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So badly, I wanted to kiss her to quiet the chaos swirling inside her mind. Mia was hyperventilating, words all over the place. Ethan had broken her down and filled her head with so much doubt and uncertainty, I wanted to take a knife to his throat for the pain and damage it caused her. In a hurricane of hysteria, she tried filling her lungs and looked up at me through heavy and desperate eyes. For the first time, I didn’t know how to help her. But the words just fell out of my mouth as if it were a reflex. “Scream, Mia.”
“What?”
“Scream. It’s just you and me here, let your worst out.” I nodded, hoping this would work. Mia’s head snapped up, and she pinched her brows together as the wind tossed her wayward strands against her face. I took her hand and lifted her from the bench toward the railing. It made me nervous how close to the cliff she was, and I stood behind her as she continued to search for air. Looking out into the sun setting behind the rigid mountains, I dipped my head close to her ear and closed my eyes. “Let go.”
I wanted her to fall apart.
I wanted her to fall on me.
With every struggling piece of her, I was ready.
I wanted my too much heart and soul to be the filter for her.
Then Mia’s fists clutched the railing, knuckles white, and a scream pierced through the evening air. A battle cry, echoing in the valley, the entire world her audience, the mountain her stage. It penetrated my soul, passing through every part of me. Her scream entered my bloodstream, crawled through my veins, and brought tears to my eyes. My chest ripped open as I held on to her, believing she had the power to move planets and stop time. It was that powerful. Mia screamed because it hurt, and for once, she wanted everyone to feel the same pain she felt—and I fucking felt it. She screamed because she thought she was broken, but her broken would never make me run. She screamed until the scream turned into a cry, and she collapsed into my arms, and I rocked her against the wind.
“You can lose your mind, Mia, but you’re never losing me.”