Page 99 of Exposing Colorado

“I’m not lying, but you’re so busy playing the victim, you can’t see when someone actually gives a shit about you.”

I turn away with a scoff, wishing so bad that I had some weed to smoke, because this asshole is killing my buzz. “Whatever. Who ratted out my location? Salem?”

His gaze tracks me as I limp toward a chair and collapse into it. “No, Xed did. He said you always hole up in the same room.”

“Well,” I drawl, running a finger through the powder still coating the table, “as you can see, I'm alive. So your conscience is clear. Tell Salem and Logan that I won't be bothering them anymore. And you owe me a new door, asshole.”

His only response is a sharp intake of breath. When I glance up, he looks taken aback, all the anger draining from his face.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You don’t know,” he says softly, almost to himself.

His tone sends a shiver of dread down my spine. “Know what?”

Christian’s throat flexes with a swallow. “Logan’s still in a coma, Dev.”

Those words hit harder than any punch he’s ever thrown. I blink at him, not entirely understanding. “What?”

He takes a step forward, concern pinching his brows. “He never woke up.”

My whole body goes cold, the chair creaking beneath me as I grip the table for balance. “No. No, that’s not… it's been weeks. Over a month, what do you mean he still hasn't…”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this.” Christian places a gentle hand on my shoulder, “But his parents want to pull the plug. Salem… She's been waiting for you, man.”

My stomach lurches, bile climbing up my throat so fast that I can barely choke it back. Waiting for me?

No. No, no, no. That can’t be right.

I stagger to my feet like the floor’s been ripped out from under me, tipping sideways. An awful buzzing takes up residence in my skull. “I thought he was okay. I thought… I thought he was just pissed at me. I didn’t know.”

Christian nods solemnly. “Well, now you do. Let's go.”

My chest caves in on itself as the stars on the ceiling blur and swirl.

Always the fucking stars.

Dots of light, balls of gas, endless and cold and dead.

Just like Logan.

And I'm the one who killed him.

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

Logan

I don’t know where I am, but I’m warm. The kind of warmth that feels like sunlight through a window, content and thawing after a harsh winter.

There’s no sound here. Not really. Just the echo of waves lapping against a shore I can’t see, and a low hum that might be music or a memory. I try to open my eyes, but the world doesn’t work that way here. There’s no up or down. No walls. No sky. Just… light, and quiet, and time.

So much time.

I think I’m dreaming. Or maybe I’m dead.

Salem laughs softly, and my chest aches at the sound, but there’s no pain. Just longing. It weaves through the air like smoke, pulling me forward even though I don’t have a body to move.