The Space Between Heartbeats

Maybe Her

Chapter Nineteen

Maybe Her

COLE’S POV

I left Danni’s hospital room; the halls were almost empty now.

Dim lights. Faint machine sounds. That sterile lemon-clean smell that made my skin crawl.

I walked with my head down, running my hands through my hair.

My chest still felt cracked open.

Danni had chosen.

Not me. Not Rixon.

Just… herself.

And it hurt like hell.

But deeper down—

Buried under the ache—

I was relieved.

Because, for the first time in months, I didn’t feel trapped in someone else’s orbit.

Didn’t feel like I was clawing after something that was always meant to slip through my fingers.

I stopped by the door on my way out and scanned the room—

That’s when I saw her.

Em.

Curled up in a chair across the room, her hoodie pulled tight around her shoulders.

Her chin was tucked into her chest, but I could see her eyes—red and swollen from crying.

She wasn’t talking.

Wasn’t pacing or snapping like usual.

She just sat there, silent, still.

And for the first time, I saw her not as the tough, sharp-edged best friend—

But as a girl who’d been breaking quietly while everyone else made noise.

And something in my chest shifted.

Small.

But real.

My feet moved before my brain caught up.

I crossed the room and dropped into the chair next to her.

Em stiffened but didn’t look at me.

For a long minute, neither of us said a word.

The silence between us was thick, heavy with everything we’d been through.

I rubbed the back of my neck, nerves twisting in my gut, and swallowed hard.

“She’s okay,” I murmured. “She finally chose herself.”

Em let out a shaky breath.

Her hands fisted tighter in her hoodie sleeves.

And that’s when I noticed—

Her hands were trembling.

Just a little.

But enough.

Something soft cracked open in me.

Because this was the Em no one saw.

The one who stayed up all night at the hospital.

The one who barked orders and fought everyone off—

But who was quietly falling apart in the dark.

My throat tightened.

My chest ached—

But not in the way it did with Danni.

This was different.

Quieter.

Deeper.

My hand twitched like I wanted to reach for her—

But I stopped myself.

Em finally looked up.

Eyes glassy. Cheeks blotchy.

Raw and real and still beautiful in a way that knocked the wind out of me.

Our eyes locked.

And for a heartbeat—

Something shifted.

Unspoken.

Unsteady.

But there.

I swallowed hard. My voice cracked when I spoke.

“You don’t have to hold it together right now, Em.”

Her breath hitched.

Her eyes shimmered.

And for the first time, she didn’t snap back.

She just nodded.

Small. Fragile.

And my heart stuttered.

Because maybe—

Just maybe—

The person I was meant to fight for hadn’t been Danni.

Maybe she was sitting right here.