Page 6 of Into the Fire

“Is everything OK? Is Trent OK?”

“Everything is fine now.” I gave her a quick smile.

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because things can change in the blink of an eye and you’re smart enough to know that.”

She nodded. “They can, can’t they?”

I nodded and turned onto the main road.

“I heard, um, Professor Landry won’t be coming back. They said she resigned abruptly over break.”

I tightened my hands on the wheel.

“Are-did you two break up?” Her voice was so soft I could barely hear it.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Is she why you were gone for a week? Was she the issue?”

I briefly closed my eyes before looking back at the road. “Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about it? Breakups are hard. I-I can listen if you need to talk. I’m probably terrible at giving advice on what to do, but maybe I can just be here for you.”

I breathed out and was quiet for a moment.

“I wasn’t in love with her. I started seeing her after my mom died. I didn’t know what I was doing. She approached me at Twisty Cone while I was rummaging through the trash in the back lot in the hopes of finding some bottle returns or old food so I could buy Trent something to eat.” I swallowed hard. “I was young. A teen. She was in her early twenties. She fed me. She gave me money to take care of Trent. Got me hooked up with jobs in the Underground.”

Rosalie remained quiet as I spoke.

“I fell in love with her, I guess. She was all I had aside from my brother. It started innocently enough. Food. Smiles. Then she touched me. Kissed me. I was a teen guy with raging hormones and a lot of anger. I went for it and fell into an ugly world. I started working for Everett. I became the Archangel, the monster everyone in the Underground feared. It was my life for a number of years. I did bad shit, LeeLee.” I turned down her street. “Really fucking bad shit. I took people for Everett. Never children, though. I wasn’t even aware of the kid thing until way too late. But I did beat people. I killed them,” my voice cracked. “I regret it every day of my fucking life. I can keep telling myself I didn’t know what to do, but maybe I did and was just trying to survive. I needed to make sure Trent had a better life. That he could grow up and get the fuck out of here. I promised him I’d find the person who killed Tia and our mom, so I stayed, diving deeper into the abyss, hoping to find a way out. Hoping for anything.”

I put the car in park and stared straight ahead.

“At the same time, I don’t regret a single thing because it led me right to this moment with you next to me.My best friend in the entire world.”

“What about Ryder?” she whispered.

I turned to her. “It’s you, Rosalie. You’re my best friend. I care about Ryder, but I fucking love you even if you can’t love me back right now.”

Another tear slipped down her cheek as she stared at me.

Fucking damnit, I hated making her cry.

I reached out and wiped her tears away.

“Don’t cry, LeeLee,” I said softly, my heart aching. “Please.”

“You can’t love me, Ani. We can’t be together—”

I thumbed her bottom lip, silencing her.

“Wearetogether. You just don’t know it yet.”

She turned away from me, a fresh flood of tears on her cheeks, before she pushed open the car door and got out. I followed her, not saying a word as she went into the house.

“Hey, Rosebud, what are you doing home—” Cole stopped and glared at me before taking in the tears on her face.

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