𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞
Her arms wrapped around me, warm and steady and impossibly real. My throat closed as I clutched back, desperate to bury myself in her like I was still a child, but my arms wouldn't fit. They were too short, too small, straining uselessly against her sides.
Panic flickered through me. My breath hitched as I tried to understand why I couldn't hold her properly.
Her hand cupped the back of my head, pressing me into her shoulder. I felt it then—wetness sliding down against my temple. Not my tears, but hers. My mind scrambled for answers, for sense, but then the sound came.
Crack.
The sound ripped through the star-strewn air like a gunshot. A lash. A belt striking flesh.
It landed across her back and she flinched hard, her grip tightening on me until I could barely breathe.
I froze, my pulse plummeting into terror.
And then I saw him.
Landon.
