Chapter 124: His & Hers
"God Craig," she whispered, but the fight in her voice was gone. "Please...just let me go."
She tried to look away, tried to keep the tears in, but her body betrayed her, still she held herself together.
"I’m not letting you go," he said, his voice low, wrecked, like the words hurt him. "Not until you understand that I never will."
She let out a laugh, but it cracked halfway and fell apart into a sob. "God, I don’t even know why I’m crying." She wiped at her cheeks, but the tears only kept falling.
Craig stepped closer. She didn’t stop him.
His thumb brushed gently under her eyes, catching the tears she missed. "You don’t have to face this alone," he said quietly. "I’m always gonna be here."
Her breath hitched as he touched her, the gentleness undoing something tight inside her.
It didn’t matter how far she’d run, how tightly she’d held herself together. In this moment, in his presence, her heart moved first. It reached for him before reason could interfere, like it still remembered who it belonged to.
And it was his.
It had always been his.
"God...why does this hurt so much?" She didn’t know when the words slipped out, she let out a shaky breath and fell into his chest, her forehead pressing against him like it was the only place she could rest.
He held her without hesitation, one hand around her waist, the other curling protectively at the back of her head. He leaned down and pressed a soft, aching kiss to her forehead.