By Chance (Accidentally In Luck #1)

34. The Worst Promise I'll Ever Make- E

*E*

Silence. That was it. Just pure silence. Daniel had stopped speaking something like five minutes ago, but no one really seemed inclined to say anything still.

God knows I didn't want to say anything. I'd just heard four years of something spill out of a guy I barely knew, but I didn't even care about one word that fell from his mouth.

The only thing I cared about was the stone-faced girl standing in front of me, not moving at all. She never really reacted to Daniel's story, at some point her gaze had softened as she looked at him and then it had drifted to his headstone nestled in the grass by his feet. It hadn't moved from there yet still and she just stood there, hands hung loosely at her sides.

I watched her not move for another solid minute before I couldn't take it anymore. I took a slow step towards her and stopped directly in front of her, interrupting her view of the headstone. Painfully slowly, she drug her gaze from where the headstone used to be in her vision up to my face. I looked back and forth between her eyes and for the first time since I've known her, I saw nothing in those impossibly green things. No spark, no light, nothing.

As gently as I possibly could I wrapped my arms around her itty-bitty frame and she surprised me by immediately wrapping her arms tightly around me too. I felt her mumble something against my chest and I pulled back just enough to catch what she was saying.

"Take me home," she whispered, her voice distressingly scratchy.

I just nodded and moved to step away, but she wasn't having it and just hugged me tighter. Despite her being such a heartbreaking sight like this, I smiled slightly as I scooped her up bridal style. I nodded once to Daniel, who'd been watching us with what looked like... fascination?, and we started back to his Jeep. After a few steps, Pip nuzzled her head into my chest and half of me hoped she didn't hear how hard my heart was beating just because she was near me and the other half prayed it would beat harder so she knew what she did to me.

I handed Daniel his keys and told him to drive us back to the Dome as I settled into the back seat with my broken Pip.

I felt Pip's breathing get more rapid and as I looked down at her I noticed silent tears tracking their way down her flawless cheeks. I sighed softly and placed my hand gently on the back of her head as she rested it against my chest. Seat belts can go screw themselves right now.

Five minutes into the drive, Pip's breathing calmed and got deeper. Glancing down, I'd noticed she'd fallen asleep and I reclined onto the backrest, gently lowering her until her head was in my lap. Sleeping should be more comfortable for her that way.

I sighed again and looked up, instantly meeting Daniel's eyes in the rearview mirror for a few seconds before he looked back at the dark road stretching out in front of us.

"She asleep?" he asked. The unemotional and detached part of my brain noticed those were his first words since he finished his story, but the rest of my brain didn't care.

"Yeah."

"You need to do something for me."

"Why the hell would I do anything for you? Look what you've done to her. She's the best thing I've ever had in my life and you've just about shattered her!" I wanted to scream at him, but with Pip asleep, I settled for whisper-yelling.

I met his eyes once again in the mirror and he sighed. "Then do it for her. Look, I'm not claiming to be perfect here—"

I snorted.

His eyes narrowed at me in the mirror and then went back to the road again. "Fine. I'm a serious fuck up." I nodded in agreement. "I'm not stupid, I know what I did to her and I'll regret it every day for the rest of my life, but I'm trying to make up for that starting now. Now that she knows everything, I'm going to protect her with everything that I have. Which means you need to stay away from her. I see the way she looks at you. She cares about you. God knows why, Sebastian, but she does." He sucked in a breath before continuing. "Thing is, I know what kind of a world you live in, because it's the same world I live in. It's not her world though. She's innocent and safe and alive in her world and if we bring her into ours there are good chances she won't be any of those anymore. I need you to stay away from her, Sebastian. Not because I don't like you, which I don't, but because I need her to be safe. She's the only thing I have."