With a sigh, I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. “I just want to wake up from this nightmare.”

“I wish you could.” He winds an arm around me, tucking me against his side. “I really do. But that still doesn’t tell me why you’re here.”

“I didn’t want to be alone, but I didn’t want to be in that dining room either.” I pause. “Liam wouldn’t let me skip it. You’re lucky you weren’t there.”

“I thought about going. Everyone expected me to, but I didn’t want to face them…or you.”

“Me?” I lift my head, eyes squinting in confusion. “Why?”

“If I hadn’t flaunted your virginity in front of Axel, he wouldn’t have hurt you. And Sebastian and Tatum…” His throat works hard, thick with emotion. “They’d still be here.”

My breath stalls, and the guilt gnawing at me finds an echo in Ford’s confession, binding us in remorseful unity. I grab his jaw and turn his face until our eyes meet.

“It’s not your fault,” I say, voice cracking. “It’s mine.”

“You know it’s not.” He shakes his head. “He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself.”

The way he says it, gentle yet confident, breaks me open. The tears I’ve been harboring all night escape down my cheeks in unstoppable rivulets. I choke out a sob as his arms come around me.

“I know it seems impossible,” Ford whispers, his words warm against my ear, “but you’ll get through this.”

“I don’t want to get through this. I want him back.”

He tightens his hold. “I know, baby girl.”

It’s not fair. First, fate stole my parents from the sky, tearing them away in a flash of fire and wreckage. And now, it’s taken him too.

Acceptance threatens to drag me into an even deeper state of despair, so I cling to the only thing I can.

Searing need.

The promise of escape.

Beautiful oblivion.

I need it more than the air in my lungs. More than the sunrise tomorrow or the crash of waves against the shore. There’s only one thing I need more than life itself, and he’s not here.

But Ford is, and he’s more than capable of making me forget, if only for a while. Letting out a stuttering sigh, I press my lips to his and silently beg him not to reject me again.

For five long seconds, he freezes, then his mouth is moving against mine.

Soft yet firm.

Both gentle and persistent.

Promising exactly what I need.

Whatever held him back before is gone. Raw hunger drives him now, his tongue savage as he deepens the kiss.

Endless moments pass before he inches back, fingers threading through my short locks. “What do you need from me, Novalee?

“Whatever you can give. Just…take it all away for a while.”