The Keeper Excerpt

“I fucked up, Lindy.” With haunted eyes he drops his head back against his pillow and groans. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

He and I have been doing this for years.

Calling each other in the middle of the night when our demons get the best of us.

We understand each other.

Shared trauma will do that to a person.

But tonight, he’s talking in riddles even I’m having a hard time decoding.

“What happened, E? You’re scaring me,” I whisper softly into the night, as my stomach drops anticipating the worst possible answers.

“I couldn’t save you,” he breathes out and shuts down.

“But you did save me, Easton. I’m alive because of you.” I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap an arm protectively around myself. I never talk about this. Not with anyone besides him. “You saved us both.” Four years ago, a stalker held me and Easton at gunpoint. In an effort to get to my mother, he killed my bodyguard, and if it hadn’t been for Easton and my stepfather, Brandon, he would have killed the rest of us, too.

A chill runs down my spine, and I try to shake it off before Easton closes his eyes. “In my dreams, I couldn’t save you.”

“In my dreams, you always do,” I tell him with brutal honesty, because honesty is the only thing we’ve ever been able to offer each other.

“Are you going to be able to sleep, E?”

“Stay on the phone with me, okay? I need to hear you breathe. I need to know you’re safe.”

I lay back down and tug my comforter up, then prop my phone on the pillow. “Sleep, E.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten this call in the middle of the night.

It won’t be the last either.

🏒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒🏒
Best Friend’s Brother
Teammate’s Sister
Virgin Heroine
Vegas Wedding
Forced Proximity
Shared Trauma
Grumpy/Sunshine
Touch her & 💀
Found Family
Hockey Player/Figure Skater

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