Please Don't Go (The Midnight Strike, #1)

by E. Salvador

“My name is Daniel Garcia, but my friends call me Danny.” His words are soft, but friendly, laid-back almost as if he were talking to a friend. “And now you’re my friend, so call me Danny.”

“Please don’t go. Please don’t go. Please don’t go…” Daniel chants under his breath over and over again. “Please don’t go.”

“Please don’t go,” he delivers incessantly, vigorously, but delicately. “Please, please, please don’t go.” He doesn’t just hold me; he embraces me. His chest is firmly pressed against my back, and I realize then that the loud drumming isn’t coming from the water. It’s coming from him. It’s his heart that’s racing at a dangerous speed, all too rapidly, all too thunderous against me. “Please don’t go.”

I hold her, wishing I could take all her pain away. I hold her like my life depends on it. I’ll hold her until morning if I have to. I’ll keep holding her until I can’t any longer because how the fuck am I supposed to let go?

If you need anything, I’m just a text or call away. I’m so happy you’re here, Jos!

“I want to meet the person who over inflated your ego. I need a word or two with them.” And I want to meet the person who fucked her over. I’ll have more than words with them.

“In that case, please stay. I could really use the company,” she sarcastically says, but I don’t miss the smidge of sadness that tones her words. “See, I thought you’d never ask.” I happily say.

“So, we need to have alibis and shovels, and we need to make it quick. Also, we need to keep the blood to a minimum because you know that’s hard to get rid of, or at least it’s what I’ve seen in the shows.” I halt in my tracks and spin around. He almost crashes into me, but he manages to stop in time. “What are you talking about?” “Are we not murdering Bryson?”

“Voy a ir contigo, aunque quieras o no. Y no discutas conmigo porque está conversión ya ha terminado. Sí me entendiste esta vez?” Wow. “¿Estás seguro?” “Contigo, siempre.”

Dios, no tengo suficientes palabras para explicar qué tan hermosa es.

She softly chuckles. Holy shit, I made her chuckle. Breathe. Calm down. She just chuckled. No big deal. No. Big. De—fuck, she chuckled. I did that.

I don’t miss the faint jerk of her lips. Fireworks. Every single time she does that.

“I wanted to. Pen says it’s my love language or whatever that’s called.”

“Sto facendo di tutto per non baciarti in questo momento.” I lift a brow, holding back a smile. “Well? You know I have no idea what that means.” He stares at me for a long beat, his amber eyes holding me in place and burning me up. “I said, I hope you’re ready to eat.”

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

burning. “So, you want to get married and have kids?” “With you, yeah. Just tell me when and where and I’m yours forever.”

“Yeah, sure whatever but ‘just friends’ don’t keep a single rhinestone in their wallet.

daniel fucking garcia is a simp

“I like it when you’re mean to me.” “I thought you were into being praised?” I say, a little quiet and playful. “I’m into anything you do,”

Is it really out of your system? It’s not out of mine.

And don’t get me started on sixty and seventy in Spanish too. Sesenta and setenta? Like who thought of that and why would they make them sound almost the same? Am I right?”

“You watching TV. I’m sure you never watched the Final Destination series?” She shakes her head at my question. “You haven’t been privileged of being traumatized like the rest of us. That’s going to change. The log scene will blow your mind.” “Log scene?”

“Because, Josefine, you’ve rewired the way I feel touch. Touching anyone that isn’t you feels overwhelming and so wrong. It’s like my brain can’t process that it’s not you. I don’t know how to make sense of that but I don’t want to touch anyone that isn’t you. You’re incomparable. And no, I haven’t touched anyone to find that out. I just know. I can’t and won’t touch anyone that isn’t you. Does that answer your question? Can you answer mine now?”

“You’re a big deal to me, so I’m going to make it one. And I want you to be clingy, just for once, be clingy for me, Jos.”

“You’re not annoyed? I’m the one who said slow and now I’m telling the world you’re my boyfriend.” It was just his sister and parents, but I’m sure they’re his world. “Annoyed? Baby, I want the whole universe to know you’re mine.” Now I’m cheesing. “Oh, so you and me, we’re official now?” “This has always been official to me,” he gravely says but still smiles. “A label isn’t going to determine what we are. I’m yours, strictly.”

“It’s Josie said I’m Her Boyfriend Day. This is one the biggest holidays of them all. So naturally I had to get my girlfriend these.”

“The rhinestone? You still have it? I thought you threw it away?” He looks a little bashful, his cheeks tinting pink. “I couldn’t get rid of it.”

Please don’t go.”

sobs

“I’ll love you even on the dark days.” He gapes at me in disbelief, but his hands tighten around me. “I’m going to need you to say that again.”

“I sound like an idiot, don’t I?” “No, God, no.” He tucks my hair behind my ear. “You sound like the girl I love.”

I fold the paper in half and tuck it in the sleeve of my wallet where the rhinestone is.

I know fate is real. I know because you exist

“Well, now she’s your ex and one day she’ll be my wife. She moved on; it’s time you do too.”