Page 172 of Requiem
I laugh softly while her arms slide around my neck, my own hands settling automatically against her waist. The movement pulls slightly at my sore side, but nowhere near enough to stop me from pulling her closer. She sways around to the beat of the song, but still takes it easy on me. Andafter a minute of joyful laughing and dancing, she slows against me, the song still playing.
I rest my cheek against her head and close my eyes. There were so many times when I thought that I’d never wake up. When I never wanted to. But my best friend kept me alive. And now, this beautiful, incredible, brave, and kind woman is holding me like I mean the entire world to her. I am absolutely lucky to call her mine.
How did I survive? I could have died, and this could be heaven. Or it could be real and everything we struggled through together brought me to this perfect moment.
Heather pulls back slightly. “Meekah?”
I hadn’t even realized tears were forming until she said my name. I laugh weakly under my breath and wipe quickly at my face, embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“Hey.” Her voice softens instantly. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head once before looking past her toward the open windows where distant summer light glows over Seaside. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not.”
Emotion clogs unexpectedly in my throat. “I just…” I exhale shakily. “I just can’t believe sometimes that we made it out together. Him and I.”
Her entire expression changes.
I swallow hard before continuing quietly. “There were so many times I thought I was going to lose him.”
Heather’s eyes water.
“And now he’shome,”I whisper. “He’s sober. He’s writing music again. Hesmilesnow.” A weak laugh escapes me. “And he’s gettingmarried. Do you know how fucking insane that feels after everything?”
Heather reaches up carefully, brushing tears from beneath my eyes with her thumbs. “I know,” she whispers.
I look at her for a long moment before finally admitting the thing lodged deepest inside my chest. “I think this is the first time in my life I’ve everactuallyfelt safe.”
The words hang quietly between us.
Heather’s mouth trembles before she pulls me into her arms so tightly I almost laugh again out of sheer awkwardness. I’m still not the best at being vulnerable with anyone except Jude, even when we’re not in survival mode.
“You deserve safe,” she whispers fiercely against my shoulder. “You deserve peace and love and every good thing that exists in this world, Micah. You’ve shown me what it’s like to love someone as much as I watched Emma love Jude for so many years.”
Emotion crashes through me so hard I have to close my eyes. For years, survival was the only thing any of us understood. Now we’re learning how to live afterward. And it feels fucking amazing. I wake every day beside her feeling blessed that I was given another chance.
Heather pulls back just enough to kiss me softly before grinning through watery eyes. “Also, if you cry before dinner at Jude and Emma’s, Kami is going to roast you alive.”
I bark out a laugh. “She absolutely will.”
“And Finnick will pretend to defend you while making it worse somehow.”
“That’s exactly what he’ll do.”
Heather beams triumphantly before stealing another quick kiss. Then her nose wrinkles. “Oh, my god.”
I blink. “What?”
“The garlic bread.”
Smoke curls faintly upward from the oven behind her. She gasps in horror before sprinting toward it while I double over laughing so hard my side starts hurting again. “Don’t laugh!” she shouts while yanking open the oven. “This is your fault!”
I lean against the counter, grinning helplessly while she waves smoke away dramatically with a dish towel. “You’re the one who had to dance with me. You started with the emotions.”
She just rolls her eyes.
I come up behind her just as she sets the towel down. My hands find her hips, and she turns in my arms. I don’t give her time. I just kiss her. I kiss her harder than I’ve ever kissed her before. She immediately melts into me, a little whimper escaping her when my tongue slides over hers. When I finally pull back, her skin is flushed.
