Page 53 of Wild Embers
Blake holds her hands up, gesturing to the wonder above. “My sky. I may not be fluent, but I can follow what someone is saying.”
“Because that’s what you are,” I state plainly, like my reasoning is a given.
Her focus remains upward as her face pinches. “I’m the sky? Big, blue, and full of pollution?” She snorts, then makes a face. Sitting up, she mirrors my position. “Are you calling me a smurf?”
An obnoxious laugh bursts free. “No, smart ass.” She raises her brows, prompting me to explain. “You really want to know? Once I tell you, you can’t unhear it.”
“I want to know,” she confirms immediately.
“When I look at you, when I’m near you, I feel like I can breathe. It’s like I carry this weight on my chest and half the time I don’t even realize it. But when you’re here, and everything else is dark, and I can’t see, you hold up the stars so I can find my way.”
Tears form in the corners of her eyes as she shakily responds, “Don’t say things like that unless you mean them.”
“¿Por qué no lo diría en serio?” Shuffling closer, I reach for her hand, and she responds by holding it out for me.Why wouldn’t I mean it?
One tear slips free. “Because, as I said earlier, you don’t know me anymore. I’m not some faultless beacon. I wreck things. I ruin everything I touch.”
I bring her hand to my lips and kiss each knuckle. “Then ruin me.”
Her tears fall freely, something stitching together in her eyes. She erases the space between us, wrapping her arms around me as her tears fall from her cheeks onto my coat. I embrace her back, holding her tight.
A minute later, my hat is knocked off my head, and hot breath tousles my hair. “The hell?” I open my eyes, looking for the cause, and I’m met with a black snout. Blake shifts back from our hug, chuckling at Shadow’s antics.
“What can I say?” Blake says, lifting her arms into a shrug. “She just wanted to make sure I was okay.”
Laughter fills the air around us, and I memorize this moment. I never want to forget it.
My phone rings in my front coat pocket. I contemplate ignoring it but decide against it. “Hey, what’s up?”
Walker’s voice is serious, as usual. “I need you to get over to Highway 109.”
I’m on my feet before he finishes his sentence, dragging Blake up with me. “What happened?”
Blake gnaws on her bottom lip. “What’s going on?”
“There’s been an accident,” Walker informs me.
I don’t like where this is going. My mind rolls through the various faces of people in my life, wondering which one of them is injured or worse.
“Who?”
Walker’s breath crackles through the phone.
“Walk, who was hurt?”
He still hesitates.
“Me.”
CHAPTER 14
BLAKE
Santiago must have been a racecar driver in another life because we’re at the crash site in minutes despite the icy roads and falling snow. We pull up to find the ambulance, deputies, and fire department are already on the scene.
I’m out of the cab and running through the snow before Santiago can even put his truck in park.
I don’t know where I’m going. All I know is that I have to find him.
