Page 105 of The Grand Rise

She slides from her seat and skips off down the hallway. I watch her until she disappears around the staircase, her feet stomping up the stairs.

Leaving my crutches where they are, I make my way into the pantry. I stand in the doorway, watching as Scarlet empties the jars of jam into smaller reusable tubs. She goes from one task to the next, her focus on each feeling delicate and gentle.

I could stand here and watch her potter around all day.

“If I told you I’m not ready to talk about it yet, would you listen to me?”

I smile at her back before uncrossing my legs and gingerly walking to where she stands. It feels good to walk across a room without rubber burning the palms of my hands. Feels even better to walk to her. To stand this close again. So close I can feel her back against my chest.

Leaning down, I gather the hair covering her shoulder and ease it back. She side-eyes me but doesn’t move. Doesn’t stop me as I drop a kiss to the underside of her jaw. “I would.” I see her pulse flutter and cover that, too, my lips gentle, greedy. “You could tell me you fucking hated me, Scarlet. That you never want to see me again, and I’d listen.” The pale purple diamond on her right hand glints up at me, catching my attention. I take her hand in mine, lifting it to my mouth. Her neck twists, and she watches, eyes locked on mine, as I lick the sticky sweet jam from the length of her thumb. I place her hand on the counter and fist my own, bringing it between our bodies before taking both of her hands on the counter. I drag my nose up the length of her neck, distracting her. “I’d listen, sunshine. But we’d still be us, and I’d still fucking love you.”

She lets out a shaky breath, her heart beating so hard I can feel it against my chest. I chuckle and step back, feeling like, for the first time in a long time, I might win her back. “I’ll listen,” I whisper before turning and leaving the pantry.

Scarlet

My thumb glints under the lights, the feel of his lips brushing the sensitive skin still lingering. Frowning, I flex my hands, realising… I look down at them, my heart wild, wondering how and when he switched my ring from my right ring finger to my left.

Lance

I intended to kiss her once and leave like she asked, but the second I saw my ring on her finger, I knew exactly what I wanted.

There was a time I let Scarlet slip through my fingers, a time when I let us drift for an entire year out of guilt over what I did to Mase. If I knew then what I know now—that our days were limited—I’d have loved her the way she deserved sooner. I’d have made sure she knew it, too.

I can’t let her slip through my fingers again.

Lance: Are you awake?

After a couple of minutes, three dots bounce across the screen. I smile, but then they disappear.

Lance: Talk to me, Scar.

Scarlet: I don’t know what to say to you

Lance: Well, you can tell me to stop texting you, and I’ll leave you alone. You can ask me to come and get you, and I will.

Scarlet: And if I left it up to you?

I grin.

Lance: You’re not ready for those truths

Three dots bounce and then stop, over and over.

Lance: Come on, Scar

Lance: You didn’t come to my room tonight for a reason, but you’re still awake at nearly three o’clock in the morning.

Lance: Talk to me, sunshine. Put me on the same page

Please.

Scarlet: You made me feel things I’m not sure I’m ready to feel. I don’t regret last night, not one bit, but it’s been on my mind all day and I’ve felt so off-centre ever since.

Three dots continue to bounce and then stop.

Lance: That’s why you avoided me all day?

Scarlet: I didn’t mean to avoid you. I was just scared of what this all means. What you’d think it means.

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