Page 153 of Paint the Town, Dove
It was for her, my hesitation.
She kept walls on walls on walls.
I fell through mine, and I’d fall through hers if she let me.
We were closer than moths and fire, yet further than Heaven and Hell, orbiting each other. Wanting, wanting, wanting.
If I was a villain for showcasing my desires, than she was Hades for denying hers.
Fuck this.Fuck this.
I made for the door, slamming it shut. She jumped back, and I caught her in my arms, guiding her back to the wall. “Ryden –”
“You don’t want me?” I asked, tilting her chin up. “Tell me that.”
“I plead the fucking fifth.” Her brown eyes, angry with desire, told a different story.
“Prove it, Scar.Proveyou don’t want me. Because the sounds you were making the other night” – I dipped my lips to her neck, hovering just above her collarbone – “they’re echoing in my head. If you’re going to kill me, take a knife and stab me right here” I held her hand, placing it against my heart. “Twist it. Put me out of my goddamn misery, Dove.”
Her throat bobbed, fingers curling around the chain on my neck. My coke chain. The itch, so demanding. But with her, it eased. Always… iteased.
“We’ve been fine as friends for years, Ry…” Her voice was that of a mouse, small and frail. “I don’t know why you want to complicate things. I don’t know why,” she swallowed, “why you decided to act on it now.”
I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood, staring into her beautiful, torturous face before pushing off the wall and opening the door.
Why I decided to act on it now.Now. Right, Scarlett.
As if it wasn’t already written in the stars since day one.
“Why?” she repeated, looking so much like the young girl on Slater Street. “Why did you decide to do this now?”
I shook my head, anger bleeding through me as I stepped out of the room, and repeated her words from earlier. “Someone had to.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Scarlett
“Put me out of my misery”
Night settled over the mountains.
The stars hugged the sky, and everything around our chalet glowed like fireflies.
“Remind me why we don’t move out here and disappear,” Polly murmured, sipping her hot chocolate. Like me, Polly rarely drank. Zayla on the other hand…
“I’m SLOSHED,” she announced, as if we couldn’t tell six dirty martinis ago. “Seriously sloshed, sloppy, I WISH one of the guys were SINGLE.”
“They’re all single,” I muttered, blowing on my drink. I quirked a brow. “They’re all single,right, Polls?”
She warmed her hands against the fire. “Don’t look at me, it’s just been casual with Dean.”
“He’s not the kind of guy who’d fool around, you know?”
“I know that, Scarlett, I know. He’s more mature. He’s quiet, and takes care of himself. It’s just such a…”
“Commitment?” I finished, sipping my cocoa.
She sighed. “What’s wrong with me? He’s right there. The lead guitarist of Jaw & Lion. Atankin the sheets –”
