Page 31 of One Forbidden Moment

Chapter 13

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Moe

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Moe hit the groundhard enough to knock the air from his lungs.Dirt, gravel, and cold air slammed into him at once.For a second, Moe couldn't move.Then he choked, coughing to catch his breath.

With oxygen came reality.Jillian.

He rolled, pain shooting down his side, and found her sprawled beside him, limp, hair fanned across the ground like she'd been dropped from the sky.

"Jillian."His voice came out rough, scraped raw from all the screaming.He pushed himself up on shaking arms and reached for her."Come on, sweetheart.Breathe."

Her chest rose.Shallow and uneven, but it rose.

Relief punched through him so hard he closed his eyes for a second.She was alive.She was breathing.She was here.

They made it out of Everstill, and he wasn't alone this time.

His lungs inflated with air the perfect temperature, not too heavy and stale like in Everstill.There was no hum beneath the ground.No veil watching from the edges.

At one time, this was his world.There were parts of his life he'd forgotten.He no longer knew how to live without a routine, without some sort of housing and food available.He needed people around him to remind him how a community worked together, or he'd fall back on his old life of running from the law constantly.

When he'd followed Finn and Kallie through the veil, he spent weeks riding around, hiding from the cops, sleeping in alleys, and searching for his way back to Everstill.He never stopped long enough to look at anything.

Now he was here again, and for the first time, he could actually live here and find out his past.

His success at making it through the veil should've given him freedom.But he needed Jillian's help.

He brushed a strand of hair from her face, his hand trembling despite how hard he tried to steady it."Come on, Jillian.Wake up.I need you to wake up."

She didn't stir.

He swallowed hard, scanning the area.They were in a clearing.Trees blocked one side, and there was a road on the other.Cars drove by without stopping.

Civilization.

Too close.

Too exposed.

If anyone recognized him and called the cops, he'd be gone before Jillian even opened her eyes.

He leaned over her, shielding her with his body, listening for footsteps, engines, anything.

He looked down at her again, at the soft rise and fall of her chest, at the way her fingers twitched like she was dreaming.

He'd dragged her through hell and brought her into danger.He'd promised to keep her safe.And now he had to do it in a world that wanted him in prison.

"Jillian," he whispered, voice breaking in a way he didn't let anyone hear."Please wake up.I can't do this without you."

The wind rustled the leaves overhead.

Jillian's eyelids fluttered, then squeezed shut again as if the light hurt.Moe forced his breathing to steady, forced the panic down deep where she couldn't see it.She didn't need his fear on top of everything else.

Her fingers twitched against the dirt.Then she sucked in a shaky breath and whispered, "Moe...?"