Page 29 of Paint the Town, Dove
“Ryden, hey, Ryden!” Then –
A slap.
“Ow!” I yelled, before my mind could react to the situation. To what happened to… to me.
“What?” she asked, as if she hadn’t just hit me.
I rubbed my cheek. “Do you ever apologize?”
“I’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” A shrug. “Your hands were shaking and you were sweating and I was talking to you and you ignored me or didn’t hear me or whatever.”
“I couldn’t hear you.”
“That’s what I said.”
I stood up, “No, Scar, Icouldn’thear you.”
She glanced up at me, big brown eyes twinkling. “Scar. I like that.”
“Can you take anything seriously!” I yelled, stomping away.
But she grabbed me, just like I grabbed her, and pressed my fingers to her heart.
“You told me not to touch you,” I whispered, staring at this girl made of fire, made of steel, who managed to calm me down in a single motion.
And in the strangest turn of events, she pulled me closer, and wrapped her slender arms around my middle, hiding the burn mark I knew she had beneath my armpit.
That was the moment that solidified what we were, even before I could accept it myself. Two protectors, twosurvivors.
“You look like an eagle,” she’d said, the first day we met.
I held her tighter.
And you, my Dove.
Chapter Ten
Ryden
“It’s a violent yell, isn’t it? When he pounces, when you shield me! It’s a violent yell, it’s a violent yell.”
Arc & Sheild Records:‘Protect Me’
Composition By: Ryden Spectre
“Quite the turnout, eh, Mr. Spectre?”
Mallory’s veiny hand clung to my bicep like tack, straining the muscle beneath my shirt. “Ease your grip, Mal, I’m tender.”
“From what?”
I couldn’t help myself.“Want me to demonstrate?”
She giggled, shrugging off my barb as I guided her forward into the V. I. P. lounge, keeping a stiff neck ahead. If I turned around, I’d see Scarlett, and right beside my Dove would be Abe.
I fished around in my pocket for the vial, smiling a couple times at randoms before ducking my head and taking a sniff.It makes it easier, I repeated.It makes it lighter.
It wasn’t an addiction, it was a reliance. I could quit if I wanted to, but why should I?Give me one good fucking reason.
