Hailey's POV
The smell hit me before the sound faded.
Burnt rubber clung to the air, thick and acrid, mixing with the metallic tang of blood and stone dust. The night felt heavier now, the humidity pressing against my skin as if the city itself were holding its breath.
I was still shaking.
I hadn't realized how badly until my fingers tightened painfully in the fabric of Kingsley's coat, my hands refusing to let go. My body hadn't caught up with the fact that I was alive, that the car hadn't hit me. That the space where I'd been standing seconds earlier was now a crater of shattered stone.
Kingsley was solid beneath my grip.
Too solid to be imagined.
He stood over me, one arm locked around my shoulders, the other braced against my back, holding me upright as if lettin
