Page 267 of Fragments

Maybe I really am dead… There’s no other explanation.

Touching him all over, I take in the feel of him, desperate to convince myself this is real. The familiar shape of his body, his warmth and his smell and his voice… Those gemlike eyes and those soft pink lips.

It really is him.

He found me again, beneath the fireworks.

“I l-love you,” I whisper on a jagged breath. “I missed you, and Ilove you, and I can’t fucking believe you’re here. Baby, I thought I’d lost you… I was sure I’d n-never see you again…”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, sweet baby flame.” He smiles, and I’m breaking down.

I snort a sloppy laugh, clutching onto him for dear life. “Lexington…”

“Shhh, I know,” he hushes me, soothing the burns in my soul. “Just breathe with me, Warren. I have you. I’m here, and I love you so,somuch.”

“You found me…” I hum, kissing him over and over. I’ll never stop.Never again.“I’m never letting go of you again, not even for a second.”

He chuckles, and my heart is soaring.

“I’m counting on it,” he whispers…

While we lie beneath the colorful embers.

Yes, yes, I’m alive.

Hard to believe after everything that happened. Sometimes, I have to stop and pinch myself just to make sure.

But Iam, in fact, alive. I don’t know what it means, exactly… Surviving something so insane. Escaping prison only to almost drown, then still managing to make it across the country to find that the love of my life isalsoalive, and has been in my hometown waiting for me.

It’s the ultimate improbability.

The universe, or God—maybe they’re the same thing—must want me here. Which is a good thing, because I have no interest in leaving.

Not after everything I did to make it back to him.

When Ren finally calms down enough that I’m no longer worried he might pass out, we lie in the sand together while I tell him the story of my brush with death. Unsurprisingly, it’s very similar to his. But instead of washing up on shore, I was rescued by a fishing boat.

The guys who found me brought me to a hospital, but because I had no ID, they couldn’t identify me, which was a very good thing. As soon as I woke up, and felt well enough to leave, I snuck out of the hospital and immediately started hitching rides west.

I’m not proud of myself, but I did what I had to do, like stealing someone’s phone at a coffee shop and using it to buy myself a bus ticket. I also used it to try calling Joy, but I wasn’t able to get through.

I spent weeks worried sick about Ren, praying with every breath that he was still alive, and would be heading for California just like we’d planned. All of my logic and reasoning told me there was no way. He’d most likely died in that storm, and I was racing across the country for no reason… Chasing a ghost.

But I had to stay positive. I held out hope, no matter how bleak it felt at times. Because ifIhadn’t died in that storm, there was no way Ren had. He’s a million times stronger than me.

He’s a fighter, always has been.

So I channeled all of that energy, and used it to get myself back home in search of my man. But when I got to Cali, I was lost and hopeless all over again. Just because I washere, didn’t mean I’d be able to track him down. It’s a huge state… He could’ve been anywhere.

Then I went to my house.

It killed me not to see my parents. All I wanted was to run up to them and hug them… to show them I wasn’t dead, and tell them how much I’ve missed them all this time.

But I couldn’t. It wasn’t safe. Even just being at the house was asking for trouble, so I only went inside for a few minutes to get some clothes and regroup.

And the moment I stepped into my old bedroom, IknewRen had been there.

“How’d you know?” he whispers, nuzzling his face into my neck, kissing that spot he always does that gives me more chills than the cold in the air.