Page 116 of Iced Up Love: Part Two
Her lashes don’t move. Her mouth doesn’t respond. There’s nothing there except the weight of her in my arms and the way her body feels too loose, too heavy, like she’s slipping further away the longer this goes on.
Zach hasn’t looked at me in minutes.
Not properly.
His entire focus is locked on her side, on where his hands are pressed into her, and I can see it in him now, the change from earlier, the way his jaw is tighter, the way his shoulders are set like he’s holding himself in place by force.
Something’s wrong.
Something is...
“She’s not—” I start, but the words don’t come out properly, my throat tightening too hard around them.
Zach doesn’t answer me.
That’s worse.
“Elijah,” I snap, my voice cracking as I look up toward the front. “You need to go faster.”
“I am going as fast as I can,” he says, and his voice is rough, controlled in a way that sounds like it’s being held together by nothing but sheer refusal. “We’re not crashing this car.”
“That’s not fast enough,” I shoot back immediately, panic rising higher now, pushing everything else out of the way. “She’s...Elijah, she’s not waking up!”
“She’s not dying!”
The words cut across me.
Flat.
Final.
Like he’s already decided that’s the truth and nothing else is allowed to exist.
“Then fucking prove it!” I shout, my voice breaking completely now as I look back down at her. “Because she’s not...she’s not...”
I can’t finish it.
I can’t say it.
My hand comes up to her face, cupping her cheek, my thumb brushing over her skin in a motion that feels too gentle for what’s happening, too small, too useless.
“Lia,” I whisper, and it hurts to say her name like this, it physically hurts in my chest. “Come on. Please. Don’t do this to me. Not now. Not when we just...”
My voice breaks.
I swallow hard and try again.
“You don’t get to leave now,” I say, more desperate, more raw. “You don’t get to, do you hear me? You don’t get to leave me now.”
Her chest rises.
Falls.
There’s a pause after it.
Too long.
My breath catches.
