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lies she told you, it doesn’t mean what brought you back here in the first place counts any less. She needs you. Fuck…she needs you, Baz.”
    Hurt wound through me. Gutting. I ground my teeth.
    He tilted his head, looking at me. Discerning eyes speared me in the shadows, the kid far more mature than I’d ever given him credit for.
    Always watching.
    “The way Shea looks at you? One day…one day I want someone to look at me like that. And guess what, you look at her the exact same way. And you’re really going to let that go because of an asshole like Jennings? You’ve fought for everyone your entire life, and now you’re going to step down—bow out—when you finally have something worth fighting for? Fight for her .”
    “Austin.” I wanted to beg him to stop.
    He just continued right on. “My entire life, I’ve looked up to you. Thought you knew everything. Even when I gave up, I somehow knew you were going to be there to save me. But if you think giving up on that girl is what’s right, then you’re a fool.”
    He gazed back out over the sea, gentle waves lapping at the shore. The haze of clouds had begun to dissipate. A scatter of stars bled through.
    He turned his face to the sky, before he glanced at me from over his shoulder. “I saw something better in you.”
    Then he turned and left me there.
    I dropped my face into my hands, rubbing my palms up over my head, too many voices clattering inside.
    I saw something better in you.
    I saw something better in you.
    I saw…you…
    I see you.
    I see you.
    I see you.
    Shea had seen more in me than I could ever have imagined. Something better than I ever hoped I could be.
    And it rushed me.
    That sweet, soft girl.
    Because the truth was?
    I saw her, too.

MY HEART SLAMMED AROUND in my chest and my sight narrowed on one singular goal.
    Her.
    It felt like a lifetime to get to her house, and there was nothing stopping me now. Unlocking her front door, I charged up the stairs. I didn’t pause at her bedroom door. I threw it open. I needed to get to her.
    With her back to me, Shea was curled around a pillow on the center of her bed. She startled with the sudden intrusion and jerked up to sitting. Caramel eyes blinked at me through the dim light, confusion and hurt and sorrow.
    Motionless, I stood in the doorway as the silence hovered over all our uncertainties.
    On all the questions.
    But Shea was right.
    None of that mattered.
    And this was enough.
    “Shea.” My voice broke on her name.
    I took a step inside and latched the door shut behind me.
    Shea’s chin quivered, and she lifted it because I knew this girl wanted to be brave. I knew she was playing through a million scenarios. Mentally going through all the ways I was going to let her go. How I was going to let her down. I knew the words she expected to spill from my mouth because for too long I’d been a coward and a fool, thinking sacrifice was the only way to make this right.
    Because every time I turned around, I lost someone I loved.
    Not this time.
    I swallowed hard. “You want to know what I see when I look at you?”
    When the intensity in my voice hit her, Shea choked out a tiny sob.
    I took one step closer as I began to speak. “I see someone who’s so fucking sweet and kind that every time I look at her it just about knocks me from my feet, because I’ve had so much bad in my life I don’t know how to stand in her presence. I see someone who I know I don’t deserve, so every time I turn around, I’m runnin’ scared because I’m terrified of ruining everything she is.”
    Slowly, I approached her, and she watched me in the shadows. Her hands trembled in her lap as I neared.
    “I see someone who deserves the greatest kind of joy.”
    Another step closer, and Shea crept toward the side of the bed. She drew a single leg up to her chest. Clinging to it as if it could protect her from any more pain. Everything she felt and wanted and feared was exposed in the expression on her face.
    I