Page 15 of Summer's Edge

He sounds as shocked as my dad would be and it’s a bitter and sobering thing.

“Not like leave-leave. I’d still visit all the time,” I say. “I just want my own life. You know?”

He removes his arm from around my shoulders. Probably for the best because it was just resting there uselessly anyway.

“No, I don’t know. I’m more than happy at home,” he says. “I can’t wait to get back.”

“So, you had your nightmare because you’re not there yet?” I ask scathingly.

He flashes me a sideways look that is large part exasperated anger. “You don’t want any of that, Summer. Just leave it and move on.”

“Oh, right, you’re trying to protect me. That’s why you’re pushing me away. That’s some classic bullshit right there,” I snap. “I can make up my own mind, you know. My dad doesn’t get to decide how I live my life.”

Damn it. I swore to myself I wouldn’t return to this conversation. Yet here I am.

“And that’s why we’re stuck in this cabin right now,” he says. “Because you’re so great at disobeying your dad.”

“This is just a blip in my plan… because of the war and everything… but as soon as that’s done—”

“You’re flying the coop?”

Funny he should say that. Like he knows I’ve been comparing myself to a bird all night. But he’s probably actually calling me a hen.

“You don’t want none of my life, Summer,” he says, sounding both very serious and very far away. “You wanna know what my dream was about? It was about the night mine and Ruin’s family were killed for messing with shit they shouldn’t have been involved in. And it was all my fault because I’m the one who introduced them and suggested they do the shit they got killed for.”

I never knew this part of the story. Only that he and Ruin were best friends from way back when and that they both lost their families on the same night during a drug deal gone bad. And that Edge saved Ruin.

“You and Ruin got away though,” I say quietly, wondering if I should speak at all. I suddenly feel very alone here, even though he’s sitting so close I can feel the heat rising from his body. “Thanks to you.”

“Sure, we got away, with just the clothes on our backs and my dad’s bike. It was the least I could do, but it wasn’t in any way enough.”

“What happened?”

He looks at me sharply. “Doesn’t matter. It’s done. And it can’t ever be undone.”

“Tell me,” I insist, not even sure why.

“The short version is, Ruin’s parents were a couple of yuppies down on their luck. They were dabbling in cooking meth and growing weed to try and make ends meet. My family had some ties to the biker world, so I introduced them, and they found a buyer. My folks were there to facilitate the sale and get a commission. But those asshole buyers had no intention of paying for shit. They were just there to take out the competition. Even though it was no competition at all. Just a couple of dumb, broke middle-class people who bit off more than they could chew.”

He’s breathing heavily after saying all that fast. Once he’s done, he continues looking into the embers and not at me.

“I had no idea… but what happened isn’t on you… it’s on those assholes. Who were they?”

He scoffs. “Doesn’t matter. They’re all dead. The Devils helped me get my revenge. Your father was right beside me as I gutted the guy who killed my mom. So you see—”

“Why you can’t ever go against his wishes? No, I still don’t.”

“I was gonna say, why you don’t want anything to do with me,” he says. “I’m a killer who’s devoted his life to killing. I’d fuck you in a heartbeat. You’re the hottest woman I know, and you get my blood going like no other woman can. But that’s all it’d be. A good time fuck and nothing after. I don’t know how to do after. I have no soul left. And you deserve better. I respect you and your father too much to do that to you.”

Maybe it’s the near total darkness that’s making him so brutally honest. So, I might as well be too.

“Fine, Edge, you gave me fair warning. But my mind kinda got stuck on all that aboutthe hottest womanandblood pumping. And I’ll prove to you that you still have a soul. And that you can have everything you want and then some.”

He scoffs and shakes his head. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying.” I stand up. “It’s getting cold out here. You’re welcome to join me in that nasty bed inside if you feel the same way. Nothing has to happen. We can just sleep.”

Then I walk away, holding my breath while my heart thunders in my chest as I wait for him to say something. But he doesn’t.

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