If There's a Way (Lost Boys #2)

by Jessie Walker

The boy who I’d witness years later standing on the ledge of a 300-foot bridge, telling me he needs perspective sometimes. How he needed to know there’s a way out. The boy who’s spent years desperately chasing his own end—be it down the bottle, the needle, or the barrel of a gun. The boy who can’t love me, let alone—and more importantly—love himself... Because of this. Fucking. Monster.

He releases a short sigh. “Isn’t it obvious?” He cocks his head. “He wasn’t just terrified I’d hurt him for it, Will…” My vision blurs. “...he was terrified I’d hurt you.”

All I feel is the boy in my arms—my boy. My guy. My man. The one who’s been there all along, waiting for me—and all I can do is pray that I’m not too late. Please, please, please don’t let me be too late.

And it hits me then. Somewhere along the way… I forgot my heart beats too.

“You didn’t make anything worse, Will,” I tell him after a long, quiet moment. “You woke me up, that’s all. You brought me back to life.”

“God, you’ve ruined everything, City Boy. You’ve ruined me.” I rock my head against his, not once taking my tear-filled gaze off his. “Every time I look at you, I’m ruined.”

“All there’s left in me is… is you, and I don’t even know if that makes sense. But it’s you. It’s always been you.”

“Way.” This. This moment. Right. Fucking. Here. This is what I’ve been waiting for all along. Maybe my whole life.

So while I hope—pray—that he has an infinite amount of beats left… I have to face the reality that he doesn’t. He might only have millions, or thousands, or hundreds left… He might only have tomorrow. Today. I might only have today.

“And for the record,” he says in a graveled voice as he tips his head back against the wall, “yes, it’s fucking weird. You’re weird. The weirdest weirdo that ever weirded.”

But it’s theirs. Their story, wholly and completely unique from all the rest. And yet… Pain is pain is pain…

So maybe, just maybe, all along… I was running to him. Waylon. The boy who kept that piece of me all these years. The boy who’d help me find my way back.