Page 75 of Love You To Pieces

She needed one thing from me—one fucking thing—at the end of it all, but I hadn’t been able to face it. I couldn’t help her, in any way that mattered.

I hadn’t succeeded in doing anything for my friends, only for myself.

“Fuck, Sadie!”

My fingers are shaking as they hold my license, and suddenly the light above me is blocked, though I can’t tell what through the blur of tears that I only now realize are falling.

This was meant to be the place I died.

And if I’m honest with myself, I think some part of me did.

“Sadie!”

Without warning, Deacon is there, dragging me to my feet. He doesn’t hesitate after gazing into my face for half a second, searching and finding something, though I don’t know what. His eyes turn steely and before I can even register it, I’m up in his arms, being carried up the stairs, and out of the basement I was never meant to leave.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The sunlight helps, though I’m back in the truck before I can do more than register being out of the auto shop. I know the two of them are talking, and they must be saying something important, but I can’t quite figure out what it is, since my brain is refusing to make out the words my ears are hearing.

Prime meat.

No buyer yet.

My stomach twists, and nausea sits there heavily, like a stone, almost making me wish I didn’t eat anything for breakfast. I’m so close to throwing up that I can feel my salivary glands working over time, but some part of me knows I haven’t eaten enough in the past week to waste it now.

Prime meat.

No buyer yet.

What was the difference between Ariana and me? Thinking back on her, I remember all the times she stole my shirts and shoes, so I know we were pretty similar in size. Her hair, unlike mine, had been a thick glossy black that soaked up the sunlight like velvet.

Was it her skin, a rich coppery instead of my own paler one?

Her eyes, which were green, compared to my hazel?

Prime meat.

No buyer yet.

The truck suddenly comes to a stop, and with a slow realization, I see we’re back at the house. The white siding looks remarkably bright in the early afternoon sunlight, and all I can do is stare at it stupidly while both front doors of the truck open.

I need to move.

I need to get out, to stop acting like⁠—

My door opens, and I blink up at Fox in surprise. He gives me the sweetest, kindest smile I’ve ever seen on another human, and then I’m being ushered out, my arm gripped tightly in his hand.

“I’ll let you know,” Deacon murmurs, though I have no idea what he’s talking about as he comes to stand beside the open door. I look up at him and he smiles as well, leaning in to kiss the top of my head. “You did so good, little rabbit,” he purrs against my hair. “Let me handle this next part, okay?” There’s an undertone of something in his words that I don’t quite understand, and when he whistles, Pearl hops right back up into the truck, this time in the front passenger seat.

“I’m going to borrow your man killer, here,” he explains, when I give him a questioning look. “She and I are going to have a little adventure. That’s all. I promise I’ll have her back to you in one piece.” He gives me one last smile, then turns and kisses Fox on the cheek, chaste and sweet. “Don’t overdo it,” he warns. “Or I swear to God I’ll tie you both down in bed and leave you there.”

Fox snickers and waves him off, but doesn’t give me a chance to watch him leave. While he doesn’t pick me up—and honestly I’d feel guilty if he did, given his stab wound—he does pull me into the house in a way that tells me this is the one and only option.

I don’t expect him to keep walking down the hallway, or for him to open the back door, instead of taking me upstairs and putting me to bed. Instead, I find us out on the back porch, and before I can open my mouth to ask a question, Fox sinks to sit in the summer grass, pulling me with him.

“What—”

But he doesn’t let me finish. He pulls me against him, gently moving both of us until we’re lying in the grass, with his arms wrapped around me and holding me against him with my dead on his chest.