Chapter 35
Evander
Kasey folded into me the moment I stepped close, like it was second nature. One second, he was standing there, trembling, eyes too wide, and the next he was in my arms shaking hard enough that I felt it all the way through my chest.
I didn’t know what Adrian had told him. I didn’t know if the results were good, bad, or somewhere in between. I didn’t know anything except that Kasey was crying.
The results didn’t matter to me now. Not when I had the boy of my life in my arms. He was mine. And no DNA test was going to change that.
I wrapped my arms around him, and he pressed in closer, fingers clinging to my shirt like he needed something solid to hold onto.
So, I held him.
His breathing hitched against my collarbone, warm and uneven. I rested my chin lightly on the top of his head, letting him feel the weight of me, the steadiness.
“It’s okay. I got you.”
I’d always have him. I’d hold him up when life got to be too much. I’d hold his hand when he needed support. I’d give him space when he needed it.
I didn’t try to make him talk. Whatever Adrian had said, whatever truth had landed, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was Kasey.
Eventually, his breathing started to even out, still shaky but not breaking apart anymore. He didn’t lift his head. He stayed tucked against me like he wasn’t ready to let go.
He didn’t have to.
I tightened my arms around him just a little, enough to remind him that he was safe. Whatever the results were, we’d face it together.
“E-Evander…” His voice cracked on my name, thin and raw.
I lowered my head enough that he’d hear me without having to lift his own. “I’m right here.”
He tried again; a broken sound caught between a sob and a word. “I…I…”
“Easy,” I shushed, placing one hand at the nape of his neck, letting my fingers run through the ends of his hair. “You don’t have to rush. Just breathe.”
He shook his head against my chest. “I…need…to say…it.”
“Okay, hon-sweetheart.” I sighed. “Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”
He pulled in a shaky breath, then another, trying to steady himself. His fingers curled tighter into the fabric of my shirt.
Another few minutes, and finally his breathing evened out.
He pulled back just enough to look at me with those bright blue eyes.
It didn’t matter that they were rimmed with redness.
It didn’t matter that the splatter of freckles was darker across the bridge of his nose after his tears. It didn’t matter.
“Kase….” He was beautiful. Inside and out.
And he was all mine.
“What…what did you…call him?” He asked, voice soft, like the question was more fragile than a petal leaf.
What?
The question hit me harder than I expected.
I expected a question or statement about what was to come. About how I’d view him after he told me the results.
“Honeybee.” Just saying the name shot a sharp pain through my heart. I missed that boy.
The name tasted like sunlight, if it had a taste.
“Because…. he…I…never stopped…” the last word died on his lips.
“Moving. Right. Did Ma tell you that when you were in the garden with her this afternoon?”
“She did.” He nodded once. “She…what she said reminded me of things I thought were lost.”
I kept quiet, letting him find the words. All the while, he kept his eyes on me, not flickering around the room like he was unsure. Not glancing around the space like he was scared.
I was his only focus.
“I…I used to call…. you….” He swallowed, dropping his eyes to my chest where his fingers flexed against my shirt. Then, slowly, his eyes lifted to mine once more. They were clear as the calm ocean. “You’re my Evy.”
Did that mean…he was my Kasey?
“Kasey…” If he thought that’s what I wanted, I’d be devastated.
“You are my Evy, Evander. The results…. match. And I remember. Some. I remember you calling me that, and me telling you to wait up. I remember bonfires and fireflies. I remember camping under the stars and sleeping in tents and messy popsicles.”
“A match?” I echoed. Feeling like I was a parrot instead of an Alpha.
Kasey nodded. “A perfect match.”
It was my turn to be at a loss for words. This was really my Kasey. My Honeybee. The boy I lost ten years ago. He was right here, in the flesh and blood. My other half.
“I…Kasey.”
A single tear slipped from my eye, rolling down my cheek. With a shaky hand, Kasey reached up, wiping it away. But he didn’t remove his hand. He set his palm right there, so small yet so right.
“Evy.” It was like he was testing the name on his lips.
After a moment when I still couldn’t speak, he went on.
“I…don’t remember much from before, just little flashes.
But I remember my best friend. A boy, who I always wanted to be around.
It’s what kept me going through those first years.
It’s what kept me alive. I ended up shoving it down, hiding it so they couldn’t take that, too.
But I’m here now. And please never let me leave again. ”
“Never.” The word was spoken on a breath. There wasn’t a universe where I’d let Kasey slip out of my sight, not after everything he’d survived, not after everything he’d just learned. I didn’t need to tie him to me; I just needed to be here, steady enough that he’d never feel alone again.
Kasey looked up at me, eyes still wet but shining in a way I hadn’t seen before. A real smile, small and soft.
“I’m not perfect anymore,” he whispered. “I never really was. And…talking to your mom earlier showed me you’d care about me anyways. You’d…keep me safe. And….and…I really, really missed being your Honeybee.”
Something in my chest cracked open.
I pulled him to me without thinking, arms wrapping around him in a hold that was probably too tight at first. He let out a small oomph, and I loosened my grip immediately, smoothing my hand down his back.
“Really?” My voice felt rough and unsteady. “I…. I don’t know what to say.”
Kasey’s breath brushed warmth against my neck. “Do you need to say anything at all?”
That pulled a smile from me. I pressed my face into his hair, breathing him in, grounding myself in the fact that he was here. Alive. Safe. In my arms.
“I didn’t…I wasn’t sure you were him, but you are. My God, Kase. I…I…Honeybee…”
We stood there in the middle of the kitchen, dinner dishes still piled in the sink, the dishwasher hanging open like we’d forgotten how to finish a single task. None of it mattered. Not when Kasey was in my arms, holding onto me like he finally had permission to breathe.
There were a hundred things I wanted to say. A hundred questions I should have asked. But the words wouldn’t come. My mind was blank in the best possible way. Blank with shock; blank with relief. Blank with a kind of happiness I never thought I’d feel again.
All I could do was hold him.