Now that I was alone in bed my thoughts were free to run wild.
Was Cade right? Was it their time to die and nothing could’ve prevented the accident?
I wanted to believe that, but I couldn’t.
I was a logical thinking person and the facts were glaringly obvious.
If I hadn’t looked down at my phone they’d still be alive.
Just like if Cade’s family hadn’t gone horseback riding Gabe would still be alive.
But ‘if’ doesn’t matter. There is no such thing as a do over. And we can’t allow ourselves to question every single little detail, but that’s exactly what I had done for the last fifteen months. Cade was right, I had to stop beating myself up over this. It was going to take time for me to get beyond this, though. I couldn’t snap my fingers and magically become Rachael again.
I jumped when the door to my room creaked open.
I sat up as a tall dark figure stepped inside.
“Cade,” I hissed, “what are you doing?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” He tiptoed across the room, and let me tell you it was funny watching a guy as burly as him try to be quiet. “I thought maybe you couldn’t either.”
Without asking for permission, because let’s face it this was Cade, he pulled back the covers and slid into bed beside me.
“So…you thought you’d sleep in here?” I whispered into the dark room.
His chest was bare. I could tell because he wrapped his arms around me and pulled my body against his.
“Well, I think that’s pretty obvious. Should I tell you a bedtime story?” He smoothed the hair away from my neck and kissed the spot where my pulse raced.
“Um…no.” I wiggled around, trying to get comfortable.
“If you keep that up we’ll have a problem,” he warned in a low voice. “Now, it’s story time.”
“I didn’t ask for a—”
“Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was beautiful, like a ray of light, but when she looked in the mirror she saw nothing but darkness.”
I squished my eyes closed, wishing I could block out his words.
“She thought she was an evil, soul-sucking creature…like a vampire,” he chuckled. “But to everyone else, she was an angel. A beautiful soul. But she was sad and that made her prince sad.”
“Her prince?” I asked, my voice sounding squeaky.
“Yeah, her prince. He was a nice guy. And very handsome.”
“Of course,” I snorted.
“He saw how beautiful, smart, amazing, and kind she was. He wanted to banish the darkness she clung to so desperately—the darkness that didn’t even exist. But he knew that the only way to do that was to win her heart…
” He trailed off.
Minutes passed in silence. Finally, I spoke. “Did he?”
“Hmm? Did he what?” He asked, his voice sounding sleepy now.
“Did he win her heart?” I whispered, afraid to push the words passed my lips.
“Not yet,” he rubbed his thumb lazily against my stomach, “but he will.”