Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(85)

I felt him nod gently over me. “I need to make sure Logan is okay. That she’s stable. We’ve got to make it two more years before the state can’t take her away from me—from the only family she’s got.”

Of course. In my selfishness, I hadn’t realized how precarious they had it. And what an enormous responsibility he had. I knew they loved each other deeply. They just struggled how to right themselves in the aftermath of tragedy.

He didn’t need a few days. He needed years.

Could we survive that?

“Will you wait for me?” His voice trembled.

My insides caved at his uncertainty. Hope had tinged his plea.

I squeezed him tight as tears began flow again. “Yes.” I swallowed past the giant knot in my throat. “Yes. I will wait for you.”

He was our hero. My hero.

I’d been waiting my whole life for him. What’s a couple of years more?

Yet…fear gripped me at my core. Tonight sounded too much like good-bye.

And for two people who’d only had a handful of days to love each other…

A couple of years? Seemed like forever away.





Darren…

“You look like shit.” Logan accused from nearby, tone matter-of-fact.

I scrubbed my face. Bone-deep sleep fuzzed my brain as I blinked my eyes open.

She stared at me from her hospital bed.

“You’re up.” Adrenaline flashed through my veins. I launched from the recliner and rushed to her side. “Need water? I think they allow ice chips.” I grabbed the bed controls, went to press the nurse’s button.

Logan stabbed her hand between mine and the electronics. “Calm down. I’m fine.” Although her voice came out gravelly, her skin had better color.

Still, I narrowed my eyes at her. “You are not fine.”

“I’m better than you. You look like a freakin’ zombie.” She cocked her head. “Pasty skin. Red-rimmed eyes. Well-nourished, but still the living dead.”

“Not funny.”

“Have you been crying?”

“Not over you.”

“Gee, thanks.” She folded her sheet down, then smoothed the blanket. “Trying not to be insulted.”

“You” —I pointed an accusing finger at her— “scared the ever-loving f*ck out of me. Hard to cry when you can’t breathe.”

“Sorry.”

The quiet word stung. Then I heard myself saying it to Kiki. Total loser-word. Didn’t begin to cover the damaging heartache. Not even close.

“It’s okay.” It wasn’t. But it would be. Had to be.

“So if you didn’t cry over me, who got the lucky honors.”

“Kiki.”

“Kiki?” Her furrowed brow lasted only a split second. Then her eyes widened. “Oh my God. What happened? Is Kiki okay?”

I snorted. “You almost kill yourself, and you’re worried about Kiki?”

“I did not almost kill myself,” she growled, eyes narrowing. “Answer the question.”

“Kiki’s fine. Or she will be.” I hoped. “I broke up with her.”

“You did what?”

“I broke up with her.” I said it more forcefully, swallowing down my punishment.

“You’re an idiot.”

“This idiot plans on keeping us together.”

“At what cost?”

“You weren’t there in the waiting room, Lo. Police officers were there. Scared the f*ck out of me. If they thought we weren’t holding it together, the next government officials sitting me down will be case workers.”

On a deep exhalation, she leveled a hard look at me. “You’re not listening to me, D. Did you not notice that we weren’t living? I was holed up in my room, depressed as hell. You were a zombie, going through the motions of work and school. Keeping food on our table isn’t living, it’s slaving.”

“What do you want me to do, Lo?” I backed up and sat down on the small couch beside the recliner.

“Live.”

The powerful word echoed between us.

We’d only been surviving, making it from one day to the next. “I wasn’t always a zombie.”

She crossed her arms, gaze still pegged to me. “Not in the last few weeks, you weren’t.”

Right. Because of Kiki.

I sighed and shook my head. “It’s too much, Logan. Kiki deserves more than the time I can give her. You’re my family, and I’m not risking something happening to you again.”

“You aren’t in charge of my every move.” Her voice quieted and she looked away, picking at a thread on the tan woven blanket. “I only took the pills to save myself.”

“How ridiculously ironic.”

“Didn’t know what else to do. Trevor scared me. And I panicked.” She gave a half-hearted shrug. “Downing the pills right in front of him was the only thing I could think of. I knew it would make him freak.”

Couldn’t fault her for using a last-ditch effort when she only had seconds to defend herself. “Well, thank f*ck it worked.”

Her lips tilted up a little into a lopsided smile and her brows raised slightly. “Still glad you’re stuck with me?”