Page 53 of Burn Like An Angel

“I don’t know,” he deflects.

“What happened?”

Lennox shuffles on the hard floor. “Some pink-haired bitch pretending to work for Incendia was torturing me. Maintaining cover, I guess. She admitted she was undercover and offered to get us out.”

“Like… out of Harrowdean?” I enquire.

“Yeah. Ripley told her to leave us there.”

“Why?” Confusion sits heavy in my voice.

“She refused to run without me.” He clears his throat, sounding like he was barely able to utter the words.

I’d give anything to see his expression right now. To have even the smallest clue to the secret feelings he’s harbouring. I’ve long suspected there’s more to his hatred for Ripley, but recent events have made the situation ten times more complicated.

“That’s why she helped you escape.” I nod in understanding. “Ripley couldn’t leave you there to die.”

Lennox doesn’t respond.

“Because… she cares about you.”

Nothing but a sharp inhalation.

Come on, stubborn bastard.

“And you care about her,” I add.

He still won’t say it.

Not even to me.

Bizarrely, it frustrates me more than it angers me. I’m not even jealous. I just want him to admit it. Until then, we can’t make any decisions on how to proceed.

“You can’t avoid this conversation forever, Nox. Like it or not, the three of us are in neck-deep with this girl. I need to know where you stand.”

“I…” He pauses. “Don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Ripley and I… It’s complicated.”

“You don’t say,” I mutter sarcastically.

“I know, alright?” he snaps in exasperation. “We’ve spent months trying to kill each other, for fuck’s sake. Then in the basement… Well, things changed. Now I’m fucking lost.”

“What does that mean, exactly?”

“I don’t know!” Lennox exclaims. “What’s with the third degree?”

“Oh, I don’t know. May have something to do with the fact you tried to kill the woman I’m in love with! Did that ever cross your mind?”

My words drop with the impact equivalent to a street-level explosion, holding the power to blow our entire lives apart. I can feel them reverberating in the chlorinated air as my confession lingers.

“You love her,” he deadpans.

My throat aches with unspoken emotion. “I wouldn’t get clean for just anyone, Nox. I want a future. One with Ripley in it.”

The sound of his teeth grinding is a loud bullet in the silence. “Does she know?”

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