Chapter 26

She was slender and looked so fragile, arms barely holding up, but when she ran over to block the impact, she did it with the same determination as before. Ethan instantly recalled that hazy, booze-soaked night—not the foul stench that usually came from punks, but the fresh, clean scent that clung to her when she threw herself over him. She had that same familiar scent as Sophie. She shielded him with her body, and the sharp scent of blood painted the night’s silence like scattered plum blossoms. With his weight leaning heavily on her, she carried him all the way back from that deserted cemetery—back to wherever they’d ended up stuck together ever since. Ethan remembered crying like an idiot that night. He'd clung to that soft body, drunk and laughing, yelling nonsense and calling out a single name over and over. "Emma..." A truck roared past—wind so fierce it felt like it nearly peeled his skin off. Ethan was lying flat on the warm asphalt, sun pouring down on his face like a second s