
I froze as his words sliced clean through me, leaving something hollow in their wake. His gaze flicked down to the ruined patch of earth between us, like it held the damage neither of us dared name.
The torn flowers.
The broken nothingness that remained from the night prior.
“There’s nothing here for you anymore.” He finished.
The truth behind it hit harder than any physical blow.
I swallowed, my throat tight, raw.
I glanced at the barren ground and then back at him.
His expression was hollow.
Empty.
Like the field.
And like me.
But he was right.
There was nothing left here.
And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to run or if I wanted to stay long enough to see what else he could destroy.
Even if it was me.
But something whispered inside that he wouldn’t. No matter how much I may have wanted him to.
So, I turned and slowly made my way back, leaving him standing in the field behind me.
14
REICH
That was too close.Too damn close.
She came back—just like I knew she would.
Predictable. Relentless.
But still, I had hoped—hoped that this time, she wouldn’t.
Not because I didn’t want to see her.
Not because I didn’t crave her nearness with a hunger that left me raw and restless.
But because every time she did, I made it worse.
Every time she stepped into my space, my world, I lost another piece of the control I’d spent years building.
And every time I pushed her away, every time I drove another splinter into her trust; I could feel something cracking beneath the surface.
