Pieces of Us (Confessions of the Heart, #3)(44)
He scowled, not likin’ it one bit that she’d seen it. “What are you doin’ followin’ me? Thought I told you not to come down around here?”
It wasn’t safe.
There were snakes and spiders . . . and . . . and his dad.
Something ugly crawled under his skin. He had to stop himself from climbing that tree and hauling her down himself.
But there she was, perched in her nest.
She laughed, shifting around to sit on the branch. “Who said you get to tell me what to do?”
“Well, your pa sure isn’t gonna like it if he knew you were up in that tree.”
He was always yellin’ at her that she was gonna break her neck. Mack promised himself he wasn’t ever gonna let that happen. But he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to stop it if she never listened.
She was always going on, doing her own thing, singing and laughing and playing.
Free.
Following him everywhere. He couldn’t ditch her, no matter how hard he tried. She was a pest, a tag-along who wouldn’t leave him be and made him feel strange in a way he wasn’t sure that he liked.
Her eyes went wide from her roost. “You wouldn’t go and tell him?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “And why shouldn’t I?”
She started to scramble down, faster than she should, her foot going for a branch that was too thin.
She stepped on it, and Mack’s heart lurched. He raced to get under her right as it snapped.
She screamed.
He stretched out his arms, trying to stop her fall, and her body hit his with a smack. It was nothing but a blur of her wild, wild hair, her flailing arms and thrashing legs.
He held her tight against himself as the impact sent him tumbling back onto the meadow floor.
Arms wrapped around her as fiercely as he could.
Protecting her.
Ignoring the pain when his head struck the ground.
Ignoring the way his chest felt funny when she scrambled around, her hands planted on either side of his head as she stared down at him. “You saved me again.”
“Told you I would.”
She smiled. Smiled this smile that was brighter than the sun that cast her head in a halo. “That’s because you’re my best friend.”
He frowned. “You can’t be my best friend.”
She frowned right back, still pinning him. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’m a boy and you’re a girl.”
“So?”
He hurried to think of a better reason.
“Because I’m a dragon and you’re a bird. I might eat you.”
She laughed, her face twisting up in joy.
He felt it, too.
Joy.
He couldn’t help but smile back at her.
“Doesn’t matter if you’re a dragon. You’re still my best friend. We can fly away together.”
“But what if I’m mean?”
She sat up, pushing off him. He sat up, too.
“You’re not mean.”
“Mack!”
They both cringed when his daddy’s voice cracked through the heavens. Coming from the direction of his house.
His house that was so much different than Izzy Lane’s.
Hers was like a castle.
His mama called theirs a shack.
But it hadn’t felt so small until his daddy had gotten back, out of prison for doin’ something bad, but his mama wouldn’t never tell him what it was. The only thing he knew was now everything felt different. Wrong and ugly and black.
“Mack!” his father shouted again, and fear slithered down Mack’s spine.
Izzy bit down on her bottom lip and grabbed his hand. He realized it was shaking. That his whole body was shaking.
She weaved her fingers through his, and she whispered, “Don’t worry, my dragon. I’ll save you, too.”
Twelve
Mack
Harsh rays of light impaled my face. I squeezed my eyes against them, desperate to cling to sleep.
Oblivion.
That’s right where I wanted to stay.
Reality danced at the periphery of my mind. A haze of blurred and distorted memories taunting me from the sidelines.
Getting ready to jump into the ring of chaos at the center of my brain.
Lying on my chest, I pressed my face into my pillow, trying not to groan out loud at the pain that splintered through my body.
Head to fucking toe.
What the hell happened last night?
Felt like I’d been put through a meat grinder.
Skin raw. Body stiff and brutally sore.
But none of that came close to the torture I could feel eating at the deepest depths of me.
No chance I could keep it at bay.
Nothing I could do to stop that face from slamming into my consciousness.
A wrecking ball.
Demolishing the foundation I’d built.
That kid. That kid.
My reason. The sacrifice I’d had to make.
No longer did any of it make sense.
Groaning low, I rolled onto my side. I had to drag myself out of this bed and face the boatload of bullshit I’d gotten myself into last night.
Was gonna be lucky if I didn’t find my ass chained to a desk job for the next six months.