Lead Me Home (Fight for Me #3)(98)

She was shaking when she laid down beneath the covers, but it didn’t come close to the quakes that rolled through Ollie as he fumbled to cover himself.

He’d had sex with two other girls.

It hadn’t come close to feeling like this.

He was overwhelmed that Nikki trusted him with it.

With her.

He crawled under the covers with her, and he gathered her closer, holding her in a way he never had.

Their noses touched. Their breaths mingled. Their hearts joined.

And Ollie . . . he found her again, in their hidden spot, though this time, they would never be the same.

He knew as they moved beneath the moonlight that he was going to keep her.

That he’d give up anything for her.

Anything.

Anyone.

Protect her with all he had.

If she was lost, he would always find her.

That was what loving someone was all about.

Giving all of yourself.

Completely.

And Nikki Walters owned every part of him.





33





Nikki





I sucked in a shattered breath as I stumbled to stand, catching myself on the back of the chair.

“What did you just say?”

I’d still been staring at my sister.

Caught up in the fact she was there.

But there was no missing what Maggie had whispered to Nina after she’d looked at something on her phone.

“I’m sorry, Miss Nikki, I wasn’t trying to disrupt the group. My mama just texted me three times in a row, and I figured I’d better check to make sure my kids weren’t tearing her house down.”

I blinked, frantically shook my head, and tried to swallow around the sticky dread that had wrapped me in chains so quickly I was sure I was being strangled. “No . . . tell me what you just said. What you just whispered.”

She frowned. “They found a body out by the river near those old, abandoned buildings. News report said they think it’s that poor girl Sydney Preston who went missing all those years ago. So sad.”

No.

Oh . . . God . . . no.

My hand went to my stomach as my body bent in half, and I tried to draw air in to my lungs. Through that haze of disbelief and sorrow.

I only managed to draw in more.

Shock.

Anguish.

A chatter of uneasy, confused voices sounded, each one hitting me so hard they had to be boxing my ears.

I shoved my chair back, stumbling as I broke out of the circle that was suffocating me. My head spun, faster than the walls that canted and tipped.

At the same time, every evil force in the world pressed down.

I could feel it crush my heart right in the center of my chest.

I didn’t know how I made it across the floor, but my hand shot out to keep myself from dropping to my knees when I reached the stairwell, my feet failing beneath me.

Like everything else. My heart and my spirit and my belief.

From behind, an arm looped around my middle, holding me up. My sister’s voice was so soft as it moved through the daze. “I’ve got you, Nik. Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

She helped me to stand. Eyes the same color as mine searched my face as I sagged against the wall. “I need . . . I need to get to Ollie.”

She nodded. “Okay . . . I’ll drive you.”

I didn’t even process the ride over. The grief was too overwhelming. Every single beat of my splintered heart was excruciating.

Rynna had texted me a hundred times, my phone blipping incessantly when I’d fumbled to turn it on where I sat in Sammie’s car.

Rynna: Are you okay?





Rynna: Call me.





Rynna: I’m here if you need me.





Texts from Lily had started up right after, a bunch of calls that I couldn’t bring myself to answer.

I had to get to Ollie.

My sister kept glancing over at me, kneading the wheel, so much concern and care on her face. “I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now.”

My head shook, voice barely breaking the air. “I . . . I always knew she was gone. But it’d always felt like her spirit had just been swept away. In my mind, I’d imagined she’d ridden off on the wind to find some new adventure. This . . .”

A gasp pulled from my spirit, and sickness bubbled and churned in that well of grief. That place deep inside that had been shored up and protected. A vat of misery and despair and questions.

That dam had been broken, and every ounce of it surged through me. A devastating flood.

She glanced at me before turning her attention back to the road. “They aren’t even sure it’s her.”

She cringed when she said it.

Because we both knew it was her.

It was Sydney.

Her name begged from the depths of me.

Sammie pulled to the curb in front of Olive’s. I jumped out and bolted for the door, flinging it open, gasping as my attention jumped around the space.

Ollie wasn’t behind the bar, and Cece lifted one of her defined brows and gave a shrug, but there was concern behind it.

And I knew.

I knew, I knew, I knew.

Ollie had already heard.