Page 50 of You Will Bow

“Seriously, Ry. Why are you doing this?”

“Lev owns the place and he told me I could.”

“Annnd?” she questions. “Why on earth do you want to?”

I kneel on the floor, my muscles stiff from the endless amount of scrubbing I’ve been doing. With the back of my arm, I wipe the rivulets of sweat from my hairline. “Don’t you see the potential in this place? It’s so beautiful and serene here.”

“Beautiful, yes. But this place is owned by a psychopath. Aren’t you concerned that he’s being so nice to you because he wants something in return.”

I could tell her Lev does want something in return, but I couldn’t tell her what it is and she’d likely press until I spilled the whole truth. Then, I’d be backing out of my deal with Lev, and I’m not ready to do that. Things are finally going smoothly. He hasn’t kidnapped me or threatened death in, like, three whole days now. He hasn’t exposed my secret, or done anything to make me question if he’s sticking to our deal. So, for now, I have to trust that I’m doing what’s best for myself.

“For one,” I tell her, dropping the rag into the bucket full of murky water, “Lev isn’t nice to anyone. I simply asked if I could fix this place up a bit and he said yes. No strings attached.”

“All right, Mrs. Clean. What’s your plan after you fix this place up? You’ll just walk away from it and never step foot inside again? Sounds to me like you’re the one doing Lev a favor.”

“Actually,” I say, “I was sort of thinking I might stay out here sometimes to work on my poetry.”

“And you think Lev, the guy you claim is not nice to anyone, is going to allow that?”

I shrug my shoulders as I stick my hand back in the water, squeezing the rag. “We’ll see.”

I think I could get Lev to agree to just about anything if I keep giving him what he wants.

“All right,” Scar sighs as she tosses more trash into the black garbage bag, “I’m just here to help.” She pauses for a minute. “And I also have every intention of forcing you to spill your guts about what’s going on with you and those three guys.”

“Hmm.” I smirk. “Seems we’ve been down this road before.”

Scar laughs. “Only it was me on the receiving end ofyourinterrogation. So what’s going on, Ry. You catching feelings for all these boys?”

There once was a sicko,

who watched me day and night.

His invisible leash,

never let me out of his sight.

His friends were unlike him,

one a monster I feared.

The other bled crimson,

with a heart that was pure.

With my gaze facing down, I say, “Maybe a couple of them.”

I push the rag to the floor and try to scrape up some sticky goo stuck to a floorboard. Digging my nail into the fabric, I put all my strength into it.

Scar crouches down in front of me, a sign that this conversation is about to get serious. She wants to read my expression. Shealwayshas to read my expression when we’re talking about matters of the heart. “I already know you and Maddox are seeing each other. So who’s the other one?”

I inhale a sharp breath and keep scrubbing, hoping she doesn’t notice the pink in my cheeks. “Ridge.”

I gulp, giving her a second to process what I said before sliding my eyes to hers. Her eyebrows have hit her forehead and I can’t imagine how far they’d ride up if I’d said Lev too. Then again, Scar knows very little about Lev and so much about Ridge.

“Ry,” she says in exasperation. “Why Ridge? He’s insanely obsessed with you. The guy gives me the creeps.”

“One could say the same about Neo.”

---