“Quill will come for me in the morning,” I whisper to myself. “We’ll go back to the cabin. I’ll hold him again.”
The voices fade the more I say the words. I don’t let them take hold inside me. Quill will return. I refuse to believe otherwise unless the ugly truth is before me.
I endure the darkness by closing my eyes and pretending I’m in the cabin. Quill stands in the kitchen with his arms crossed and a frown on his beautiful face. He’s studying the view outside the window, but I know he sees me. Quill always watches me even when his gaze is elsewhere. Deep inside, he needs me, and I know he’ll find a way for us to be together again.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Quill
Having spent a dozen nights outdoors in the Lost Highway, I know survival is tenuous. Losing focus for a moment could lead to my death. This night is worse. Fear would prove a welcomed distraction from the misery I suffer while waiting for the darkness to lift.
Odessa’s laughter haunts me. I thought she was insane to find forgiveness in this place after she’d refused to accept her redemption in her old life. She believed something changed in her here, and I couldn’t deny she smiled more after our first night in the basement.
Finding humor in the small things, Odessa embraced the Lost Highway and claimed to love me.
I hadn’t believed I was capable of loving her in return.
Except no other feeling explains the pain I suffer from now.
Her existence made my life more difficult. I should be relieved to have her dead and gone. Instead, my entire body rages at the thought of a single day without her.
A sliver of light is all I need to jump down and run to where I left Odessa. I don’t care if the wolves remain active. If Odessa is dead, I have no need to take another breath. I’ve had the taste of something powerfully addictive, and I can no longer survive without her.
I run through the still murky woods, barreling through the brush wanting to keep me from learning the truth.
In my mind, I know Odessa is gone, though my heart refuses to give up yet.
Pushing through the trees, I spot tattered clothing near where I left Odessa. I stumble nearly to a stop, unprepared to see the horror even after a night of imagining this exact outcome. I move to where the bloodied white fabric remains. My mind struggles to remember what Odessa wore the day before.
I kneel down and touch the torn shirt. Scanning the ground, I see bone shards left over from the wolves. There is nothing left behind from her massive jacket or the machete. I move around the area, careful of the traps. Two of them were set off by the wolves’ activity, but I notice nothing indicating the beasts were injured. I also discover none of Odessa’s belongings they’d leave behind such as her shoes.
Finally, I think to look up where I nearly miss the sight of Odessa’s feet dangling from a branch twenty feet off of the ground.
“Odessa,” I whisper.
I reach up and begin climbing. Calling out her name louder, I wait for her to show some sign of life. I’m halfway to Odessa when her feet wiggle, and she leans over. Her gaze meets mine, and her expression mimics how I feel.
“Quill,” she says in a rough voice.
The branches groan under my weight, but I don’t give up until I reach her.
“You’re alive,” I murmur, still in disbelief. “You survived.”
“I knew you’d come back.”
My fingers reach out to touch her cheek. I still fear I’ve lost my mind after a night of mourning in the darkness. Odessa doesn’t prove to be a mirage. Her skin feels cold yet as soft as I remember.
I lean forward to kiss her, and Odessa meets me halfway. Her lips tremble against mine, enticing me to warm them by deepening my affection. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I press her closer. Only the whining tree branch below prevents me from never letting her go.
“Can you climb down?” I ask, ready to throw her over my shoulder.
Once a smiling Odessa nods, we descend before the tree tosses us out. Down first, I impatiently wait for Odessa to join me. Her feet barely touch the ground before I lift her into my arms.
“You survived,” I say again, wary of the Lost Highway’s ability to play mind games.
“I waited for you.”
My lips cover hers, and her flavor reassures me that she’s truly safe. I walk with Odessa in my arms, and she doesn’t ask to be set down. Her calm gaze holds mine, soothing me.
I don’t need to see where I’m going now. The traps are of no concern. The long tree branches create no barriers. I am never more fearsome than in this moment with Odessa. The Lost Highway failed to tear us apart. Now I can face anything.