All of her hurts to watch.
So fucking beautiful. So fucking fragile. All I’d have to do is squeeze to shatter her completely.
Scarlett brings out the devil in me, wanting to corrupt her body and soul. She also brings out the protector in me, wanting to shield her from all the evils in this world. Scarlett coaxes so many emotions that it’s hard keeping track of them all. She has crawled under my skin, and as hard as I try to scratch the itch, I can’t. Worst part is, I don’t want to. She’s weaved her seductive web, and like a lovesick fool, I let myself be caught, happy to have my heart in her clutches.
I close my eyes, my mind going back to her uncle’s church and how I ravished her in such holy surroundings. I still feel her kiss and her vow branded on me. She told me that she loved me, and it took everything in me not to say those words back to her.
Once I do, all is lost.
Maybe it already is.
I slam my fists into the steering wheel, frustration and anger taking over.
FUCK!
What do I do now?
Why did she have to send me this fucking video? Without it, I could still live in denial. I would be unsuccessful in fulfilling The Society’s demand, through no fault of my own.
But here it is—the damaging video they are lusting to get their greedy little hands on.
Why did they have to go after Scarlett? Why her? She is just an innocent bystander in all of this. Their twisted games should fuck up our lives, not hers. And yet, she’s the one who stands to get hurt worse than we ever could. But then again, so can my mother.
I have to make a choice.
Sometimes you just have to play the part of a villain in one life, to become the hero in someone else’s. I just wish I knew which role I’m supposed to play in the lives of the two women I hold above my own.
In a hazy fog of self-doubt and turmoil, I turn on the ignition and drive. When I get to the Hamilton estate, I’m surprised this is the place I chose to clear my head. It’s fucking ironic since this is where everything got fucked up. When Lincoln opens the door, his blond brows furrow into a deep V, concern marring his features as he takes in my shattered state.
“How about we go for a walk?”
I shrug, incapable of saying a word and follow his lead. When he takes me into the Oakley Woods, I let out a strangled laugh at the insanity of it all. I want to run away from my hellish torment, and instead, my best friend takes me to another place I wish I could scrub from my memory.
“I used to walk around these woods for hours when I was a kid,” he begins, running his hand over the trunk of a tree. “Teddy used to have such an overwhelming presence in the house. Sometimes I had to escape it just so I could feel like I was a person, too,” he laments, throwing me a meek smile. “But there were days that it got to be too much. Getting lost in these woods wasn’t enough to calm me. I needed a release. To do something that would keep me from losing my mind. You want to know what I did?”
“What?” I ask curiously, since I’m on the very brink of losing my own sanity.
“I screamed. I’d scream so hard and loud that my voice was hoarse from all the yelling. Even though I knew my screams could be heard from inside the mansion, no one ever came to check up on me, and I didn’t care. Yelling from the top of my lungs was cathartic for me,” he explains, looking up at the clear, blue sky of Asheville that kisses the top of the oak trees around us. His somber eyes leave the heavens above us, only to land on me, painful understanding clear on his face.
“Here, I could just be, even if that meant being completely alone in my misery. I think that’s how you feel right now, isn’t it, East? Alone. Confused about why life is so unfair. Wracking your brain just trying to figure out what is the right thing to do.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I confess, fisting my hands at my side.
“Yes, you do. You just haven’t found the courage yet.”
I bow my head and continue to walk in front of him.
“Easton?” he calls out, making me halt my next step.
“What?”
He steps beside me, squeezing my shoulder.
“I’m going to make you the same offer I made Finn. I’ll turn myself in, and all of this goes away. No one else has to get hurt.”
I look into his ocean eyes and see the man I wish I were—selfless and altruistic.
“Colt would kill me if I let you do that.” I try to play it off.
He lets out a small chuckle, but it never reaches his eyes.
“I can deal with my cousin.”
I grab onto the short ends of my hair, shaking my head.
“How do you do it, Linc? How can you be this selfless?”
“Easy. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for the people I love.” He shrugs as if I should have known the answer to that question by now.
“Your freedom is a high price to pay for our happiness.”
“Is it? Or is it just the right thing to do? I’m not a saint, East. If I were, then we wouldn’t be at The Society’s beck and call. I fucked up. I know I did, and I own it. Neither you, nor Finn, nor Colt should have to suffer for my mistakes.”
I pull my smokes out of my pocket, chewing on Lincoln’s proposal. I place a cigarette on my lips and light it, inhaling the blissful toxins, feeling the tightness in my shoulders begin to ease.
“I’m fucked either way I play this.”
“You are,” he deadpans, not using kid gloves with me. “But you still have choices. This is just another one on the table.”
“It’s one I can’t make. We all took part in what went down that night. Having only one of us be punished for it doesn’t seem right to me.”
“And hurting the women you love, does?”
“They were destined for pain from the moment I came into their lives,” I mumble, taking another drag to replace the bitter taste of that remark with a more acceptable poison.
His forehead creases, unhappy with my reply, but doesn’t say a word to refute it. We continue to walk around the woods, and while I’m trapped in my wayward thoughts, Lincoln remains silent at my side. When the November sun begins to set, we make our way back toward his house. As we break through the trees and walk across the driveway, we’re both surprised to see Colt sitting on the front steps with his head bowed in defeat. When he hears us approach, he stands to his full height, apprehension assaulting me with the mournful glimmer in his deep green eyes.
“I’m so fucking sorry, East.”
And with those words still on his lips, he hands me an unmistakable black letter, announcing that my choice has already been stolen from me.
Chapter 26
Easton
“I’ve got to bounce, Finn.”
“Okay, sure. Let me just grab my stuff, and I’ll go with you. Are you hungry? How about some burgers? I know a sweet-ass food truck that serves the best this town has ever seen. Then we could drop over at Big Jim’s for a beer. Well, you can get your drink on, but I just want to kiss my girl.” Finn winks, slipping his phone into the back pocket of his jeans as he grabs his jacket off the kitchen stool.