Out of the Storm - COMPLETE

Chapter 53

Theo

HAVING HER IN my arms for these few minutes brought me more comfort than anything I've ever experienced. Ever. Hearing her usually strong voice so weak should have broken me, but I am already shattered from all the shit that's happened. I can't even begin to wrap my head around it all.

"Jules. Theo," skatá prósopo says.

I squeeze Jules closer and glare at him. "You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do."

He nods. "I can't right now, though. I'm being reassigned and leaving town tomorrow." Him leaving is the best news I've had all day, but I need to know more. "Do you mind taking her home? I'll come by when I'm done later and explain everything."

"Yeah. Whatever." There's no way he's coming. He's a cheater. He's a fraud.

Pursing his lips, he runs a hand through his hair. "Thanks. It'll be late before we finish here, but I promise I'll come as soon as I'm done."

"You better." I look down at the fragile girl in my arms. He did this to her. It's all his fault. Just like I thought. And by damn, I'm going to find out if he did that to Marco too, but right now I need to play nice so he won't run. "If not for me, then for her. But we both deserve an explanation for getting dragged into your shit storm of an investigation. If it can even be called that." Okay. So, maybe just nicer. Because I'm not capable of being kind to him. I hate him. I loathe him. No amount of explaining is ever going to change my mind, but whatever I can get from him might help me figure out what the hell happened to my best friend.

Isn't it funny how no matter what a person does to you, after they're dead, you have a hard time remembering the bad? The good is what floods your memories and makes you want one more minute. A friend told me we measure firsts, but we never think about lasts. We never consider that the phone conversation might be our last. That the last bro hug we had would be the last one we'd ever share. I swallow back those thoughts. I can't fucking lose it right now. Not in front of him, and certainly not when Jules is falling apart in my arms.

He puts his head down, pushing his hands in his pockets. Then, he walks away. I hope for us, this isn't the last time we see him.

"Jules." I lift her chin and put her beautiful face between my large palms. I just stare at her.

She leans into my touch, tears steady trickling down her face. "What happened?"

That's all she seems capable of saying, like a broken record. But her voice, even when quiet and quivering is like the sweetest minor symphony. "I don't know much. Just that Anna and Marco were trying to screw us over." I think. It seems clear now that Charlie and Jake were working together. Marco and Anna were acting alone. Anna hated Jules. Marco hated me.

Marco hated me. My chest tightens. Marco hated me. "Marco hated me," escapes as a sob.

She takes my face into her hands, just like I'm holding her, and she brings my lips close to hers. There's a slight hesitation, but she tilts her head and parts her lips as they brush up against mine. It's like we're finding our way for the first time. And maybe it is. The first time we were really able to just be, without any bullshit between us. Just two broken souls who weathered a hell of a storm, the only two to make it out alive and whole—the only ones who gained something even with their loss—and as our tongues reintroduce themselves, we exchange our moans and cries, absorbing everything for each other. My eyes close, and I thread my fingers through her hair. For the first time today, I'm not short of breath. It doesn't feel like the world is imploding. And, most of all, I'm not alone.

Cinderella fell in love with the prince after one night.

She left her shoe.

Jules left her necklace.