Page 136 of Cruel Abandon (Fallen Royals 5)
It’s only because my ear is so close to her mouth that I hear her.
I offer her my hands.
She takes them, and I help her stand. I keep ahold of one of her hands, maybe just to make sure she can’t run again, and lead her toward the far edge. “You came from this way. Hit one of these trees…”
My heart is going to beat out of my chest. It thumps painfully, and I keep seeing the thirteen-year-old girl in front of me when I blink. One minute she’s as I know her: silver-haired, pierced, strong. And then she’s as she was: blonde, nearly out of her mind, young. A child. I wasn’t much more than a child, either.
It’s no wonder she wanted to change everything about herself.
She stretches out and brushes her fingers along the bark. “I landed on my back. But… why were you out here?”
I sigh. “I had been fighting with my brother, so I ran to get away from him. A piece of me always wanted to be in the forest, so it just seemed natural to head there. But the trail wasn’t deep enough. I could still see the house, and if my mom yelled, I would’ve heard her. I needed to be lost.”
“And then you found me.” She tips her head up and bites her lip. “You got a burden you never asked for.”
I narrow my eyes. “It’s not like you asked for it, either.”
“But I couldn’t remember it for the longest time. You… you did. You lived with it.”
I lift one shoulder. “I survived.”
She wraps her arm around my waist, and it takes me a moment to realize that she’s hugging me. Warmth fills me, and I return her hug, gripping the back of her head.
“Fuck, Sky. You survived, too. Okay? We’ll figure out what happened to you—but whatever it was, you survived it.”
She nods against my chest.
“Let’s go home,” she whispers.
I know she’s not talking about either of our parents’ houses.
I couldn’t agree more.
* * *
We said our goodbyes to my friends, and I couldn’t help but notice how Margo and Riley swarmed Sky. They cupped her cold cheeks, stroked her hair.
Her mom appeared from the kitchen and hugged her, and it seemed… final.
I slapped Caleb’s hand, and he pulled me close. He and I had never been on the same level as he and Eli. We fought too much in high school. In that way, we were a good pair. Both of us had too much anger, it was always exploding from us.
“I’m going to be a dad,” he says in my ear. “But keep it quiet, yeah? Margo doesn’t think I know.”
I snort. “How’d you discover that?”
He grins. “You think I don’t notice when she misses a period? Then stews on it for a week before acting ridiculously shady?”
“Oh my god, you stalk your own wife.” I smile back, because… yeah, I want that. The wife and the baby—maybe even babies—and I want that with Sky.
I couldn’t imagine any other way to live.
“Go to your girl, asshole,” he says, patting my arm.
I nod once, then seek out Theo at the window. “You coming back to Boston?”
He narrows his eyes. “Not quite yet.”
I tilt my head, and he gestures to my driveway.