Praying for Rain (The Rain Trilogy, #1)

by B.B. Easton

Yesterday just disappeared so quickly,

I realize that I am a slave to that look. I would do anything, give anything, to spend what’s left of my short life watching Wes watching me.

Every kind thing Rain does for me is just one more reminder of everything I’ve been missing my whole fucking life. And, honestly, I’d rather not know.

I run my hand over her hair as her words pierce my heart like daggers, the pain more intense than my bullet wound or my soot-stained lungs.

Wes was my only hope. My only shot at life after April 23. Without him, my hours are numbered. Without him, I don’t want the ones I have left.

I’m a man now. A man who lies. A man who steals. But a man who will do whatever it takes to protect his girl.

Please don’t let it be her. Please don’t let it be her. Please, God. I know you fucking hate me, but just … fuck. Don’t let it be her.

I burst through the last obstacle standing between me and my girl.

right. And there, on that bed, is my very own Sleeping Beauty.

It’s just me, my sleeping angel, and a glowing, silent sense of peace.

Rain survived the murder-suicide of her parents, the loss of her friends and boyfriend, and the disintegration of her whole fucking town, but it was my neglect that finally broke her.

She deserves to be remembered. Even if it’s only for a few more hours.

“I’m beginning to realize there’s not much I wouldn’t do for you.”

“What could you possibly prioritize over surviving?” Rain asks, becoming eye-level with me as she steps onto the first rung of the tree-house ladder. “Living.” I smile. Then, I lean forward and kiss my girl while I still can.

“The moment I saw you, I knew I was fucked.” His voice is raspy and low. “I knew it when I used my last bullet to pull you out of Burger Palace instead of saving it. I knew it when I pulled that stupid fucking stunt with the dogs instead of leaving you at Huckabee Foods. I knew it when I got shot for you, when I got a flat tire because of you, and when I went back into a burning building to find your ass. The whole time, I thought you were distracting me from my mission, but it wasn’t until you left that I realized you were my mission.” Wes opens his eyes, and his pupils drink me in. “I think I came here to find you, Rain. I’m just sorry it took me so long to figure that out.”

We inhale. We exhale. We kiss. We connect. And when we finally start moving again, it’s with the lazy grace of melting ice cream. Because that’s all we are. Something to be savored before it disappears.

“Baby, are you okay?” Baby. I’ve never been anybody’s fucking baby, not even when I was a baby.

“The horsemen aren’t real. Do you hear me? Whatever that is, people are behind it. People who are gonna fucking die if they try to hurt a hair on your head.”

I don’t trust anybody with a dick around my girl—