Page 53 of The Truths We Burn

And that’s the real power you could have over someone.

Easton has blackmail, which is something I could overcome in time. It isn’t permanent or long-lasting.

But love—God, what a hold to have over someone. That is a true downfall.

It’s why I stayed away from people for so long, why I was mean and bitter, keeping everyone at bay so they’d never get the chance to know me.

Because I gave the world a chance as a child, and it destroyed me.

I promised myself I wouldn’t allow this to happen again. I wouldn’t let myself get hurt, to trust someone the way I trust him.

I promised myself, and I have broken it, because now I think I’ve fallen in love with the devil.

Rook

“Where’s Thatcher?”

I walk up to the table tucked away in the corner of the cafeteria, glancing over at Rose, who is sitting down beside me.

“Sup, Rosie,” I say as I ruffle her hair.

She grins up at me, showing me her face. “Hey, RVD.”

The more my fingers and eyes discover her sister’s body, the more different they look from each other.

“Sick or some shit, holed up in his house. He’s pissed about it,” Alistair answers before chomping into an apple like it had talked shit to him earlier.

“He’s just having one of his germaphobe moments. He’ll get over it.” I pull my hood up on my head, sinking into the chair and tossing my feet up on the table, tucking my hands behind my neck.

“Speaking of where people have been, where the hell have you been lately? You weren’t at The Graveyard this weekend.”

I know that I’m going to have to tell them soon what I’ve been up to, why I haven’t been around as much, and I also know it’s going to need to be before graduation, which means telling them while she’s still dating Easton.

What a shitstorm that’s going to be.

However, I’m not going to announce it without Thatcher being around or at school. I’ll tell them when we’re alone; that way, if one of them blows up about it, it’s not a huge deal.

Like I’d told Sage, I’m not afraid of them finding out or their reactions.

Sure, they’re going to be fucking pissed at me for keeping it from them, but they’ll be even worse when they find out why.

“I was going, but then I smoked the wrong strain and passed the fuck out in my bed. Just wasn’t feeling it this weekend, dude.” Lies—I was fucking Rose’s sister in the back of her car outside of my house. “Don’t act like I never see you assholes. I practically live at Silas’s most of the time.”

“Better be glad my dad is immune to you wearing your boxers in the kitchen every morning,” Silas butts in, and I laugh.

“He only tolerates me because your kid brothers love me. Your mom on the other hand.” I suck my teeth. “She hates me.”

“My dad tolerates you because you’re my friend, and my mom doesn’t hate you. She hates cleaning up Nerf bullets around the house after you’ve gone to war with Levi and Caleb.”

I was admittedly jealous of Silas when we first met. I think that’s why when we connected, it made our bond that much closer.He had a great family, which seemed to be this uniting force between myself, Alistair, and Thatch. Could his life really be that bad? I mean, all things considered, he had everything—a loving father who wasn’t ashamed of his mental illness and would fight to give him whatever he needed just to make him happy, a mom who thought he walked on water, and two brothers that looked up to him. Not to mention they were loaded.

Where did he fit with us? How could he possibly relate to what we’d gone through?

I’d found out a few years later when he was diagnosed, officially, with schizophrenia.

It wasn’t that he understood; it was that we were the only people who understood him.

We knew what it was like to have demons eating at our lives, our hope, our flesh. We understood how real his hallucinations felt because we lived it. Even though his were fictional creatures that appeared in his mind and ours were humans wreaking havoc on our lives, we could still relate.

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