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We could have this.

“Dylan,” I murmur.

“Yeah?”

“I want to testify.”

His hand, which has been stroking up and down my spine, pauses for just a second before resuming its rhythm.

“I’ve been thinking about it all night,” I continue. “About what I saw when I was captive. About that informant, and everything the Sons did.” I shift so I can look up at him. “I want to come forward. Dylan, I want to be the witness who helps take them down.”

He’s quiet; his expression unreadable in the dim light.

“I don’t want to lose you,” I say, and my voice cracks slightly. “I love you. And I know this is dangerous. I know it means trials and testimony and putting a target on my back. But it’s the only way we can ever have a real life together. The only way we can stop running.”

“June...”

“Please, just listen.” I push myself up on one elbow so I can see him better. “I want responsibility. I want to do the right thing and help make sure the Sons can’t hurt anyone else the way they hurt me. And then I want us to settle down in Ironwood Falls. I want to get a job. I want to rent a little apartment. I want to come home to you every night and cook dinner and watch movies and do normal couple things.”

He reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. The gesture is so tender it makes my chest ache.

“I want to build a real life with you,” I say. “Not this. Not running and hiding and always looking over our shoulders. A real life. With schedules and routines and plans for the future. I know it won’t be safe right away. I know the Devils will have to protect us during the trials and it might take a long time. But I’m ready for that. I’m ready to be responsible and brave and do what needs to be done if it means we can have a future together.”

The words are tumbling out faster now, gaining momentum as the vision becomes clearer in my mind.

“I can see it so clearly, Dylan. Our apartment would be small, but it would be ours. We could adopt a dog. We could go on dates every week. Regular dates where we can just be ourselves. We could have friends over for dinner. We could be normal. Can you imagine that, Dylan? Doesn’t that sound just… doesn’t it just sound nice?”

Tears are pricking at my eyes now, but they’re not sad tears; they’re tears that come from wanting something so badly it hurts.

“I love you,” I say again. “And I want to do this. I want a real life. I haven’t had that since I was a little girl, and then my parents died, and it’s been disaster after disaster, but now I have a chance for something real, and I want it. Dylan, I want it like I have wanted nothing else.”

I’m searching his face for a reaction, for some indication of what he’s thinking. For a moment, he’s silent.

Then he leans in and kisses me. Soft and slow and full of something that feels like promise.

When he pulls back, he rests his forehead against mine.

“I love you too,” he says. “And that sounds like a nice dream.”

The words wrap around me like a warm blanket. He didn’t say yes. He didn’t say we’ll do it. But the way he’s holding me, the way he kissed me, the gentleness in his voice — it all feels like he understands.

Like he’s on my side.

Like we’re in this together.

“A nice dream,” I say.

My body is heavy with satisfaction and wine and the orgasm and the emotional weight of everything I just said. I can feel sleep pulling at me, making my eyelids droop.

I let myself sink into it.

Let myself imagine our future as I drift off.

No. It’s a wonderful dream.

I see us in a small apartment with morning light coming through the windows. Wraith is making coffee while I get ready for my shift at the restaurant. I see myself coming home, tired but satisfied, smelling like garlic and wine, and him kissing me at the door, his hands dark with grease or motor oil, maybe his cut hanging on the chair if he joins the Devils. We’d have lazy Sunday mornings in bed. Grocery shopping together. Fighting over what to watch on TV. The mundane, beautiful normalcy of an actual relationship.

I see us stronger on the other side of the trials. The Sons in prison where they belong. The danger over and the future open in front of us like a road we get to travel together.