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“Tell me, Scar.”
I force her back, taking her chin and lifting her blotchy face to mine. “Tell me you’re not a monster, that you know it.”
She tries to curl her head down, but I hold firm, giving her my eyes, letting her see. “Scar, please.”
“I know—” She fights for breath as she nods. “I know I’m not a monster.”
I pull her to me again, letting her sink into my hold as I lean back against the end of the bed. Relief surges through me, but I already know that it won’t last.
There are parts of Scarlet that are broken. It’s why she won’t love me again, why she struggles to love anything anymore.
I don’t blame her.
I certainly don’t think she’s a monster, but I don’t have to accept it.
“Infinite,” I whisper into her hair. “You don’t have to believe it, you don’t have to fight for it, but know that I won’t ever stop showing you. Ave—your family, they aren’t going to leave you. Not ever. I’ll die before I break that promise to you, Scarlet. If you choose to believe in anything, believe in that.”
“I’m so sorry,” she cries. “I tried. I tried so hard to fight it.”
I shake my head, rubbing my hand up and down her spine as my hand brushes the back of her neck, into her hair. “You don’t have to fight anymore, sunshine. I’m here.”
She eases back, her eyes red as she looks at me, tracking the dried tears on my cheeks, the sincerity I know is harboured in my eyes. When her mouth dips to take mine, I suck in a breath, not expecting it. It’s been weeks since I kissed her in the shower. Since she let me take a little back. I’ve waited patiently, knowing she needed the time she asked for. Every night that she’s climbed into my bed, I’ve hoped, prayed, that she’d see.
I could wait.
I would wait.
The kiss is short. A tender, too brief brush of the lips that leaves me chasing her mouth with a kiss of my own. This one deeper. Firmer.
As I ease back, she reaches up and touches her lips, as if she can still feel me there.
I tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, head tilting as my thumb traces her temple.
I’m not sure I’ve ever known anything more precious than this woman. The way I can look at her and feel a half step from home.
“I love you with my whole fucking soul, Scar.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Scarlet
“It was sneaky. Ave’s gutted the kids aren’t coming out, too.”
Nina hums in reply through the phone while my eyes roam the length of the horizon.
“Did Lance really not know?” I ask, still wondering if he was in on it.
“He had no idea, but that piggy-tailed, love monster you call a daughter who you feel so very sorry for…”
“Ave knew?”
“Aveisthe mastermind. To the point Charlie had to book elsewhere for the week because Lis was desperate to get away.”
“What about you guys? What about your time out?”
“Scarlet, please, you say it like we don’t live the lives we do. We have whatever we want whenever we want it. I don’tneeda holiday.”
I sigh. “You won’t come out?”
