56. Mira

56

MIRA

The lawn is a wreck. There are deep tire tracks across the grass from Daniel's car and the first responders, and the police left bright orange evidence markers all over the lawn. One sits next to a dark, marshy patch of grass that I know is where Zane was bleeding out. I have to look away as we pass.

Taylor did her best to clean up the living room, but Dante cracked the coffee table when he slammed me down on it and Daniel almost ripped the frame off the door when he barreled inside to check on Aiden.

"We'll go shopping for a new one," Taylor reassures me. "A lot of this furniture belonged to Davis, anyway. You have to buy new stuff. Because of cooties."

I smile and hug her tight, pretending not to notice when she starts crying softly on my shoulder.

"Aiden was up most of the night," Daniel chimes in. "He'll probably be asleep for a while longer if the two of you want to?—"

"You need a shower," Zane interrupts, reaching for my hand. "And a change of clothes."

I don't argue. I wouldn't have the energy even if I wanted to.

Zane walks slowly down the hallway. As I tug off my jailhouse outfit and bury it in the bottom of the bathroom trash, I notice Zane pop a pill from a bottle on his nightstand.

He glances up at me as he dry swallows it. "Owen is keeping track of my pain meds," he explains. "He knows how many are in the bottle and how long they should last me. He's texting me every couple hours. Just in case."

I hold out a hand for him. "I trust you."

I've never trusted anyone more. Probably never will again.

Zane assesses me silently, running his hands over the red rings around my wrists, brushing a thumb across the bruising on my throat. He leans forward and kisses my swollen eye, whispering apologies to every injury on my body.

He starts the shower for me, careful to stay out of the spray. "I can't shower for another two days, but I've been away from you more than enough lately. I want to stay close."

I want that, too.

I nod, but when I try to speak, my chin wobbles. My throat tightens, and it's like Dante's hands are there again. It's like I'm pressed into the ground, unable to breathe. I open my mouth to say something, anything , but a wrenching sob comes out instead.

In a second, Zane is there. He turns off the water and curls me against his chest.

"It wasn't y-your fault. I don't blame y-you. I c-couldn't." Every tear I've held in for the last twelve hours—the last seven years—drains out of me.

Zane doesn't let go. "I know, Mira."

"I love you," I sob. "I didn't want you to get hurt. Or to go to jail for me."

"That makes two of us. But somehow, only one of us got what we wanted." He grabs my chin, lifting my ruined face to kiss one cheek and then the other. "Please know, as repayment, I plan to get my way for the rest of eternity."

I drop my forehead to his chest. The bandage on his stomach is dotted with blood, and I close my eyes. "You sacrificed too much already. I couldn't let you do it anymore."

"I haven't sacrificed a thing."

I pull back. "What are you talking about? You could have lost your son because of me."

"I didn't."

"But you could have. And you had to move out of your condo for me."

He shrugs. "I never liked the place."

I frown. "You almost lost your spot on the team because I brought all of my chaos into your life. You might not have been captain!"

"It's a lot of responsibility, being captain," he muses. "Frankly, I think the whole thing is overrated."

"Zane, be serious. I turned everything upside down. You gave up so much to take care of me."

"And I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I'd give up more, actually." He cradles my face gently in his hands, forcing my eyes to his. "I'd give up absolutely everything to take care of you, Mira, and I'm perfectly serious about that. Because that's how much you mean to me. It's not a sacrifice if the thing I'm desperate not to lose is you ."

I don't have the words to explain what Zane means to me. To tell him the lengths I'd go to to make sure I never lose him.

So I do the next best thing: I cry on his chest until I run out of tears. Then I wash off the terrible day and let Zane bundle me up in a robe and lead me to our bed.

We lie there together, crying and dozing and whispering, until our door opens and a shock of blonde hair pokes through the crack.

"You can go in," Taylor urges from the hall. "Just be gentle with them. They have owies."

Hearing my best friend say the word " owies" warms my heart in a way I didn't know was possible. Then Aiden bursts through the door, half in tears before he can even make it to our bed, and my heart disintegrates.

It's eviscerated. It's dust in the wind.

I haul Aiden onto the bed, nestling him carefully between us so he can hug his dad without hurting him.

"Everything is okay," Zane murmurs again and again, smoothing Aiden's hair back. "We're all safe."

"Because you're here now?" Aiden whimpers.

Something breaks behind Zane's eyes, but he nods and kisses Aiden's forehead. "Exactly, buddy. You're safe because I'm here."

Because Zane is the kind of dad every kid deserves. The kind of husband any woman would be lucky to have—me, most of all.

I didn't think a life like this was possible for me, but now, it's here, and I am never going to let it go.

Aiden eventually drifts to sleep, and Zane and I watch each other over the top of his head. He needs to remind himself that this is real as much as I do.

"What are you thinking about?" I whisper after a long time.

"Europe."

I bite back my first real laugh in way too long. "What?"

"I was thinking about Europe," he continues. "Southern Italy, maybe. Or the Maldives. You'd make a cute ski bunny, but selfishly, I'd like you in a bikini as much as possible."

I shake my head, grinning. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

He reaches over Aiden and links our fingers together. "I'm talking about our honeymoon."

"Oh." I blink. "Oh. "

"We said we'd talk about once everything was over, and—" He shrugs. "—everything is over."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Tears prick the backs of my eyes, but I blink them back. I don't want to cry anymore. "I never actually thought this would happen. I don't actually know what comes next."

Zane brings our hands to his mouth, kissing my knuckles. "Luckily for you, I have nothing but ideas."