I can’t do it. I can’t go another day living without them. My heart is irreparably broken.

I’m broken.

A light hurts my eyes as it slices across the floor, and then I become weightless. I’m so warm I want to bask in the pleasant feelings of this cocoon. Strong arms hold me tight and rock my body as it shakes with pain and sobbing. A smooth, deep sound spreads a balm on the jagged rips in my chest. I take a deep breath and the air is filled with a scent that soothes my aching lungs. It fills me up, every inhale sewing the pieces of my heart together.

My head is pushed into something soft and hard at the same time. Heat pours from it and I burrow into it, focusing on the steady beat I hear, allowing me to block out everything else around me. I’m floating now, the light growing brighter, causing me to turn my head deeper into my safe place. After an indeterminable amount of time, I feel softness underneath me, and the warm cocoon begins to go away. I whimper at the loss, and grasp on tight. “Don’t leave. Please, please don’t leave me,” I beg, the sound hoarse, scraping along the wreckage that is my throat.

“Baby, let me get a damp cloth and water for you. I promise I’ll be right back.” The voice washes over me, calming my soul, lessening the pain. It’s Chase. I hold on tight, not wanting to be without the comfort he brings. I just know the minute he leaves me, the blackness and the overwhelming pain will return. “I’ll be right back, baby. I swear. Just one second.” My grip is pried away and I open my eyes to watch him walk away. So, I shut them again. I don’t want to see my reality. I don’t want to lose anyone else.

It’s only seconds before I feel a cool cloth gently wiping over my face, down my neck, and along my nape. I feel my shoes being removed, then I’m turned onto my side and my zipper is lowered. I lift my lids and watch Chase pull my dress down and toss it on a chair. He raises me just enough to pull the covers down, removes my bra, and puts a T-shirt over my head. I know I should help, instead of being a limp, wet noodle, but I don’t have any stores of energy left.

He lays me back down, and brings a sheet up to cover me, then he begins to undress. When he’s down to his boxer briefs, he rounds the bed and slips under the covers. Moving over to me he stares into my eyes, well, what he can see of them. I can feel the swelling, almost forcing them shut. His melted chocolate eyes are full of pain as they look deeply into mine. Eventually, he leans down and places the sweetest, softest kiss on my cheek. Then he adjusts my position so that he is curled around me, back to front. I sink into the warmth, feeling calmer despite the endless tears spilling over from my eyes. I didn’t even notice that I’m still crying.

The hand not under my head begins to smooth over my hair, bringing it away from my face and running his fingers through it. The feeling brings a new heaviness, but this one is pleasant. It makes me boneless from exhaustion rather than pain. A new blackness begins to envelope me and I don’t fight it. Somehow, I know this darkness will be blissfully empty.

As she sleeps the afternoon away, I stare at her for hours. Each time her lips twitch, I don’t fight the urge to kiss them and gently graze mine against hers. Her lids flutter and her brows furrow, no doubt dreaming of sad, terrible things. But all it takes is my finger stroking her cheek or running my palm over her hair that’s long been unraveled for her to relax and a tiny smile to cause the corners of her lips to quirk up.

Her phone vibrates over and over again from inside her purse, most likely her mother, but I make no moves to answer. Earlier, when she had her mental breakdown, I carried her away from the cause of her pain. Away from her family and the memories. I promised her it would always be this way—me carrying her when she’s too weak to handle it on her own.

As the sun dips lower on the horizon and the room darkens, I decide I should wake her up to get something into her belly.

“Tori,” I murmur, kissing her forehead. “Time to wake up. We should eat.”

She moans and eventually squints open her eyes. “What time is it?”

“After six. You’ve slept the entire day away.”

A frown plays at her lips and I kiss her.

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

She tears her gaze from mine and stares up at the ceiling. “I feel broken.”

Her answer is honest and she takes a ragged breath, tears welling in her eyes.

“The wedding set you off?”

One nod and her teary eyes meet mine. “It reminded me of my own wedding—of the fact that my daughter will never have a wedding of her own.”

An ache forms in my chest as I think about Ashley. We were going to marry one day. Have kids of our own. It was all ruined in an instant. I instinctively run my fingers over the angel on my chest, feeling the ache in my heart. I’ve seen her look at it with questions in her eyes, but I don’t volunteer the information. I can only image the heartache Tori must feel.

“My life is empty. Even after all this time. I’m nothing but a shred of who I was when I had them,” she chokes out.

What she calls a shred is my entire goddamned world. Ever since I laid eyes on the woman with an exterior made of ice and a warm soul that craved to be loved again, I’ve been enamored, and for once in the last decade, I could see a future with someone again.

“You’re not nothing,” I whisper and drop a kiss on her mouth. “You’re everything, Tori. To me, you’re everything. I want to make you happy again.”

“I don’t want happiness. It isn’t fair without them. They’re dead and I’m not. Why should I go on and enjoy life?”

Life’s not fair.

I push away my mother’s words and narrow my eyes at her. “What do you think your husband would say right now if you could speak to him? Don’t you think he would want you to be happy?”

The tears spill over her cheeks and she bites her lip. We both know the answer. He would. A million times over he would.

“But he’s not here,” she sobs. “So we’ll never fucking know, will we?”

I cover her quivering lips with mine and kiss her softly at first. But when her mouth parts open and her tongue searches mine in a desperate manner, I deepen the kiss. Our tongues become one and soon I’m completely on top of her swallowing every moan as my dick presses through my boxers against the sweet spot between her legs.

Our kiss becomes slower and I thrust against her body in conjunction with our kiss. It’s our own erotic tango that only we know the steps to. Her heavy breathing is a fucking turn on and I want to fix her.

“I want to make love to you, Tori,” I murmur, my lips hovering over hers.

Her entire body quivers at my words but she starts to cry. “I want you to, Chase, I truly do. But why do I want this? It’s a betrayal of him.”

I kiss her again slowly before pulling away to stare at her. “He’s gone, baby. And I’m so fucking sorry. But you deserve to find love again. What we have is something special. Let me heal your broken soul.”

“Chase,” she says tearfully.

Tearing away from her mouth, I trail kisses along her jaw and down her neck. My lips travel over the T-shirt and I kiss her through her clothes. I’ll worship her body all night long with my mouth. I want her to see what I see. Feel what I feel.

When I reach her breast, she gasps.

I lift away from her and sit up on my knees. Her eyelids are still swollen from crying earlier today and her cheeks are tearstained. Wild blonde hair surrounds her head as if she’s some broken angel without her heaven—lost and alone.

I’ve found you, baby.

You’re not alone anymore.