Chapter 55
Keoni bursts through the front door, and the moment my body feels the warmer room, I nearly go into shock.
It’s as if I’m thawing out all at once, every part of me screaming into overdrive. My heart pounds in my ears, my breathing refuses to steady, and random twitches ripple through my muscles, making Keo hold me tighter with every step.
He drops to his knees in front of the fire and sets me gently on the floor. My ankles feel tethered to something—I’m not sure what—but I’m grateful when he reaches down to free me. Flames flicker beside us, and I see him toss a coil of rope over the logs, steam rising from its damp surface.
“Where’s your phone?” he asks.
“Coffee table,” I stammer.
Without standing, he crawls across the floor, snatches it in seconds, and is back by my side. A few swipes later, the phone rests on the floor beside my head.
It begins to ring just as Keo drapes a piece of fabric over me, and I exhale in relief.
“Hello?! Ayden?” Britt’s voice is frantic, echoing the panic I’ve felt all night.
“I’ve got him,” Keoni replies, his voice so startlingly calm it catches me off guard. His demeanor doesn’t match the chaos around us. “I need you to act like the last two days never happened, and I had a small breakdown. Everything is fine.”
“What? How’re you so calm?! Where is Mich—”
“No one was here. Nothing happened. The last two days didn’t happen as far as anyone outside of you, us, and the neighbors of Sapphire Valley are concerned. Do you hear me?”
He tries to move my arms and they go limp, causing his brows to furrow. “What’s wrong with your arms?” he whispers.
“No fucking way,” she snaps, her voice thick with fear and anger. “I won’t accept that—”
“You need to, Britt!” he shouts. I’m staring at him in bewilderment. When he catches my gaze, he releases a shaky breath, and in a much lighter tone, says, “For me… please.”
“But… I… What happened?”
My heart cracks as his face tilts toward the ground.
“I… had a mental breakdown. You feared for my safety, so you called it in…” He pauses, and I can see the gears working.
He says I’m the smart one, but he’s tactical.
“But, Levi picked up Ayden, and they found me driving away from a national park a few miles south of Sapphire Valley. A ranger saw me, he can attest to it. That’s the story. ”
“No… No, that’s all…”
“Britt,” I whisper, my voice hoarse and my teeth beginning to chatter. “Listen to him.”
I can hear the soft whimper, caused by tears I’m sure, come through before she says, “Can I come over?”
He looks up at me, sorrow etched across his beautiful face.
“Not right now. I need to take care of Ayden. Please make sure no one comes here.”
“Okay…” There’s a brief pause. “I love you guys so, so much. You’re my family. Please don’t forget that.”
Heat stings my eyes as I catch the raw pain on Keo’s face.
“We love you, too. I’ll explain later. Okay?”
“Okay. Okay… talk soon.”
She hangs up, and he hovers over me. “Did he break your fucking arms?”
I shake my head. “No,” I grit out through my teeth. “Dislocated.”
He places a hand on my shoulder and grabs my upper arm, rotating it until he feels the tension. “Breathe.”
I suck in a breath and begin to say, “Call an amb—”
My vision spins as he roughly pops my arm back into place. Tears streak my temple as I scream through my clenched jaw. “K-Keo!”
“Ayden, I can’t call an ambulance.” His hand moves to the back of my neck, lifting me slightly. His forehead presses against mine, and the pain in his voice breaks me. “I killed two people tonight, and I nearly lost you. I… did lose you for nearly two minutes.”
The breath he takes is filled with a sob, and I vibrate with need to hold onto him.
“I don’t want them to come and take me from you before I can hold you.
And as badly as I want to do that right now, I can’t.
I have to make sure you’re alright. Your body is still in shock.
” He leans back, red rimming his eyes. “I need to make sure you’re alright. ” He repeats it, almost like a mantra.
My lips tremble, and he shifts his hold to my face, his thumbs rubbing along my jawline in a gentle, massage-like motion. “You’re still cold. Let me get the other arm in, and I’ll get more blankets.”
He does just that. He sets me down, and with the same careful precision, pops my other joint back into place. The moment I start choking out a scream, he has me sitting up in his arms.
Through the tight embrace, I lift my arms to hold him. His soaked shirt clings to him, not drying fast enough—I know he must be just as cold, if not more uncomfortable, than I am.
“Keo… I don’t want you to let me go, but… your clothes.”
He nods quickly and is on his feet in seconds, tossing his shirt aside and rushing toward the bedrooms. I don’t miss the bruises and cuts along his side—and even some along his neck. The burn scars across his upper shoulders tighten my chest because now I know exactly who caused them.
Asking if he’s alright is stupid. I know he isn’t. “I killed two people tonight.”
Oh… Keo.
