Page 584 of End Game

Griffin.

Home.

Tonight, I still have people around me who matter.

That doesn't make the people who left disappear any less.

Dex looks at me.

His eyes are red now too.

He shifts closer, hooks an arm around the back of my shoulders, and pulls me into him.

Not carefully.

Not like I might break.

Like he knows I already have.

My forehead hits his shoulder.

His other arm closes around me. “Come here,” he whispers.

Something inside me gives way again.

Completely this time.

The sound that comes out of me isn't quiet.

A sob tears up my throat before I can stop it, and then another follows it.

My hands fist in Dex's shirt.

He just holds tighter.

I knew.

I knew exactly what tonight could cost.

I had months to imagine it.

Years, maybe.

None of that matters now.

I bury my face against him and cry while the other three stay close enough to touch.

Knowing the knife was coming didn't make the cut hurt any less.

Chapter forty-three

Your Seat Is Saved

Ronan

Micah's place is exactly where it always is.

I made sure of that when I made sure the table was ready, although calling it a deliberate gesture feels more significant than it is. He sits beside Cami because that is where he sits. His black dice tray goes slightly to the right of his character sheet because he prefers enough room to write without knocking into it. His mechanical pencil is across the top of the page, and his miniature is already on the map with the others.