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“Don’t,” I said, stepping forward, chasing her. “I’ve already opened my heart to you. Trusted you more than anyone else in my life. I lied, Summer. I wanted to be brave and strong and let you go—if that’s what you wanted. Because I thought it was better for you. But I'm not strong or brave at all. I'm weak and selfish. I want you. Always. I can’t live without you. And if that makes me a terrible person, if your father would be disappointed in me, well… then, I will have to live with it. I couldn't be the man he would want me to be."
“You’ll always be chasing his approval,” she shook her head. “I can’t live up to a dead man.”
"Fuck him.” I said.
“What?” she burst out in disbelief.
“Fuck him and his unrealistic demands. I hated how he always had to seem invincible. It made me feel inadequate, like I could never slip up or show a moment of weakness. But now I know that perfection is just an illusion. It doesn’t actually exist, except in the prisons of our minds. And I refuse to be incarcerated by these false expectations any longer. They are the impossible demands of a ghost.
“I believe that too,” she said, placing her hand over my chest, where my heart was pounding, “Live for yourself and do what brings you happiness—that is true perfection."
"Yes," I ran a thumb over her lip, a smile breaking out over my face because I wanted that—a world full of mistakes and heartache, but living it to the fullest.
Not ignoring the pain and anger, not avoiding love or hope, but embracing both the happy and the sad, the good and the bad.
Something broke inside me, slicing off the exceptions I’d put on myself and suddenly, I felt… free.
We weren't meant to live as ice, and Summer had thawed the winter within me.
“I want to live all that with you, Summer, if you'll have me."
"Yes!" she threw her arms around me again "Yes. I want to be with you."
“I always belonged to you,” I said into the crook of her neck, the first time in my life feeling small and vulnerable, because, with Summer, I was alive again. I hadn't been this since I was a naive little kid, and it felt strange and scary but I wanted it all, if I could be with her.
I held her for a moment before remembering where we were.
Turning, I opened my eyes, shooting Lux a glare because the woman had lied to me and said that she didn’t know where Summer was.
“De shadows are dancing in harmony,” Mama Bondo declared, and I turned towards a stone altar, where she stood. Her piercing gaze was fixed on the space around us. Then, her eyes met mine, piercing through me, as if she could see my very soul, “But de tapestry is not yet woven. De pieces don’t mend together just yet.”
I didn’t respond. Didn’t feel the need to. This was between me and Summer only.
Finally, I took in who was on the ground before Mama Bondo's altar.
I pushed Summer behind me protectively.
"Mama Bondo, how could you be so careless?" I growled, torn between killing Saul quickly and getting Summer out. "Lux, you of all people should know better."
"We took advantage of the opportunity," a woman I barely recognized spoke up—the girl who worked in the shop with Mama Bondo. “Summer called Mama Bondo, and told us she'd set up a meeting between the two. When we found out that he'd actually agreed to meet her alone, we had to act."
"You know he's never really alone," I growled, reaching for the gun in my holster, deciding to kill him quickly and get out of here.
The panic was back when I realized I'd rushed off without it, my hand meeting empty air. "Fuck."
“No,” Mama Bondo firmly stated. “We cannot kill him in cold blood. De spirits, dey won’t like dis.”
“We absolutely can,” I disagreed, taking in the three men who were also with us. The large one with a bushy mustache had on a brown sheriff uniform, and was strapped with weapons. I held out my hand. “Give me your gun.”
“A gun? How disappointing,” Saul sneered. “I expected a bit more style from a killer like you, Rook. You were much more creative with the lawyer. They say it took a few hours to find all the body parts.”
“Shut up, you sick fuck.” I swung my foot and hit him in the ribs. He doubled over, groaning and clutching his side. “And for the record, I have no desire to impress you.”
“Asshole,” he hissed, his eyes blazing as he looked up at me.
“Rook, stop.” Mama Bondo said adamantly. “If we do dat, we are no better than dey are. Lux and Harmony, I need you here to call de Bondye. Summer and Rook, you will give him de potion.”
When I continued to hold my hand towards the Sheriff, he just shrugged, blowing a pink bubble with his gum until it popped. “She’s the boss.”
