Expired With Me

Chapter Fifty-Five

Colton

"Colton? Colton!" I stop walking.

"What?" I ask.

"Slow down. You must forget I can't walk as fast as I used to." I start again.

"Not my problem, darling. Go away." She doesn't. I stop again, letting her catch up. "She left me, Iris. Vienna is gone. Five years, down the drain, just like that."

"Maybe..."

"Don't. Don't say this is temporary, and I'll see her again, and it's just like France. Stop. You and I both know it's not."

"What's different, Colton?" I turn to her.

"You're leaving too!"

"Would you rather my death!" I grab her arm.

"Don't you ever suggest that again." I let go, continuing up the trail.

"Say it, Colton."

"Say what, Iris?" I turn to her again, looking down at the base of a tree. "That I love you? That every time someone brings up your death, or your date, or a knife I feel sick to my stomach and can't believe that I was the one who did that to you? I had a knife to your throat, Iris. I gave my brother a gun, and told him if he didn't kill you, I would. If it wasn't for Erik, you would be in a grave right now, if I even gave you that luxury. I did that. And for what? In two days none of it's going to matter. The past three years, gone. You'll be off with Aiden and Thea and forget about all of this. About me, and Jonas, and the Society. Iris, I'm never going to see you again." She storms over to me.

"Does your sadistic, twisted mind honestly believe that is what's to happen? Colton, have you forgotten the part where I am pregnant with your brother's child? I will be thinking of you every single day. Whenever I reach for something, the reminder of Erik, and how he saved me, will be printed on my skin. I can't just forget everything that's happened because you won't be there with me. For you, it was three years. For me, it's been my entire life." I pull her close, putting even the smallest detail of my little sister into memory.

"I can't lose you both."

"I know."