Minutes feel like seconds before he’s back. He’s in sweats and a fresh shirt, carrying the thick blanket from our bed.
Dropping to his knees, he pulls out a towel I hadn’t noticed after he set down the comforter. He drags it gently across my face, then runs it through the top of my hair.
I can’t miss how badly he’s shaking.
“Baby…”
He doesn’t stop taking care of me, and once he’s satisfied with drying me, he’s pulling down my boxers I’d thought were shorts. Along with the towel I missed, he has bottoms for me that he slides up my legs.
When he grabs my hips, it isn’t to steady me, but himself. His shaking has only increased.
“Keo, stop. Look at me.”
He chokes on a breath and meets my gaze. His eyes are dilated, unfocused, darting as if trying to find the right place to settle.
“I… I’m so sorry.”
I sit forward with considerable effort, my hand brushing his jaw.
“Shh, it’s alright.”
I reach to pull him in, but he bends forward, pressing his forehead to my chest. “I’m so fucking sorry…”
Leaning forward, I press my cheek against his damp hair.
“Forgive me. I should’ve never run out on you like that.”
I encircle his head, holding him just as he wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me so damn tight I fear even some higher power couldn’t take me from him.
“There’s nothing to forgive. Not for this… not for our parents… not for anything,” I whisper. “None of this should’ve happened. The only person at fault is…was, Michael.”
“I swear I won’t walk out again.” He leans back, cupping my face and meeting my gaze. “I’ll get more help. Whatever it takes. I’ll be better for you.”
I shake my head. “You’re everything I need, Keo. We all have problems. I choose yours to work through… as you’ve shown time and time again you choose mine.”
He nods, tears streaming down his face. “I love you so fucking much. When I thought I lost you, Ayden… my world stopped spinning. Feeling your heart not beating? I’ve never felt so empty, so gone. Nothing mattered but bringing you back. And if you hadn’t—”
“You die. I die,” I murmur.
“It’s dramatic.” He laughs, and I follow soon after. It feels… good. “But my world doesn’t exist without you.”
My smile feels almost misplaced after everything that just happened, but I can’t help it. “I love you, Keo. I’ve been in love with you since I knew you existed in the same world I did. Don’t ever think otherwise… You hear me?”
He matches my smile and whispers, “I hear you, sunshine,” before leaning forward and pressing his mouth to mine.
We fall into comfortable silence as we rest on our sides, me wrapped in his arms. The fire, plus our body heat and the extra blankets, warming us. It’s only after what feels like half the night has passed when Keo speaks again.
“I should put ice on your eye—it’s swollen… and do a full body exam.” He gently kisses across my face, toward it, careful not to cause any discomfort. “You’re going to feel like shit in the morning…”
“In a bit.” I don’t want him to let me go. “You also need looking at. I saw your back…” I tilt my gaze to meet his. “Do you…” I curl tighter against him as his arms hold me close. “…want to tell me what happened?”
Using one of his legs, he hooks mine between his thighs. He sighs and nods. “I fell asleep in my truck. I wasn’t planning on staying out all night, I swear. On my way back, police pulled me over, tased me, and threw me in their car.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah… It was those two officers from the ice cream shop. They took me—and my truck—up to some cliffside. I’m certain they wanted to make it look like a suicide… Like I’d driven off it.”
My heart races at the thought, and the pain in my temple sharpens.
“I woke in time… Killed one almost immediately, but the other…” He pauses, and I slide my arm around his back, holding him closer. “I didn’t have to kill him, but I needed to. He was going to take me from you, and while I swear I’m not a psychopath, I couldn’t… let him live. I just couldn’t.”
“And I support you,” I whisper.
He swallows audibly. “I don’t know what that says about me, but that’s all I worried about.”
I nod.
“I took their car and drove here. Not fast enough, it seems… Any later…” A full-body tremor rolls through him. “I got here.”
“You got to me.”
“Thank fuck,” he says against my forehead before pressing a kiss to it.
I shut my eyes and rest against his bicep. “I’m worried about what tomorrow will bring.” My mind turns to Evelyn and Levi, and the military-grade sniper—something I’ve never seen outside of movies.
“Let’s worry about it then,” he murmurs.
A soft meow filters through, and I don’t even look up. Clover is over my back, settling in the tiny space between our hips.
With his possessive hold tightening one last time, I sigh into the sound of his heartbeat, the crackling fire, and the purring cat.
“I love you, Keo.”
He takes a deep breath through his nose. “I love you, too, Ayden.” The longing in his voice makes me tear up. “Thank you for coming back to me.”
There’s no one I’d run from the light for but this man. I’d fight anything that tries to keep me from him—even death.
I love him, and I just know everything will work out so I can keep him until we’re both old and gray.