Page 42 of Paint the Town, Dove

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And he was right.

We all got along like a house on fire, minus Derek and Scar. But Dean… Dean was the older brother I wish I had.

Maybe then I wouldn’t have dealt with Corban alone.

Maybe then I would’ve stood a chance.

I gripped Dean’s shirt, crunching up the fabric then grabbed him behind the neck. “On top of the world, always.”

“Well alright,” he smiled, then ruffled Scarlett’s hair. “Rest easy, flight’s at seven.”

And he was gone, leaving me with the hole in my heart, and the only person who could fill it.

I turned to her slowly. “Do I get to ask what really set you off?”

She shook her head, unscrewing the cap of her water and handing it to me.

Always silent, that dove.

“Well,” I gulped back some liquid, “I’m proud of you, nonetheless.”

She snorted. “It’s going in the papers.”

I grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. “We’ve been through worse.”

And then we simply stood in this tiny room, eyes filled with the abrasions we faced, hiding away from the world like the kids we used to be.

“We’ve been through worse,” she repeated, barely a whisper. “But we have each other.”

Only each other.

And suddenly, the Ryden Spectre who lived those horrors flashed in my mind – a different boy, a different time.

You’re all I have, Scarlett.

And that was enough.

Chapter Fourteen

Scarlett

“Tender, soft and loving. Where are the thorns?”

One Week Later

“And sometimes,” Zayla prattled, “sometimes I feel like I spend more time worrying if I’m a good person than actually being a good person… you know?”

“Uh huh.” I continued to scroll through my list of contacts, searching for Barbara Housen. She owed Ryden a favour. She owed me twenty.

“And like, ever since Jannet called me a narcissist, I can’t stop thinking I am one. Like, I can’t stop talking to other people about themselves. I’m not self-centered, right Scar?”

An automated response. “Totally.”

“You’re a narcissist.”

At this, my fingers froze. I looked up at her, challenging that feline stare. She simply smiled, puckering her bright pink lips.

“See, now you pay attention to me.”

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