The Happy Ever After Playlist - Abby Jimenez Page 0,66

I hadn’t known was possible. Like I’d been tense my whole life and hadn’t even known it.

All that was left was us.

A big scary world existed somewhere, where bad things happened and people you cared about died—or left you on fourteen-month tours around the world. But tonight there was only this. And I was happy, and grateful, to have it.

Even if it wouldn’t last.

* * *

The next morning Tucker met us at the water’s edge as we docked back at the shores of Camp Larsen. Jason grabbed my ass before he picked up the canoe and pack, and I giggled and hit him.

We were going home today, and we’d already decided that he was spending the night at my place tonight.

He carried everything to the garage, and I came in with him to drop off the paddles, both of us grinning. He hadn’t stopped smiling since he opened his eyes this morning. Neither had I.

We never did see those lights. We’d been a little distracted—all night. I was sore and tired, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Well, unless of course he wasn’t leaving me. But that was something I wouldn’t let myself think about right now.

I followed him through the garage with Tucker, looking around at all the toys. The Larsens were definitely outdoorsmen. They had all the things. Kayaks harnessed to the ceiling, three snowmobiles under covers, a wall of fishing gear. Even a motorcycle was parked in the left stall.

“Your dad rides?” I asked as I looked down at a carefully organized box of fishing lures.

“Oh, the motorcycle?” he said, shouldering off the enormous pack and putting it in the bed of Paul’s truck. “No, that’s mine.”

I looked up and blinked at the bike.

His? Jason, on a motorcycle? I didn’t know he—

Sand.

Invisible grains of sand began to fill my lungs. Every breath gave me sand. It poured down my throat, heavy and thick, taking up the space in my chest, robbing me of air, drying out my mouth.

Can’t breathe.

Couldn’t get anything past the weight of it. I gasped. Tears spilled down my cheeks. The panic spread, the sand coursed through my veins. I couldn’t make it stop.

It drowned me.

Chapter 24

Jason

? burn slowly/i love you | The Brazen Youth

I had just slid the backpack into Dad’s truck and slammed the tailgate closed when I heard Tucker’s whimpers. I came around the driver’s side and saw Sloan with her hands over her mouth, gasping for air.

I had her in my arms in an instant.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” I held her and tried to tip her chin up, but she buried her face in my chest and sobbed.

Her whole body shook. She was absolutely terrified.

My heart started to pound. “Sloan, what happened?” I could hear the panic building in my voice. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

She didn’t reply.

I glanced over her shoulder and my eyes glided over the black wheels of my bike and then I realized…“Is it because of the motorcycle?”

She managed a nod.

Without another word I scooped her up into my arms and ran with her outside.

It had been two years since Brandon’s accident. She must have seen thousands of bikes by now. There was only one reason this could be upsetting her. Because it was mine.

When I set her feet down on the lawn, I held her by the arms and dipped my head to look at her. “Sloan, we’re going to work on your breathing, okay? Look in my eyes. In and out, slow and steady. Can you do that?”

She nodded and drew a careful, jagged breath through her lips.

“Listen to me,” I said, holding her gaze. “Nothing is going to happen to me,” I said slowly. “I’ll sell it. Right now. You hear me, Sloan? I won’t ever ride one again.”

She let out a shuddering breath, and tears spilled down her beautiful cheeks. Tucker pressed himself against our legs, looking up at her, worried.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed.

I shook my head. “Don’t apologize to me, no. Shhhhhhh…”

She took a few more ragged breaths and when she started talking again, it was so quiet I almost couldn’t hear her. “There was blood in his eyes, Jason. His skin was scraped off by the asphalt. All the way to the bone.”

Her words came like a punch to my gut. Jesus. What do you even say to something like that?

I hated this. I just wanted to protect her, to keep her from ever having to endure anything else painful for the rest of her life. I wished I could wipe it