Scarlet said, “Look who’s decided to speak again. Suddenly, the silent and dark Tristan has an opinion on my life.”
“Oh, I have many opinions.”
“See?” Nate said, his smile tighter than before. “Isn’t all this openness refreshing?”
“Like what?” Scarlet glared at Tristan.
“For one,” he said, not sure why he was provoking her. “I don’t like how you snuck off to a secret meeting last night.”
She curled her lip. “How do you know about that?”
Nate swallowed audibly and Scarlet turned her eyes to him. “You tattled on me?”
“I was not tattling. I was making small talk. You’re the one being all secretive about guys named Kirk—“
“Kirk?” Tristan’s veins were on fire. “You’re sneaking off in the middle of the night to hang out with a guy?”
Who the hell was Kirk?
She made a face. “Since when do you care about my life? You certainly didn’t care all that much a hundred years ago.”
Tristan’s gut dropped.
Nate held up a hand. “Okay, maybe less openness is better.”
“All I’m saying,” Tristan leaned forward on his elbows, “is that your late night activities are suspicious. I don’t know who this Kirk guy is, but—“
“Kirk is none of your business.”
“Like hell. I don’t want you slinking around in the middle of the night with some random guy you don’t even know.”
“And I don’t want you making out with some slutty redhead after you just beat the crap out of someone. But we don’t always get what we want, do we?”
Hurt, pain, sadness, betrayal.
Tristan felt his defenses waiver and knew he was close to caving. He couldn’t stand hurting her. The pain she felt…the pain he caused her….
He needed to calm down before he did something stupid—like jump across the table and kiss her until things like curses and redheads and Kirks no longer existed.
He lowered his voice. “That was different—“
“Different how? Do you usually go for blondes?”
“And…openness time is over.” Nate started undoing tubes and wires from both Tristan and Scarlet.
Tristan stared at Scarlet. “Stop it.”
“Stop what? Stop bringing up the past?” She waved her hands in a spooky way. “God forbid we talk about something real. Like how you made me watch you stick your tongue in someone else’s mouth.”
“And on that note,” Nate smiled at them, “I’m leaving. I think I’ve got everything I need from you two. Good luck with all your relationship drama. Glad to see you kids are finally working things out. And by ‘working things out’, I mean bickering like an old divorced couple. So fun.” He gave a curt nod. “See you later.”
Sharp hurt rose up inside Scarlet and Tristan hated himself.
“First of all,” he lowered his voice and pointed at her, wishing he could grab the pain inside her and stomp it into the ground, “my tongue stayed in my mouth. Second, I had no choice.”
“Funny. I didn’t see a gun pointed at your head.”
“I did it to keep you safe.”
“What?” Her eyes were incredulous.
“You came after me even when you knew you would die.” He thrust his hands out, his heart pounding in fear thinking about how careless she’d been.
“Because you were in pain.”
“So you risked your life?”
“Of course!” Love exploded in her chest and he wanted to scream.
“And that, that right there, is why I did what I did in your last life. To keep you safe from me—from yourself. You reckless woman.”
“You thought kissing another girl in front of me would keep me safe? Safe?!” Scarlet’s mouth dropped open. “You crushed me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“And I still died, Tristan!” Her face was flushed. “The only difference was I died with a broken heart!”
“And I’ve hated myself for it every day since.” He inhaled, his eyes wild and hot. “But I don’t regret it.”
He was so worked up he didn’t know if the pain and hurt and love he felt was his or Scarlet’s.
Her lips parted as she stared at him, defeat and sadness taking over all the emotions in the room. “Well, that makes one of us.”
And then she left, her heart breaking in her chest and falling to pieces in his.
CHAPTER 31
After knocking, Scarlet stood outside Tristan’s door and waited for him to answer as the wind picked up, blowing leaves and small purple flowers from a nearby tree into her face.
Unlike the rest of them, Tristan lived outside the city on a small piece of land with a single home in the center. Like a Tristan island.
Her stomach did flips as she heard the knob turn from the other side. Tristan opened the door. She and Tristan hadn’t spoken since the last time they’d run into each other at Nate’s. Tristan had played video games with Nate all night and afterward the three of them had eaten pancakes together. It had been a perfectly pleasant evening, but then she and Tristan had argued and he’d left. So the moment of silence they were standing in now was very awkward.
“What, uh…what are you doing here?” he asked.
His jaw was dusted with more sexy scruff. She was so getting him a razor for Christmas.
Who was she kidding? She liked the scruff.
Scarlet said, “Nate sent me here to pick up some Atari game you have?”
“Why didn’t he just come himself?”
“Because he’s in his ‘cave of concentration’ or something like that and refuses to leave the TV.”
Tristan shook his head and muttered, “I’ve created a monster.” He gestured for Scarlet to come in and she moved past him, careful not to touch.
“I meant to thank you before, for saving my mother’s brooch for me. You kept it and…” Her throat constricted with emotion. She cleared it. “And I’m very grateful for that piece of my past.”
And the drawing that was inside, whatever it was.
Tristan nodded and his eyes caught on something beside her head. “You have a…” he motioned to her head and Scarlet put a hand up to her hair.
“What?”
“There’s a flower…”
She started patting at her hair and running her hand down the strands, trying to capture said flower. “Where…?”
Stepping forward, he reached to her hair and Scarlet held her breath. She stared at his chest, now just inches from her face, as he withdrew the flower from her hair. He smelled like leather and his body heat warmed her skin and everything beneath it.