Page 42 of The Grand Rise

“I know. But you’re also strong.” I hear her voice waver before she clears it. “And I believe you’ll do what’s right for you, Ave,andLance because of that strength. You’re not the type of person to put yourself before anyone else—and sometimes that’s impossible to watch, but you know what you want and need to do here. I know you do.”

I suck in a breath, letting it out on a shaky exhale. “What if I fall?”

“We won’t let you fall.”

I slump forward in my seat, everything I’ve buried deep inside since Lance was released hitting me all at once.

“Do whatever it is you need to do,” she tells me. “And know that I’ll be doing the same. I won’t let you lose yourself again. I promise.”

I drop my head back to the rest, my face wet with my now silent tears. I want to speak, want to say thank you, to tell her no, and that she’s wrong.

But I can’t.

I can’t because I can hardly breathe.

“I’m here,” she whispers. “I’m right here, Scar.”

NINE

Scarlet

When I was a child, my brother would sneak out of his room and come into mine. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, he’d tell me it was because he knew I was afraid of the dark, and he didn’t want me to be alone. He did that until he was ten.

He wasn’t always the hard-ass he grew up to be.

I smile from the doorway to Waverley’s room, the shadow at my back looming. “Do you think they’ll always be this inseparable?” I whisper to Mason.

Waverley isn’t in her bed. She’s curled up in her secret nook, the stable-like doors thrown open wide and her night lights set in a deep purple hue. Ellis is flat out at her side.

Mason doesn’t reply, presumably watching them sleep with the same warmth and contentment in his chest as I hold in mine.

Or maybe he’s thinking about those nights when we were kids, too.

“Is it a stupid idea?” I ask, not bothering to turn toward him. He knows I’m talking about Lance staying here.

“It’s not stupid,” he mutters straight back, as if annoyed I’ve even considered it might be.

We stand in silence for a while simply watching Waverley and Ellis sleep.

“You’re going to have to put yourself first one day, Scar.”

My face turns hard as walls form around me just as quickly as they fall.

“You’ll regret it. I know I do. But putting up boundaries so that you can fix yourself, no matter how much you’ll hate yourself for it, it’s not wrong. It’s not as selfish as you think it is. And if anything, it makes the things you miss—the things I’m lucky enough to have now—even better.”

“I already put myself first,” I say after a minute.

“When?”

I look over my shoulder at him. “I work, don’t I? I spend more time at the hospital some weeks than I do with Ave.”

His head tilts to the side. “Maybe you’re owed a little more than that. A little more than you going off and saving people’s lives for a living.”

I cross my arms and look away again. “You’re being dramatic.”

He chuckles, and then I smile when his lips meet the crown of my head. “It’s not stupid.”

I take his word for it and step into the room, knowing it’s wrong to wake them but also knowing I can’t resist or put it off. I kneel at the edge of the nook, peering in at the two of them.

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