Pieces of Summer (A stand-alone novel)(74)

Without thinking about it, I close the distance between us, and to start removing those damn things from her arms.

“Stop,” she whimpers. I let go immediately, grimacing because of the pain in her voice.

“Did I hurt you?” I ask, staring at the cuff and not her face.

“You should go. These have to stay on. It’s policy, and I really, really don’t want you seeing me like this. Please,” she chokes out.

My eyes slowly move up to meet her green ones that carry unshed tears and years of sadness.

“I’m not going anywhere, Mika.”

She looks away, refusing eye contact, and I prepare to deal with the stubborn girl she is even now.

“You have to go. They’ll escort you out once they find you. You’re not allowed back here,” she says quietly, a hint of anger in her tone.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

Slowly, she turns to face me, and some of those tears slip free. “We got to have a little more, Chase. Let that be enough. Find your closure. I’ve found mine.”

That’s the first time she’s underestimated me. I’m not stupid.

“It isn’t enough, and you know it. Ever wonder why I never moved on? Ever wonder why you never did?” I ask her, watching as her jaw tightens.

“Don’t do this,” she finally says.

“It’s because we can’t, Mika. Do you have any idea how rare this thing between us is? I know how f*cking terrified it made me feel the second I saw you again. I also know why it was all worth it the second I stopped trying to avoid it. Don’t pretend like you don’t feel it too.”

She blows out a long breath before staring up at the ceiling.

“There’s a balance in life,” she says quietly. “When something really good happens, something really bad happens to balance it out.”

Her eyes come back down to meet mine as a few more tears fall from her eyes, and I sit down on the edge of her bed, careful not to jostle her. She has to be in pain, since Hunter said she can’t take pain meds due to her condition.

“This thing between us…” She’s forced to let her words trail off while she reins in her emotions, and I try to keep my mouth shut and just listen. “It’s unreal. I convinced myself it was never as intense as my teenage mind thought it was. But it was even more intense than I remembered. I think that’s because I never felt heartache before, and now I’m swimming in it. It was… It was even better than it used to be.”

She smiles at me despite her tears, and I reach up to wipe some of them away. She leans into my hand, and I keep it there, needing to feel her.

“But there’s a reason no one has this,” she says on a broken whisper. “Because it’s too good to hold onto. It defies the balance.”

“I’m willing to do everything possible to hold onto it,” I tell her, using my thumb to swipe at a tear as it falls. “I get you. Fuck the rest. There’s nothing else out there that’s better for me,” I add, repeating her words from so long ago. “I never should have given you up.”

She shakes her head before swallowing. “You have no idea how wrong you are, and don’t give me that guilty look.” Her voice is stronger as she glares into my eyes. “This would have happened no matter what. Mom was unhinged. I couldn’t have left before eighteen, Chase. She never would have allowed it. That fight would have happened no matter what. And I might not have survived without the extreme measures Aidan was forced to take. You wouldn’t have ever let me out of your sight.”

Her tears teeter on the edges of her lids, and I open my mouth to speak, but she goes on before I can.

“I see it now,” she says softly. “I didn’t see it then. You hurt me… crushed me… but you did it because you loved me… Because you wanted more for me. You did it wrong, but you were a kid and giving up everything to give me something better.”

“Yeah. Looks like you’re better off,” I say with bitter sarcasm.

“You couldn’t have known. You loved me enough to let me go, Chase. You loved me enough to sacrifice what we had to keep it from hurting me the way it hurt you. If we’d still been together, you would have gone through hell to save me. Things happen for a reason, even if the reasons suck balls.”

I shake my head as she smiles grimly, and she sighs before pulling her face away from my hand.

“I get it now,” she says while closing her eyes, allowing the tears to leak out.

“Get what?” I ask her, reaching up to push her hair away from her face.

She doesn’t answer me, and the door flings open as an angry doctor demands for me to leave. Mika doesn’t speak or even acknowledge me as I’m forcibly removed by security.

She’s wrong if she thinks I’m letting her go.





Chapter 43


MIKA



“You’re sure you want to do this?” Whit asks me as I stare at the final piece of the bowling alley closure.

The second statue has been put in place, and this no longer feels like unfinished business. It never was the unfinished business. It was Chase all along, and I knew it. Now… Now I just have to figure out how to leave him behind and not be selfish enough to keep him.

“Yeah. And thanks for helping me,” I tell her while taking a deep breath. “I know this has to be weird for you, considering.”