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“I bet you Willow would do the same shit,” she huffed. “Only she’d kiss you after kicking your ass, and I don’t have that right anymore, do I?”
I sighed and flaunted my bond mark like it was a trophy. “Your sister has a kind enough heart to forgive a useless fucker like me,” I voiced. “It’s pretty, don’t you think?”
“If I wasn’t happily dating four psychos, I’d kick you off this fucking roof.”
“Now, that’s abuse,” I reasoned. “Your mother would scold you for using violence against your employees.”
“You knew you were more than that,” she seethed.
“I know, Ruby.” I didn’t hesitate to meet her eyes of fury, and as much as I wanted to project my immense regret, I couldn’t.
This was the better ending…
“You wouldn’t be good with me,” I voiced.
“You don’t know shit,” she tossed back. “I’m not the same innocent girl acting like royalty to save face for the Phoenix Kingdom, Loki.”
“I know.” There was no denying that. “But you don’t deserve to deal with someone with so many fucking issues. You’d get tired trying to fix them.”
“And you think Willow can deal with it all?” she offered. “With six other men with their own issues and madness?”
“You know," I began and I actually smiled like a crazy person, “I think she can. I’m apparently worthy enough for her to sacrifice her life to get a magic collar off me. I think facing my magnitude of issues is something she can handle without going completely insane.”
She actually looked surprised at my words while her eyes dipped to my neck. The scar was still there, though my wolf had been working on trying to send energy to aid in its healing.
It would probably take a long ass time, but maybe I didn’t want it to go away. I needed the reminder of what shit I’d been through to reach this moment in time, and that was exactly what it was.
A reminder that despite the madness, the scrutiny, and the years of being inches from death, I’m still breathing. I’m still here.
“My sister is too kind,” Ruby concluded. “With a dose of crazy.”
“I think you need to raise the crazy bar a few notches,” I voiced but closed my eyes and took another deep inhale of my cigarette. Letting out the stream of smoke, I leaned back until my back pressed against the tiles of the roof while my eyes were forced to stare upward. “I’m so-”
“Don’t go apologizing, stupid.” I didn’t expect her angered interruption.
I also didn’t expect her to lie down next to me to keep me company.
“Ten years.” Her voice was barely audible. “How are you not crazy?”
“Well…you see enough blood and anguish that you basically numb out the world and you’re left with just a shell of a body, a void for a mind, and not an ounce of sympathy left to your disposal,” I confessed. “Can’t be kind when it will lead to your grave of eternal suffering.”
“Why did you almost flinch at the sight of my flame?” Her question was unexpected but also proved she hadn’t been twiddling her thumbs and doing nothing while I was gone.
She’d worked on herself. Grown stronger, wiser, and more observant than before.
Ruby Phoenix always had the drive, but something always held her back from seeing the world and its cruel, dark layers of violence and uncertainty. My absence did something to her, and though it had opened wounds that left scars in their wake, in return, she’d become someone far stronger than what she would have done in my presence.
Compared to these men in her life, I would have sugar-coated the truth and protected her from the real monsters hiding in the depths of the dark.
At least, the old me would have.
That side of me no longer existed, and I bet she caught onto that too.
That’s why we’re having this conversation.
"Vile Bitch uses fire.” No point in hiding it. “Blue. Green. Black. Gold. A sick combination that makes you nauseated just looking at its gleaming beauty. When I first saw it, I actually thought it was a wonderful shift of the common element. However…it’s only a matter of time before an element of such raw beauty only ignites fear and immense hate.”
There was a long silence that followed, as if my honesty meant something to her. Maybe it did, and if it held a hint of impact, I’d be grateful because I didn’t deserve her mercy.
