Page 146 of Paint the Town, Dove
“Why won’t you do it again?”Because I’ll lose him.I just won’t.
“Do you think it changed things?”
“Time’s up, ladies. Hope it’s been informative.” I threw my puffer hood up, shoving my own AirPod in my ear.
There was a twenty minute drive left until we reached the chalet, and I was not about to talk about whatever happened with Ryden again.Let alone do it again.
There was only one girl who would ever understand the reasons why I stood firm, and that girl was no longer alive.
If he hated me for what I said, I’d accept that. If he didn’t understand, then he’d have to move on.
It was over and done with now.
I made my mark, set the boundary in stone.
So what if we kissed.
So what if he touched me,felt me, bit me,drownedin me–
It was one time.
We weren’t thinking clearly.
And I almost lost my grip. My sight. What was important.
I vowed to make him a rock star. I vowed to keep him steady.
What the hell was I doing?
To think we could be something more? Him? Me?
We were made to find each other, not to fall in love.
Fall in love… I laughed to myself. What a grim thought.
Swiping to Spotify, I pressed shuffle on Ryden’s first album, sinking into the sweet hum of Grey Heights, thinking back to a happier time before the red light flashed…
And everything went to shit.
Chapter Forty-One
Scarlett
Eight Years Ago
… Two years.
Two whole years without my Emory.
Two years since the crash.
Two years of agonizing, grueling pain.
You know a week before she died, we got matching tattoos. Phoenixes. Rise from the ashes and all that.
I never meant for her to take it literally. To turn into literal ash.
I never meant for life to take her away.
