Page 19 of You Found Me in the Dark
“You always show up,” I said.
“I always will.”
For the first time in such a long time, I believed someone meant it. I knew in my heart he wasn’t going anywhere. Maybe I didn’t have to go through this shit alone anymore. That maybe this, whatever this was between us, was something I could hold on to without breaking it.
15
REED
She was still holding my hand. And I didn’t want her to stop. Her forehead had just rested there seconds ago, like I was her safe place, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt anything more important than that.
It was trust. The kind of trust that comes after pain, not before it. I loved that I was getting to know the real Wren again, but I hate that this is what it took for her to open up to me.
I swallowed hard, staring down at our fingers, her skin still warm in mine.
There was so much I wanted to say. Too much. But one moment had been circling me all night like a second shadow, and I couldn’t keep pretending it didn’t exist.
“I keep thinking about earlier,” I murmured. “In the kitchen.”
Wren turned toward me again, eyes flickering. Curious.
“When I walked in…” I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand. “You were standing there holding onto the counter like you were trying to grasp at the thought of what happened the night before. But Wren, it was so much more than just that.”
Her lips parted slightly, and she tilted her head as if she were remembering, too.
“It was the way you looked at me,” I said. “The way you stood so close. As if maybe, you felt it too.”
Taking a deep breath, I met her gaze fully now. “And I wanted to kiss you.” My voice was low and gravelly.
Her breath hitched. Her lashes fluttered once like she’d been hit with something.
“I wanted to kiss you so damn bad,” I said quietly. “If Cam hadn’t yelled, I probably would’ve. And I am not sure if I would’ve stopped at kissing. I am not sure I could have.”
There it was, out. It felt like ripping open something that had been stitched together too tightly.
“I told myself I shouldn’t,” I added, voice nearing a whisper. “Because of Cam. Because of timing. Because of everything you’ve been through. But none of that stopped me from wanting to or from thinking about it every moment since. You are all I can think about.”
Her eyes shimmered again, searching mine like she wasn’t sure whether to run from the truth or fall into it.
“I’m sorry if that complicates things,” I sighed. “But I’m not gonna lie to you or withhold the truth from you. Not tonight. Not after everything.”
Not after him. Not when I just watched her survive a moment she shouldn’t have had to be a part of in the first place.
Wren was silent for a beat too long. I started to get worried that this was too much for her. Maybe she thought I was taking advantage of her vulnerability. Fuck. I really hope she didn’t thinkthat. All of a sudden, her thumb brushed gently across my knuckles.
And she whispered, “I felt it too.”
Her thumb continued to trace over my knuckles like she didn’t realize she was still touching me. I didn’t want her to stop, but I needed more. So I gently pulled my hand away from hers, not to put space between us, but to close it differently.
I reached up and cupped her left cheek with my right hand. Her skin was soft and warm beneath my fingers, and she leaned into the touch with her eyes closed. The soft yellow light mounted on the outside of the garage was just enough to see her freckles and how relaxed she looked under my touch. Like maybe she’d been waiting for it longer than she realized. She looked so at peace.
Her hazel eyes lifted to mine, wide and unguarded.
I searched her eyes, and then I whispered to her. “If there’s something you want, Wren… all you ever have to do is ask.”
She blinked, lips parting slightly, breath catching somewhere between her ribs and her throat.
“Because for you…” My thumb brushed along her cheekbone slowly. “I would rearrange the fucking planets.”
