“Now, I hate it. They hurt you, so flames have lost all magic for me. I could never take joy in something that brings you pain. You know that, don’t you, Scar?”
“What’s wrong, East? Is your mother okay?” she asks, sensing my uneasiness.
“No,” is all I tell her.
“Why are you really here, Easton?”
I let out a soft exhale, hugging her to me and taking one last whiff of her cherry blossom shampoo. “I’m supposed to be the perceptive one, remember?”
“I learned from the best,” she replies, hugging my midsection just as fiercely. “Just tell me. I can take it.”
“Just give me a minute, baby. Let me just have this.”
I kiss the top of her head as we both continue to watch the fire in front of us. I’m dying inside, breaking apart right next to her, and even though she can’t see the slices to my heart, she feels every cut just the same.
“You’re leaving me, aren’t you?” she says at last, grief tainting each word.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
Her tears are silent, but both of us tremble.
I clasp her face in my hands, turning her to me.
“Thank you,” I choke out.
“For what?”
“For showing me that I still have a soul.”
For loving me.
She grabs onto my shirt, her tears trickling down her beautiful cheeks.
“Why does this feel like I’ll never see you again?”
“I can’t promise that you will,” I tell her truthfully.
She begins to shake her head, unwilling to accept the unknown future.
“I’ll leave. I’ll go with you,” she states with such conviction, it only makes me love her more.
A stifled laugh and cry fall simultaneously from my lips before I pull her face toward me and kiss her. However, it’s bittersweet. While filled with vows of my undying love for her—one that I never had the courage to say out loud—it will also be the kiss I’ll probably remember the most on those lonely nights that I long for her.
“No, baby. You won’t.”
“I’ll wait,” she promises ardently when I deny her. “I’ll wait, East. No matter how long it takes, I’ll wait for you to come back to me.”
Jesus, she’s tearing me apart.
“Scar—”
“No! Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it!”
“Maybe this is for the best. Maybe with me no longer in the picture, you can finally find someone worthy of you. Someone that will make you smile rather than cry. Someone you will sing to and make pancakes at three in the morning for. Someone who will fill your days with happiness instead of heartbreak. I’m not that man. I never was.”
“You are, East. You are.”
“I’m not. I really wanted to be, Scar. Fuck! It’s all I ever wanted to be. But I’m not. I couldn’t even protect my own mother. How will I ever be able to protect you?”
“I don’t need your protection, East. I just need you,” she croaks, wiping away the shameful tears falling down my face.
“You deserve better.”
“Fuck what you think I deserve! You’re what I want.”
“My little mouse with claws. We still have tonight. That’s all I can give you,” I whisper, pressing her temple on mine.
“It won’t be enough,” she cries in defeat, her fingers entwined in my hair.
I pull her up on my lap, and we hold each other like that as we mourn the future we could have had together. Only when the streaks of dawn begin to shine through her living room window, do I register that we spent the whole night crying in each other’s arms. My eyes take stock of her one more time before I lay her on the couch, pulling a blanket to cover her sleeping frame.
As I stand up on my feet to leave, I realize that I’m shaking.
It was never supposed to be this way. The Society wanted me to ruin Scarlett, and even though I tried my best not to, I ended up doing it just the same. I walk over to the door and look back one more time at the angel sleeping agitatedly on the couch.
I love you.
Till my last breath, I will always love you, Scar.
Don’t forget me.
Because I’ll live a hundred lives before I could ever forget you.
However, I don’t say any of it and walk into the darkness that will be my life without Scarlett in it.
Chapter 27
Scarlett
Hours turn into days, and days into a full week since I last fell asleep in Easton’s arms.
I sing a melancholic version of War of Hearts by Ruelle on stage, my pain evident to everyone in attendance. Every feeling I have pours out of me through each melodic word, yet the cathartic feeling music usually brings me still feels far from my grasp.
When I get back to my dressing room, Owen is there waiting for me. As soon as I walk through the door, he gets up from his seat and eats the space between us. He doesn’t utter a word and just wraps me in his embrace, provoking the dam keeping my tears at bay to crumble into tiny fragments. I cry like I haven’t let myself do since the day Easton walked out of my life. Owen pats my hair, his white, collared shirt wet with my tears as he comforts me.
“I know you’re hurting, sweet girl. But trust me when I tell you, so is he.”
I shake my head in denial, even though I hear the truth in his words.
“He’ll end up forgetting me.”
Owen lifts my chin, wiping the tears away.
“Impossible, Scarlett. That boy loves you. It bled out of him every time he so much as looked at you.”
Owen lets out a long exhale, pulling me back into his arms until my soft cries simmer. Once he feels I’ve got a hold of my emotions, he pulls me over to the sofa and ushers me to sit beside him.
“Maybe you should take a few nights off.”
I shake my head and state, “No. This is all I have. Please don’t take this from me, too.”
“I wouldn’t dream of taking anything from you. I just thought maybe you needed time to heal these wounds that are still so raw.”
“I’m not sure they will ever heal.”
“They will, Scarlett. Trust me. I’ve had my heart broken so many times, and still, I survived through it all.”
“How many times have you fallen in love?” I ask skeptically, unable to fathom such a thing.
The love I have for Easton feels similar to catching lightning in a bottle—rare and magical. How could anyone ever fall in love like that more than once?
“I’ve only loved two women in my life. Your mom and my wife.”
My lips frown as my hands fidget on my lap.
“Did you love them the same?”
“No. The love I felt for your mom turned into a friendship that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
“And your wife?”