Page 15 of Beyond Repair, Part One (Damaged Duet #1)

Henry

I can't believe I threw up in Nina's bathroom. Not because I puked, though, but because I'm in Nina's bathroom. She's here, she really is.

I saw her blur by the door and I swear my heart doubled in size, readying to accommodate her once again.

Not that she hasn't been in my heart all this time, but because I'm ready to add to the new version of the girl we all loved.

Love , present tense because no matter how she's changed, Nina will always be our girl.

Unable to hold in my groan, I bend over the sink and suck some water into my mouth from the faucet. Swishing a few mouthfuls around, I spit and wipe my face clean with the bottom of my black T-shirt.

For a moment I enjoy the air conditioning breezing across my ankles and bare claves. Even in April, the average in Provo is like sixty-six degrees Fahrenheit—shorts are a must. Getting sick and having so much anxiety breathing hot air down my neck makes it so much worse.

Nina's home helps cool the stifling feel of my failures, though.

From the moment Will opened the door, the scent of my girl has tickled my nose.

For years Kai has kept the smell of roses close, but nothing compares to the real thing: Nina.

No candle, scent roller, diffuser, or air freshener can truly capture the pure essence that is Neen.

With one last tired look in the mirror, I take a deep breath. I know her dad has more to tell us and being scared to hear it won't change the outcome. I have to know what happened to Nina so I can help her. There is no universe or reality where I am not in her life.

We just found her again. She was never far from our thoughts and hearts. Now we won't allow her to be physically far from us ever again. We haven't talked about moving back to our college town, but it's obvious. We're staying with Nina.

The silence when I leave the bathroom makes my stomach knot uncomfortably. Are the guys waiting for me? Fuck, now I've forced them to wait.

Picking up speed, I hardly take in the photos lining the hallway or the extra two doors I pass, needing to break the suspense I can feel nipping at my heels.

I turn the corner and slowly come to a stop when I find Kai, Trev, and Ridge staring wide eyed toward my left.

Will looks worried, and now I can't control my need to look.

Bile crawls up my throat, the anticipation becoming too much.

Stiffer than I thought possible, my whole body turns to see what has my family so shell-shocked.

Then I see her. My beautiful Nina.

I’m not sure what happens but my breath whooshes back down my throat, causing my eyes to burn. "Neen?!"

Neen, the girl we spent almost every waking moment laughing and playing with, is hiding behind Meg. When she turns, the stricken and absolute exhausted look dulling her stunning eyes almost brings me to my knees.

I’m not the one who collapses, though.

" Henry!"

The first time I hear Nina's voice in over four years brings a tsunami of relief and heartache that shoves me toward her just as she flings herself in my direction.

I see the moment she loses herself, and I don't think it's something I'll ever be able to scrub from my mind.

Those tortured eyes roll into the back of her head, and her arms which were reaching for me like I'm her lifeline go limp just as her knees buckle.

Fear rushes up my throat and bursts out in a terrified curse.

"FUCK!"

The sickening crunch of her knees crashing into the floor makes my jaw clench and all my energy shift into ensuring she doesn't hurt herself further.

As fast as I can, I sweep under her, ignoring the burning pain in my own bare knees to take the brunt of her weight on my chest and shoulders. Fuck, that hurts.

Grunting and shifting, I maneuver us until I have her cradled in my arms like a baby. My ears must be ringing, the panic having stolen one or two of my senses as I caught my girl, because next thing I know I have Kai's face inches from mine and his mouth is moving, but I can't hear shit.

I close my eyes and dip my head until my nose rests against the top of Nina's head. What he's saying doesn't matter right now. I finally, fucking finally , have our girl in my arms. She's safe and alive; that's all that matters.

"Baby, give her here, please." I'm so lost in the feel of her against me that when Kai's begging voice registers, I startle. Blinking my eyes open feels like a chore, but my fiancé’s talking to me. "Hey handsome, there you are."

I blink again and realize my back is against a wall. Frowning, I look around and that's when I notice it's not a wall. Trevor is wrapped around both of us.

"You looked wobbly," Kai explains softly, "and Trev needed to touch her so..."

Two birds with one stone. I nod and wiggle, my left leg rapidly falling asleep. "How long?—"

"Only about a minute. You all kinda zoned out," Meg murmurs as Kai rubs a piece of Nina's hair between his fingers.

Will steps forward and kneels at my side. "I'll carry her to the couch." My grip on Nina tightens, and he narrows his eyes. "Henry, there's a high probability that when she wakes up, she'll freak out. Remember what I said? Touch is hard for her unless it's from her mom."

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I relax only because I feel Trevor's arms fall away from us. I follow his lead and help transfer Nina into her dad's arms. A tear slips free from my watering eyes as her warmth is taken from me.

"Up you go." Kai's voice in my ear is accompanied by a soft grunt as I'm pulled to my feet and ushered to the couch. My attention immediately snaps to Nina where she rests peacefully a cushion away. I want to reach out and touch her so damn bad I can't help but continue to cry softly.

I can't believe she's here . There were so many moments when I feared I would never see her again. And just moments ago, I had her in my arms.