Page 55 of Sixty Days Of Summer

“They used to hurt me, Scar,” I say, my voice cracking. “One of them... he used to burn me with cigarettes.” I lift my arm, exposing the scars I’ve tried to bury beneath ink. “I couldn’t wait to get these covered up,” I admit, the shame still raw, “because I was embarrassed for anyone to see them.” I glance at the tattoo that now hides the worst of it. “This was my first tattoo,” I tell her quietly.

She reaches out, her fingers brushing gently over the ink on my arm. Then she leans in, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to the tattoo, like she’s trying to kiss away all the pain and scars that time left behind. The tenderness in her eyes is unbearable; it’s like she’s feeling every bit of the hurt I’ve been through, and I can’t stand it. It’s too much. I pull her closer, my hand sliding to the back of her neck as I crush my lips against hers, desperate to make her forget everything I just said, to erase the sorrow in her eyes and replace it with something else—anything else.

She kisses me back, but it’s different this time—she slows me down, softens the pace, making each kiss deeper, more deliberate, just as intense but laced with something I can’t put into words. It’s like she’s telling me without speaking that she’s here, that she’s not going anywhere, no matter how fucked up I am.

Something’s shifting inside me. I’m getting too close, and it scares the shit out of me. I feel it in the way my chest tightens every time she’s near, in the way it tears me up inside to see her hurt. I don’t know what to do with any of this—these feelings I can’t even begin to name—and it’s freaking me the fuck out.

When she rests the side of her face against my chest, I hold her like she’s the only thing that’s keeping me from falling apart.Maybe… just maybe it’s okay to let her in. Perhaps she’s the one who can help me make sense of all the messed-up crap. And that thought alone terrifies me more than anything else.

I take a deep breath, my fingers gently stroking her hair, trying to push away the fear gnawing at me. “Scarlet, I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do what?” she asks.

“I’ve kept all this shit buried for so long. Never talked about it. Never let anyone close enough to see all the damage.”

Scarlet’s head remains against my chest, her breathing calm and steady. She shifts slightly, her fingers lightly tracing the lines of my chest as if trying to soothe me. “You don’t have to have all the answers, Ace,” she says. “You don’t have to know how to do this. Just… let me in a little bit at a time.”

I lie there, staring up at the ceiling, feeling the warmth of her body pressed against mine. Her fingers gently trace the ink on my chest, sending shivers through me with every touch. I let her comfort me, ignoring the wreck I made of the room. For once, the chaos in my head seems to settle. There’s no noise, no anger—just the steady rhythm of her touch. I focus on that, on her, letting her be the one thing that makes sense in all this mess.

“So, how are you planning to explain the mess in your room?” Her voice carries a subtle smirk, like she’s trying to lighten the mood. “Or are you just gonna blame it on being a rockstar?”

I can’t help but laugh, the ridiculousness of what I did breaking through the heaviness in my chest. “It’ll be fine. Money can buy silence. Xander did it once with all the shit they were putting in the headlines about him. It never leaked.”

My phone rings. I glance over at the bedside table, but it’s not there—neither is the table. It’s buried somewhere in the chaos I created. I don’t even bother getting up. Whoever it is can wait; I’ll deal with them later. Right now, nothing elsematters but this moment, with her lying beside me, her warmth grounding me in a way nothing else ever has.

The phone rings again, and before I can ignore it, there is a persistent banging on the door. It is loud and aggressive, as if someone is breaking it down with an axe.

“Open the fucking door, Ace!” Theo yells from the other side, his voice laced with fury. It’s like a sudden splash of cold water, snapping me out of the warmth of the moment with Scarlet. My heart races, not just from his anger but from the sheer unpredictability of it all. I shoot a quick glance at Scarlet, to see her tense.

She sits up in bed, her worried gaze landing on me, amplifying the anxiety clawing at my insides. The nagging thought that he might have uncovered what’s happened between us looms. The air feels heavy with tension, and I can sense my grip on reality slipping as I prepare for the fallout that’s bound to come.

I let out a heavy sigh as my phone rings for the third time. Cursing under my breath, I drag myself out of bed, hastily grabbing some clothes as I head for the door. The pounding intensifies, each thud echoing like a countdown.

“I know you’re in there, fucker! Now open the fucking door!” Theo says furiously.

I glance back at Scarlet as she slips into her bikini, and a wave of dread washes over me. Shit, the minute Theo sees her in that, he’ll know exactly what’s been going down between us. She gives me a worried look, running her fingers through her hair in a futile attempt to smooth it out as the relentless pounding on the door echoes in the room. Wrapping a towel around herself, she moves away from the bed, her unease palpable.

The sudden sound of Scarlet’s phone ringing only amplifies my suspicions that Nate and Theo are already aware.

With Theo persistently knocking, my phone blowing up, and now hers ringing, it feels like the walls are closing in. It wouldn’t surprise me if Xander is on his way here, ready to lecture me about being a fuck-up. The look of shock and disbelief on Scarlet’s face as she clutches her phone tight tells me all I need to know: our secret has been discovered, and there’s no escaping the fallout.

“Ready?” I shout over the noise.

“Yeah,” she nods, then swipes her finger across the screen to answer the call. “Hello?”

I turn back to the door, taking a deep breath to brace myself for whatever shitstorm is about to hit.

When I yank the door open, Theo bursts through, and the usual jokester I’m used to is nowhere to be seen. Instead, he’s transformed into a man full of rage, his expression fierce and unyielding. I’ve never seen him like this before, and it fucking terrifies me. I can feel my heart racing as I try to gauge how bad the situation really is.

Before I even get a chance to step back, Theo unleashes a punch, his fist slamming into my jaw. “She’s not some fucking groupie, you fucker!”

I stumble back a few steps, my balance wavering, but somehow, I manage to stay on my feet. Pain flares in the side of my face, but I refuse to show it; the idiot actually got me good. Damn, he can throw a punch. I see the fury burning in his eyes, and I don’t even try to defend myself.

But then Theo’s attention shifts to Scarlet as she moves across the room, carefully navigating through the chaos I’ve created. The worry etched on her face thickens the tension in the air, making every second stretch painfully long. A second later, Theo turns back to me, his eyes wild with anger, and I brace myself, ready to let him take another shot.

But he hesitates when Scarlet steps in front of him, standing tall and resolute.

I watch as his face, so full of anger, soften just a little when he sees her, but it’s only for a fleeting second. It quickly morphs back to pure rage as he zeroes in on me. I can feel the storm brewing within him, and I know I’m about to get my ass handed to me.

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