Page 258 of Only Be Mine

I blinked up at the sky and watched it blur into streaks of gray. I couldn’t tell if the water on my cheeks was rain or something else.

Trevor’s shoes stopped beside my head.

“You should’ve just left,” he said quietly.

I tried to speak.

Tried to tell him she hadn’t been stolen. Tried to tell him love wasn’t something you could own. Tried to tell him he didn’t understand her at all.

Nothing came out but blood.

My hand twitched uselessly against the pavement.

Cate.

God, Cate.

I pictured her in the kitchen that morning. Hair pulled back. Bare feet on tile. Laughing at something I’d said the night before.

I should’ve turned around.

I should’ve gone back when she came out with the umbrella.

I should’ve told Seth the truth.

I should’ve…

Trevor exhaled above me.

“Make sure,” he said to someone behind him.

Footsteps moved.

I didn’t look.

I didn’t want the last thing I saw to be him.

Instead, I stared at the sky and let the rain fall into my eyes.

I imagined Cate five years from now. Ten. I imagined her happy. I imagined her safe. I imagined someone kind standing beside her, loving her the way she deserved.

I imagined kids.

A little girl with her laugh.

A little boy who ran too fast and asked too many questions.

I imagined her telling them about me.

I hoped she’d say I was brave.

I hoped she’d say I loved her well.

The world dimmed at the edges.

Sound pulled away first.

Then light.