Page 82 of Gathered Sparkle

As we walk toward the living room, our pinkies still linked, the world narrows to this one fragile connection. It’s such a small thing, but somehow, it’s everything. It’s as if that tiny point of contact is healing parts of me I thought were beyond saving.

I don’t know if he feels it, too, the way his touch feels like hope. Or maybe it’s just me, desperate to believe that something as small as hooked pinkies can undo eight years of silence and grief.

But I hold on anyway.

As we step into the room, Ace lets go of my pinky, his hand brushing mine one last time before falling to his side. The absence is immediate like a piece of armor I didn’t know I needed has been stripped away. But my attention is drawn to the other side of the room, where Ezra and Sylus are huddled together.

Sylus’s hands are moving wildly, punctuating whatever he’s saying, while Ezra’s expression grows darker with each passing second.

“What’s that about?” I murmur, glancing up at Koen, whose sharp eyes are already locked on the pair.

“I have no idea.”

Before either of us can step closer to ask what’s going on, the faint groan of the gates opening fills the room. Ezra’s and Sylus’s whispering halts, their heads snapping toward the windows.

I follow their gaze, catching the brief flash of headlights slicing through the dark. They linger for a moment, washing over the walls, then vanish as the car disappears into the garage.

Ezra straightens, his hand instinctively moving toward his waistband. “He knows the code?”

Koen shrugs. “It’s not like we’ve changed it in the last few years.”

“Fucking irresponsible,” Ezra mutters under his breath.

“Yep,” Levi clips.

Koen tries to defend him. “It’s Nicholas. He wouldn’t—”

“Save it,” Ezra snaps.

The sound of the door to the garage closing cuts through the awkward silence, and moments later, Nicholas strides into the living room. His expression is closed off, but a storm is brewing behind his eyes.

Levi’s lips twist into a smirk that’s anything but friendly. “Well, hello there, asshole.”

The jab lands like a lit match on dry tinder. Nicholas’s composure cracks, and he erupts. “Who’s the asshole here, huh? You want to compare notes, Levi?”

The tension skyrockets as they step closer to each other, and I instinctively move between them, planting my hands against their chests. “No. This shit stops now. All of it. If we’re going to do this, if we’re going to work together, we do ittogether.No more picking fights. No more taking sides. Got it?”

Levi glares past me at Nicholas. “He fucking started it!”

“When did I fucking start it, huh?” Nicholas throws his arms out. “I just got here, dammit!”

Koen grips my upper arm gently and pulls me out from between them, whispering, “C’mere, Little Thief.”

Levi scoffs. “You started itthirteen years ago.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Paste?” Nicholas’s laugh is harsh, bitter. “Idid notstart it.”

“You hurt me!” Levi pushes his hair away from his temple, jabbing a finger at the faint scar there. “I needed stitches because of you.Thisis because of you!”

“I already told you I was sorry for that the moment it happened.” Nicholas crosses his arms, his jaw tight. “But honestly, you fucking deserved it.”

“Nico—” Koen starts, but Nicholas cuts him off.

“No! You’re the fucking same, Koen. You dropped me like a hot potato after that night. You never even asked whathedid orwhyI reacted the way I did. Fucking great best friend you are.”

“Whatdidhe do?” I ask, and the room falls into a thick silence as all eyes turn to me. I glance around, then back at Nicholas. “What? Let’s get it all out in the open and finally bury that dumb fight.”

“It’s not adumbfight—” Levi starts, but I cut him off, my eyes still on Nicholas.

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