Page 118 of Burn Like An Angel

No one will understand. Love like ours isn’t fit for public consumption. They’ll judge our shared darkness. Ridicule the bond we formed. I didn’t want to silence her—I just wanted to protect her. To protect all of them.

“I need to do this.” Ripley releases my hand. “Burn whatever you’d like. I’ll keep doing these interviews until the truth is out there for everyone to hear.”

She steps to the side, giving me a view of who’s behind her. Of course, she didn’t come alone. None of us have been that for a long time. Harrowdean took everything from us. But it didn’t take our family.

Gripping his white guide stick, Raine stares off to the side, listening to the whooshing extinguishers. Lennox loosely holds his bicep, exchanging urgent whispers with our mutual friend, Hudson Knight.

“Come home, Xan,” Ripley pleads.

I look away from her to the mess I’ve made. The fire has been extinguished. Elliot stands in the doorway, shaking all over as he studies the destruction. His staff are scattered in varying states of shock.

“You should give him these.” I reach into my pocket, reluctantly pulling out the memory cards. “I kept them for you.”

Shaking her head, she takes the small handful. “One day, you’ll stop being the obsessive psychopath with no boundaries who made me fall in love with him.”

“Is that really what you want?”

Peering up at me beneath her lashes, a small smile curves Ripley’s lips. “I wouldn’t still be here cleaning up your messes if I did.”

I watch her walk over to Elliot to hand over the remaining memory cards. He’s gesticulating angrily, losing the professional persona that makes him so slyly amicable. This wasn’t a total waste, then.

Strolling over to me, Hudson pulls a cigarette from tucked behind his ear. “If you’d like tips on how to be a successful psycho boyfriend, I offer private tuition.”

The black-haired bastard pins me with a hard stare. I bite back an eye roll. Like that’s ever worked on me.

“Fuck off, Hud.” I punch him in the shoulder.

“The offer stands. It’s an art I’ve perfected over the years.”

Hudson snakes an arm around my neck to lock me in a playful headlock. Snarling, I knock the unlit cigarette from his hands.

“This was your plan?” Lennox shakes his head, approaching with Raine in tow. “Great plan.”

“I did this for her.” I lower my voice. “For us. Nobody knows how our story ends. Do you really want them to find out like this?”

“Of course not! But it’s Ripley’s decision!”

“We did what we had to, Xan.” Raine’s eyes shift behind his round, blacked-out lenses. “It’s nothing every other person in our situation wouldn’t have done.”

I hope the world sees it that way.

Because surviving cost us everything… Including our souls.

CHAPTER 18

RIPLEY

STRAY – JXDN

TEN YEARS EARLIER

Oakham Airfield is nestledbetween a smattering of sleepy villages in the rural midlands. By some miracle, there are no passing motorists on the quiet roads. I’ve no doubt anyone who spots us would run away screaming.

We’re all filthy, struggling to walk and utterly exhausted. Even after doing his best to clean with water and old napkins found inside the van, Xander is covered in bloodstains.

The others haven’t fared much better. Lennox has a rapidly swelling black eye while Raine limps with a bad ankle that we’ve concluded is sprained rather than broken. I’m covered in Rae’s dried blood. We’re all done.

After a lengthy debate, we decided not to risk driving the van straight up to the private landing strip, allowing us to be tracked. Leaving Rae’s body behind with our captive when we parked the vehicle miles back was devastating.

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