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I closed ination, so I opened the over so I could see Paxton’s face instead of Brian’s I concentrated on the curve of his chin, the line of his mouth, afraid that if I saw his eyes, I couldn’t continue "The first ih I only re stop Then nothing until I woke up hours later"

Paxton brushed the hair back behind"When I came to, Brian’s body was pinned to his seat by this branch as thick as one I don’t kno long I cried, suspended there by ot myself under control, I saw that et out of Brian’s…but I couldn’t climb over him I couldn’t use him like a step stool to live while he’d died

"My phone had been flung out offroht it would be easier, better for hiet help But the shift in weight--"

My eyes squeezed shut, feeling it all over again Paxton kissedht caused the car to fall again, this ti-pong ball in the car, hitting…everything My legs…they went through the windshield"

Paxton hissed and pressed a kiss to my forehead like that would take away the pain, and oddly enough, it slightly did

"Once…once I got e next to us The car was balanced so precariously I wanted to take Brian, I did But that branch had broken off inside the car--he was still pinned to the seat"

I opened aze unfocused "I don’t kno long I sat there debating Probably hours Every tiht, the car o over Brian-- I got out just before the car fell There was no tiive his body to hisnored his absolution There were soe was big enough for h for s were useless, so I held on to the rocks and the vegetation, and I prayed that I wouldn’t black out from the pain The car fell one last time and burst into flao when the rescue crews arrived"

"Oh, baby," he whispered againstaround iving in I’d spent all e, and morals, and what I would do with ht hteen years The hardest battles--the ainst our own fears, our oeaknesses, our own shattered expectations of e thought this life would be I’d alotten that until today, when I had to , just kept stroking s…the infection set in and caused all sorts of issues with the draining and setting the bones, and well… They are what they are--a constant reet out of the car when I should have, a reminder that I lived but Brian didn’t"

"A testaed "That’s how I met Rachel We were both in the orthopedist’s office, s, her for a broken arm When we realized that ere both headed to Dartmouth in the fall, we clicked She’s my polar opposite, the wild to h That first year…the grief was so deep, the nightmares way too realistic, the panic attacks cruelly frequent… I know she kept me alive I honestly can’t believe I actually ca an expression I couldn’t read "I’ these last "

"Even today?" I joked

He kissed ently, but with a touch of desperation that hadn’t been there before "Especially today"

I somehow felt naked, exposed "Paxton, will you tell me about Nick? He’s the one who’s paralyzed, isn’t he?"

His eyes widened momentarily, but he nodded "The triple front was always the trick he wanted to ed him, told him I’d nail it first He wasn’t ready, and neither was I, honestly After the accident, he wouldn’t see anyone, even Brooke"

"Brooke?" I asked

"Yeah, they’d been together for years He shut everyone out, and we kept it quiet out of respect for him He finally reached out when he heard about the docuodsend"

"Really? How?"

"All the equip for the front? It’s his But he figured out e’re doing this whole thing, and he wanted to be a part of it"