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

by Jessie Walker

Not letting go of Will’s face, I find myself tipping my head back, a soft grin climbing its way up my face as little bits of paper tickle my cheeks and lashes. My eyes slide shut, and my lungs fill with so much air I feel like I might burst. Like I might float away. This. This right here, I think. This is what I’ve always been waiting for.

This scene >>>>>>> 😭🩷

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.

“Well too fucking bad,” I murmur. “You are loved. And I’m not better off without you.” He sucks in a shaky breath. Slowly, I take a step back, then another. His shirt pulling until I have no choice but to let go. “And I’d rather feel this burden of knowing and loving you than go even a second without you existing somewhere on this planet.”

Ahhhhhh 😭💔

“You’re a ticking time bomb,” I hear myself say, my voice distant even to my own ears. “One that just keeps fucking rebuilding itself after every explosion, over and over and over again. But I don’t. I don’t rebuild. I don’t heal. I just keep taking it. But I can’t anymore. There’s not enough left of me to take any more shrapnel and walk out alive.”

Actual tears 🥺

He searches my gaze. “On one condition. You need to promise me something in return.” And to him, I say, “Anything.” His mouth purses, and then he reaches up, spreading his hand over my bare chest, right over my heart. “Keep this beating.” I still. “Just keep your heart beating for me, okay?” His voice breaks,

💔💔🫠

“One day, I’m gonna hold your hand in public, and not feel like I’m dying when I do it.”

😭🩷