Page 42 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

“Oh my God.” Tears flow over her cheeks as freely as mine. “You’re right. I did. I said that.”

“You ditched me for him.”

“I didn’t mean to.” She holds my face tighter. “I didn’t mean to, Baby. I was just so… he wasn’t dead, and I love him. He’s my forever, and he came back.”

“I was your forever first.”

Tearfully, she nods. “I know. I’m so sorry, Laine. I’m so truly sorry. I was being selfish, and I didn’t think about your feelings at all.” She clutches at my bandaged wrist. “I’m so sorry. I made you do that. I ditched and now look what happened.”

“You didn’t make me do that.”

“Graham did.” Her wet eyes meet mine with new anger. “Graham did all this. It’s all his fault, but I ditched when you needed me, and I’m so, so sorry.”

“I want him to die.”

“Me too.” She swipes a hand under her eye. “Me too, Baby. I want him to die so much, and I’m not just saying that. It’s not a silly thing. I really, truly want him to die. He deserves pain for what he did to you.”

“I still dream about him.” My lungs flatten in my chest and refuse to fill. “He won’t leave me alone, so maybe if he’s dead, the dreams will stop.”

“I’m bringing a book to you tomorrow, okay? You get discharged in the morning, so we’re gonna go home, then we’re snuggling and reading silly books until your dreams change.”

“I don’t wanna go to my apartment anymore.”

“You can come to Kane’s place. He has spare rooms, and I’ll sleep with you.”

“Do you promise?”

She gives a fast, jerky nod. “I promise, and nothing will make me ditch. I promise, Baby.”

“Won’t Kane get mad? He’ll want you in his bed, not mine. I’ll become the weird spinster sister that he pretends to be nice to, but he’ll actually hate me, because you’re in my bed and not his.”

“No, Baby. He understands family. He understands what you mean to me. Not only won’t he get mad, but he’ll take his thug ass to the store and buy us ice cream.”

A watery laugh rolls through my chest. “He goes to stores? Like, regular, non-military, non-biker run stores?”

“Uh-huh. I even saw him eat potato salad once.” She swipes her palm under my eye. “And he buys the fancy ice-cream flavors, too. Not just vanilla. He gets all the fancy swirls and chocolate chips and stuff.”

My wobbling lips pull up into a pathetic excuse for a smile. “Are you being dirty with the vanilla-fancy thing?”

“No!” She lets out a tearful laugh. “No. I meant real ice-cream. Baby… I love you for making jokes when your world is collapsing. You’re so strong and amazing and silly. You’re going to be fine. You’re gonna fight him back, you’re gonna win against the nightmares, then you’re gonna light this town on fire.”

“I wanna set a traffic cone on fire and shove it up Graham’s ass.”

She sniffs up a long line of snot. “I might know some people that can make that happen.” When I laugh, she pulls my face back until our eyes meet. “I’m not entirely kidding. You say when, and I can talk to someone who knows someone that’s willing to steal a traffic cone.”

“I wish we could. I wish there was a loophole in the law that allows girls like…” Nausea rolls in my stomach. Club lights flash. Ropes hurt my wrists. “Girls that have been hurt. Like a legal immunity. I think girls like me should get that loophole.”

“I think so too, Baby. I really do.” Laying her head against the tile, she turns and stares through wet eyes. “I can’t let you go, Laine. You’re gonna try to fight me off at some point. I think there might even be a journey of mourning or something, but at some point you’ll find your anger and you’ll try and fight me off. You’ll want me to go away and leave you alone.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“But if you do,” she continues as though I didn’t speak, “If you reach that point that you want to tie me to train tracks just to get rid of me, this is your warning now; I’m not going. I’m gonna keep coming back. I’m going to take it right back to sixth grade when we both liked that boy. Remember when you whacked me with a skateboard?”

Bubbling laughter bursts past my lips. “Yes. I remember. I saw him first, then you started putting tissues in your bra.”

“You whacked me with a skateboard and nearly knocked me the hell out.”

“Kari had to pull me off you.”

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