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“He’ll be back”

“When? And what ot to be mired in a dismal abyss neither one of us can fully comprehend”

“Hey, I’ve been pretty messed up over you and Amano”

“But you weren’t the one to shoot us,” I re difference And we survived Even bigger difference”

“He’ll pull it together, Ari”

“I don’t know” My eyes squeezed shut to keep the orks at bay “This doesn’t feel right, Kyle”

“Keep the faith That’s what you’re best at”

He took Aonized a bit more, until I fell under the spell of pain meds and, yes, despair

The next ti other silly noises He’d clearly gotten over his unsettled state and was now oblivious to uish My eyelids drifted open and I stared up at the ceiling

I thought back to that horrific time in my life when Vale had kidnapped me and Dane had nearly killed hi point I’d walked away

What had I learned from that experience?

That I couldn’t exist without Dane

His presumed death had been even more detrimental to me But I’d had a baby insideabove my own pain to tend to him

So I had to exist without Dane

Somehow