“They’ll arrest you, Cole. They’ll think you killed them all…”
“I did!” I scream at her. “I fucking did this!” I hang onto my friend’s lifeless body. “I did this.” I can’t hold the tears back as they run down my face. “Just go, Becky.” I choke out the words. Tonight was my decision. I wanted to go out, and I dared them to drink. It doesn’t matter who the fuck was driving. It was my car! They were my responsibility.
I hear her run from the scene for the second time.
“Please …?” I beg to no one.
I drop my forehead down to Eli’s and close my eyes. “I’m so … sorry …” I choke on the words. They’re pointless. “I promise. I promise I’ll take care of Aimee.”
I hear the sirens in the distance. They’re too late.
I pull back and look down at him; his short dark hair grows like vines, transforming into long, thick, and dark strands. His face thins, his sharp jaw and high cheekbones changing to a petite face with a button nose. Short dark lashes replaced with full, long ones. His large body turns small and fragile.
“No!” I shout, shaking the body in my arms.
“No, no, no.” It’s Austin.
Her green eyes are open and stare up me, but they don’t see me. Nothing but cold and death. Then she blinks. Her eyes find mine, and she speaks, making my heart stop. “You succeeded, Cole. You broke me.”
I sit straight up, gasping for air. My bare chest covered in a thin layer of sweat, and my heart pounds so hard it hurts. I lean over and turn on the lamp that sits on the nightstand, bathing our master bedroom in light. Looking to my right, I see Austin next to me. She lies on her side, facing the window that leads out onto our balcony, her dark hair fanning the white pillow.
I take a deep breath and place my hand on her bare back. Leaning over, I kiss her soft skin. She shifts but doesn’t wake. My anger rises when I think about how fucking close I was to losing her. How close I was to having to spend a life without her because someone who was supposed to be my friend got too close to her.
I shove my hands through my hair and get out of bed. I throw on a pair of board shorts, turn off the lamp, and grab my phone before heading out of our room. I head downstairs, walk down the hall, and look into the cracked door to see Lilly fast asleep in her princess bed. Then I make my way out the back door and onto the patio into the hot summer Austin night. When I was here looking for a house, I only had one requirement—a pool.
I connect my Bluetooth to the outside speakers and turn it down so it doesn’t wake the girls. After picking a random Spotify station, I dive into the pool, enjoying the cold water on my warm body and begin to do a lap. Even now that I’m awake, the memories still creep up. Take over. There’s never an escape from them.
“We’ve got a pulse,” a man yells. “It’s weak but there.” They place Austin on a stretcher. Strap her down, and then they’re pushing her out of the kitchen.
I stand in the now silent room covered in her blood. Dazed. Completely and utterly lost. I walk into the hallway and see the officer and a medical examiner standing over a dead body at the bottom of the stairs. Celeste.
They call out my name, but I ignore them and walk right out the front door. I have work to finish. I’ll find them later once I’m done. I see my car still parked in the driveway, and I fish my phone out of my pocket and dial Deke’s number. “Hello …?”
“Where the fuck are you?”
“Cemetery …”
I pop up out of the water, eyes closed, and take in a breath. The air burning my lungs. When I open my eyes, I see Austin sitting on the edge of the shallow end wearing nothing but one of my white T-shirts. Her legs dangle over the edge and into the water, making soft waves as she moves them back and forth. Her dark hair down and over her right shoulder.
“Bring You Back” by Dark Signal plays softly from the speakers, and my chest tightens. No words could be truer than the ones in this song.
I swim over to her. She opens her legs, allowing me to stand between them. My hands go to her bare thighs, and I squeeze her like she’s gonna disappear into thin air before my eyes.
“Wanna talk about it?” she asks softly.
I just stare at her. How do I tell this woman that I see her lying dead in a pool of blood every time I close my eyes? I’ve never been good at expressing any emotion other than anger. And time hasn’t changed that. I tell her I love her every chance I get, but even she knows that the darkness lingers.