Page 66 of The Bloodfeather Promise
My tone is deliberately flat. Sarcastic. Cruel. Now is the moment she tells me I won’t ever find a girl like her. Sneers at me that I will miss her when she’s gone. Classic, cliché break-up scene coming right up.
“Forgive Alex. Please. Remember your brother had his faults. He wasn’t a perfect being, no one is, and he made his own decisions in life, right or wrong. You should remember him as your brother and that you loved him. Forgive Jessica, too. She sounds like she was a very confused, lonely person, I think maybe they both were. Perhaps she and your brother were in love… You will never know. But, it’s time to let your bitterness and your anger go.”
My teeth grind together. “Such wisdom. Anything else?”
“Yes.” Emerson’s beautiful blue eyes trace my features.Memorizing me.“Forgive Dylan. He has suffered with you. He’s lost so much. His girlfriend, a man he admired, and you. That must hurt him the most, the fact he lost you. Mend your relationship before it’s too late. And then, Greyson, then you must forgive yourself. Because this will destroy you if you don’t. And I…I hope one day you find love and happiness with someone. You deserve that.”
“You need to go get your things.”
The coldness of my voice makes her flinch. With a small nod, she does as I instruct. In her short absence, I find the photo she gave me last night. I trace my fingers over Alex’s image, and my heart compresses as if caught in a vice.
When she comes back down the stairs, her purse is slung over her arm, the keys to her vehicle already in hand. She brushes past me with her head down, but I can see she’s crying.
I follow her to the door where she pauses, her fingertips gripping the door handle. Will she turn around? Launch herself into my arms so I can beg her not to leave me?
“Emerson.”
She turns, but does not move toward me. Just waits to see what I will do.What will I do without you? I love you. Stay,I silently scream. Stay.
“Stay.” The word comes out hoarse and rough. It’s ripped from my soul. The one I’ve given to her. The one she now owns.“Stay.”
Emerson’s smile is sad. Her parting words destroy me.
“Goodbye, Greyson. You should know… My tattoo? That was for you. You were my bloodfeather. You still are. You always will be.”
She’s gone, the front door softly clicks behind her.
And I am alone.
* * *
It’sthe day of Alex’s death.
The anniversary.
I drank all night. Now, I’m barely awake. Blurry-eyed. Pissed off. Heartsick.
I wasn’t thinking of Alex last night. Or when I woke just now. I was thinking of Emerson. How she would have helped me through this awful day with her beautiful smile. How she would have wrapped her arms around me. Made me smile. Made me laugh.
My heart hurts so bad, I want to roll over and never open my eyes again.
The rays of the sun hit my face. Well, it’s more like a stabbing, really. It’s so bright, so warm, it’s painful. It reminds me of Emerson.
I think I’m going to be sick.
“Get up, asshole.”
Dylan kicks the pool lounge chair I slept on last night. His voice is a snarl but I don’t even crack an eyelid at him.
“Fuck you.”
His laugh is bitter. “Yeah, your typical response when things get complicated.” With a sigh, he pulls a matching chair close and plops in the middle of it. “When are you going after her?”
“When are you fuckers getting the hell out of my house?”
Dylan chuckles. “Not until this album is done. In the meantime, we’re gonna talk. And if you won’t talk about Emerson, then we are gonna talk about Alex and Jessica. That drunken, screaming shitshow you gave us last night doesn’t count.”
“Nothing to talk about.” I clam up. Like I always do when the subject comes up. Except with Emerson. I was able to talk about it with her.
