Page 84 of Branded

Sawyer snaps the binder closed then stands. “If I’m going to do this, I need another shot.” She pulls Olivia up with her. “Let’s go turn in our song, get shots, then bring this party down.”

“You go ahead, I need to run to the bathroom real quick. I’ll meet you by the bar for that shot.”

“Okay!” Sawyer comes over and bends down, cupping my face in her hands and kissing my lips. “Wish me luck up there.”

I curl my finger into the fabric of her dress and tug her closer, stealing another kiss. “Good luck.”

“I love you,” she says softly, before disappearing into the crowd to go to the bar.

“Now that we have a second to chat….” Olivia says, standing right in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest.

Uh oh.

“Ah, the best friend talk.” I shift in my seat a bit and straighten my posture, crossing my leg and resting my ankle on my knee, arm extended along the back of the sofa. “Hit me with it.”

“You’re right, she is my best friend. I love her with my entire heart and the last thing I want is to see her sad again. The girl you’re seeing now isn’t the same girl who moved to Sunset Valley last year. That girl had a dark cloud over her head. It followed her every single day, everywhere she went. She had just started slowly breaking out of her own head around the time of the Harvest Festival, and now that she’s with you… she’s alive. I’ve never seen her smile so much or look so happy. I have to assume it’s all thanks to you.”

I swallow hard, listening to her every word with the weight of the truth pressing into my chest. Truth that would no doubt send her barreling back toward that dark cloud… maybe even worse.

“What I’m trying to say is please don’t hurt her. You have a bit of a reputation around here, but I know that men cannot be defined by their choices over time. And if you do hurt her… I’ll stab you,” she threatens, with a point of her finger to my chest.

My first reaction is to laugh, but I stop instantly because the look on her face is deadly serious.

“Olivia, I love her. It’s really as simple as that. The last thing I’d want to do is cause her harm in any way. I’d rather throw myself on a sword than hurt her. That’s a promise.”

“Good.” She nods once and tosses her hair over her shoulder. “I should go get drunker so I can show you all how to really karaoke.”

I make my way over to one of the standing tables by the stage, and I’m quickly flanked by Caleb and Finn, both far more intoxicated than I am.

“You’re not drunk enough, Black,” Finn says.

“I’ve got a nice buzz going. I’m all good.”

“Your girls seem to be enjoying themselves.” Caleb motions just to the side of the stage where Sawyer and Olivia are dancing along to a song that is playing. Sawyer looks so happy and so carefree.

“Olivia gave me the talk. The if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you talk,” I tell them. “Funny timing.”

Considering what I have to admit to her.

“Ladies and gentleman, give a round of applause for Sawyer and Olivia!”

The entire bar explodes in hoots and hollers when they step on the stage, each with a microphone in hand.

Sawyer shields her eyes from the lights and scans the crowd, wrinkling her nose at me when she finds me at the table, and I raise my beer to her to cheer her on.

They both look up at the screens above them for the words then the a cappella intro to “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen begins, and as expected, every person in the building starts singing along with them.

For the entire six-minute runtime of the song, Sawyer is a beacon of energy: singing at the top of her lungs, dancing, and enjoying herself. Someone brings them each a bottle of beer, which they hold in the air and wave back and forth as the final verse of the song begins. The entire room joins in with them as the song rolls to a close with Freddy Mercury’s lyrics exiting the beautiful lips of the woman I’m desperately in love with.

As I stare at her up on that stage, I see her happiness radiating off of her. Olivia’s words repeat in my brain, telling me over and over that I’ve brought Sawyer back to life.

I know right here, right now… I can’t tell her who I am.

Chapter 23

Sawyer

There’saloomingsenseof dread, of being watched and judged, woven within the narrative ofThe Great Gatsbyin the form of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s bespectacled gaze. That’s how I see the anxiety in my life. A way to give it a name, a being. It’s easier for me to work through that way.

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