Page 137 of Kill for a Kiss

“I took Kys too,” he admits. “Sometimes. Not a lot, only enough to forget. Enough to make the things she made me do feel…far away. But ever since Stan pulled me out, I’ve stayed clean. I want to remember everything. Especially you.”

Wind slips through the trees. Leaves scatter at our feet. I don’t say anything. But I step forward and hug him again. He holds on. His body trembles once, then stills. We’re here. We’re alive. And even if the past is shattered by someone else’s hands, the future still belongs to us. I want to say as much, but my throat feels too tight to speak.And Lix is stepping back to meet my eyes, his hands steady on my shoulders like he’s bracing both of us.

“Whatever happens tonight,” he says, “I’ll make sure she pays. For what she did to you. For what she did to both of us.”

The air between us feels thick, full of everything we lost and everything we’re still fighting for. I search his face. His jaw’s set with quiet defiance, his eyes lit with a promise he won’t break.

“Clo doesn’t know about this place,” he says quietly. “I was the only one who had access to your real tracker. But when she was close to searching this area, I had to make you and Sterling move.”

My breath catches. My gaze shifts to a shimmer to the side of his face. The dying sun pointing toward the earring he’s wearing, only visible now with the heavy wind passing through us.

His gaze flickers to mine again. “You’re staring at my stud.”

He smiles, looking like the little brother from my memories.

“You put this on me,” he says. “Pierced my ear and everything with nothing but a hot stitching needle. Our parents didn’t want me to. I was thirteen. But you were this fierce fifteen-year-old who decided rules didn’t apply if they got in the way of who I wanted to be.”

Those memories don’t surface for me, not fully. But the way he says it, the way his voice dips with awe, it lodges deep in my ribs.

“I remember you holding up a mirror afterward, letting me see it. Never felt so badass in my life. Not even when I’d ride my bike with you on my back.” His smile falters. “But our parents saw the stud…”

His words trail off like ash on wind.

“Do you remember any of that?”

I shake my head. Regret prickles behind my ribs.

Lix frowns but nods. “Probably better that way.”

I look down at his hand tightening around mine. Silence expands between us as he slowly slips his hand out of mine.

He clenches his hands. “Every day for three years, all I did was look fora way back to you. And it wasn’t until I showed Clo I could be useful that she let me in. Made me into this…whatever I am now.”

“You’re still you,” I whisper.

Lix exhales shakily. “After tonight, you’ll get your life back.”

The promise warms my chest. “I can start remembering everything about us.”

His eyes soften at my small smile. “Yeah, you will.”

I part my lips, though I’m not sure what I can even say.

He interrupts me by grabbing my hand so tightly that the tips of my fingers become numb quite quickly. “You always looked out for me when I couldn’t,” he says. “Let me return the favor.”

I blink against the sting in my eyes. Lix glances past me, toward the porch, where Sterling waits out of earshot.

Lix looks back at me. “Are you happy?” he asks, quiet. “Does he treat you right?”

“I am,” I say softly. “He does.”

Lix breathes out with relief. “Good. You deserve that. You lived through four years of her hell. I barely lasted thirteen months.”

Amicable silence fills the space as evening comes fast. The sun sets lower, painting the sky in a bruised purple. Lix squeezes my hand. Then someone else steps into the space.

Sterling. I feel him before I see him. Lix notices too. He glances toward Sterling and smiles. Then he turns and walks back toward the safe house. I watch my brother retreat.

Sterling stands by my side, his arm brushing mine. His hand rubs my back. “You okay?” he asks.