The thick, steeled toes of my combat boots tease the edge of the rock. There’s water down below, and if I fell, I wouldn’t get hurt. Not seriously. The water is cold down there, but it’s not freezing yet. We still have about a week before the water below me would threaten to kill me before I could swim to the edge of the rocks. Before it’s frozen over and I’d crash through the surface, kicking my heavy feet and screaming into the vast expanse under the water. The rocks would stab up at me, and maybe I’d scrape my back on them, maybe not. Maybe I’d have my jacket on, maybe not.

I don’t know. I don’t know what would happen. I don’t know how it would happen.

Fuck, I don’t even know what I’m thinking. It’s all abstract and it’s all dull.

I don’t know what I’m thinking.

Or why.

Or why I’m even bothering to think at all.

I just want it all to end. I thought I’d made peace with my choices, but the truth is that I haven’t even begun to understand the effect my choices had.

She stayed here because she had no other choice. I took that away from her. She always wanted to get out of this town and find a better life for herself. But instead, she stayed here because she had no other choice.

And it was my fault. I made her have to rely on her father for help. I held her back. I held her back, when I should have helped her escape.

I don’t know how I can make this up to her. I don’t know if I can.

“Travis!”

I swear I hear her calling my name through the trees. I can feel her softness around me, cutting through the rocks I’m standing on. The rustling in the trees behind me gets louder, the softness enveloping me.

“Travis.”

She’s right behind me now. I turn around to face her. I’m so close to the edge. I’m so close to falling.

But she won’t let me.

“Daisy,” I breathe, my core warming. She smiles at me. She waves. Her pretty lips part and she she’s about to say something, but she doesn’t have to. She’s here for me.

Every single moment, every single glance. It all meant something. When everyone else gave up on me - my father, my neighbors - she was here for me. She was here.

“It’s okay, Travis. Come here. We’re going to figure everything out together.”

I step toward her. The rocks are slick beneath my feet, but I find my footing. The ground becomes solid. I wrap her up in my arms and she puts her cheek on my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I breathe in the scent of her hair. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“You don’t have to apologize anymore. It’s okay.”

“No,” I say, taking her arms in my hands. “I spoke to your father.” I swallow thickly. “He told me you almost dropped out of grad school. That I broke your heart.”

Daisy exhales shakily.

“You did break my heart,” she says, “but I chose to stay here and wait for you. I chose to keep the ring. I chose to take that job at the police station. I didn’t tell Dad I had another offer in the city.”

I look down into her deep blue eyes and tip her chin up, crushing my mouth to hers. Our kiss ignites me from the inside. I can’t get enough of her.

“I will take you anywhere,” I say. “I will take you far away from here, or I’ll take you home with me and make you happy. Anything you want, Daisy. Anything you want. Just stay with me.”

“I’m not going to let you go,” she whispers. “Ever.”

I take her in my arms and kiss her, our mouths crashing together passionately. My hands roam her body, and my mind feels free. Like I’m not tethered to the ground anymore. I feel like I could fucking fly. I could get away from here. I feel like I could pluck my Daisy from the ground and take her anywhere with me. Pluck her from the dirt and keep her.

My cock steels against my pants, and as she pulls her mouth away from me, her eyes glow, half-hooded and with the start of a glimmer of a tear.

“There’s something you have to know,” she says, stepping away from me and taking my hand. “My dad told me. They suspect you in some crime. I know it’s not true. But I think it would be best if we went to the station together and got this all figured out.”

My blood runs cold at her words. They suspect me for something because they want to. Her old man wants me to go away for a very long time. He wants me to go down, to go away, to stay the fuck away from his daughter.

This time, I’m not letting it happen.

This time, I’m going to tell the truth.

* * *

There’s no one at the check-in desk today because it’s Sunday. The station is technically closed to the public. But she lets us in, swiping her pass over the sensor to make the door open with a high-pitched beep.

We walk through the hallway, heading to the back where the sergeant on duty is sitting.

It brings me back to that day. The day of my mom’s funeral.

My boots on the cold gray floor. They were heavy that day, just like they are right now. I reached out and felt the walls. They felt narrow around me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to touch them again. I knew the next time I was in this hallway I’d be in handcuffs.

There was no question that I would take the fall for Alec. I never even considered letting him go down for what he did. It wasn’t just to quell my guilt, though. It was never just for that. Of course that was part of it. I thought subjecting myself to my own personal penance would start to heal me.

I thought…

I thought about Alec. I thought about his daughter, about his wife. I thought about how he treated my mom like his own mom. Fuck, after my father left, he was at my house as much as Daisy was. And when the house almost went under and I had to pick up the extra hours at the garage, he was there.

He was there. He was there when I couldn’t be.

When I wouldn’t be.

“It’s okay,” Daisy says, putting her hand on my back. “We’ll get through this together.”

We continue through the narrow hallway and finally reach Colin, on duty at the back of the station. He knows who I am, and he stands up slowly as we approach his desk.

His eyes dart back and forth between me and Daisy; he doesn’t look surprised to see us together, but he doesn’t know who to address first.

“Daisy,” he says, “Mr. Bloom is in trouble here. I’d suggest you go home. It’s what your dad would want.”

She looks down at the floor and shakes her head.

“No,” she says quietly. My heart tenses up when I see my girl standing up for me. “I’m here with him. He has something to say.”

Colin’s expression becomes hard, his eyes narrowing into slits as he peers at Daisy.

“You’ve done enough for this guy,” he says. “Go home.”

He puts his hand on the small of her back and begins to guide her toward the hallway, back where we just came from. She complies. She walks away from me. I know she’s doing the right thing this time. I can’t expect her to save me. I can only save myself, but it hurts. It hurts to see her walk away, to listen to Colin.

She looks back to me, shifting her chin over her shoulder. One corner of her lip curls up into a slight smile, but it’s fake. It’s an attempt at reassuring me, but it’s not working.

Colin continues to escort her toward the hallway, and I stand in the middle of the police station. I almost feel hopeless. I almost feel helpless.

But then I see Daisy stop. She turns back toward me, with fierce intensity behind her big blue eyes.

“No,” she says to Colin, though she’s looking at me. “I’m not leaving.”

Colin takes a step toward her, erasing the distance between them with one motion. Her eyes flicker up to him as his jaw clenches.

“Daisy,” he says, putting his hand on her shoulder. My chest fills with a wave of heat when I see him touching her. “I said go home.”

She breaks away from him and walks toward me. The light coming through the high windows illuminates her in a cascade of light.

“And I said I wasn’t leaving.”

She throws herself against my chest and wraps her arms around my neck.

All I want is for this to end. All of the lies and the secrets, the false words. I want all of it to end. I want to take her away from here.

“It’s okay, Daisy. You go and wait for me. I believe the officer has some questions for me.”

I watch her smile fade and she goes. But this time, she isn’t confused. This time, she knows I’m innocent. This time, I won’t leave her again.

I won’t leave her ever again.