Page 7 (1/2)

PROLOGUE

(END OF FISSURE)

“Would you guys excuse us for a while?” I addressed the room with an invisible line drawn between the Haywards and Scarletts “Just, eh,Emma’s hand in mine, I headed for the balcony for the illusion of privacy It wouldn’t have mattered if ere two houses down—if my brothers wanted to eavesdrop on our conversation, they could, and knowing Joseph and his expecting this whole convincing E on every word

Sliding the door closed behind us, I didn’t think about what I was doing until I was kissing her, bracing her against the railing, ainst hers not as softly as I should have, but not as roughly as I wanted

I didn’t really care if her brothers atching and about to kickand disapproving of every last forbidden Mortal fraternization kiss, I only cared that this hat I had to do right now

Sos involved in it were even born This was one of those instances Me kissing E it up since the world’s inception

I could have said this was soood” kiss, but there weren’t words, least of all “good”

“Goodness gracious,” she whispered, breathing short when I pulled away just enough to still feel close, but still kind of pained at the distance “Now I’ to be bad Very bad,” she said, looking atfor an explanation

“Why?” I asked, touching the bandage covering the better part of her forehead

I felt the muscles move beneath it “Because no one kisses like that unless they’re half convinced it could be their last kiss for a while”

Man, that would have been the kind of kiss to end it all on, it was the way I wanted to go—kissing the wo with the rest of me, took me to jail

“It’s not so bad,” I began,deal face

“No one says that unless it is bad,” she replied, tracing a finger over the Stanford lettering of the sweatshirt I’d snatched froht, no , no more modifiers as you ease yourself into it Explain until the explaining’s done” That was typically the way I liked things, the way I did things I was anti-sugar when it ca before ive her nothing but happiness, I got why Willia it with Bryn

It was the only mercy we had to offer them in the midst of the often cold, always hard, truth

However, just as Williaar-today ulti but the same at her request

“It’s very likely your brothers will be facing soan, finding it hard to look into her face as the strength began to melt away, piece by piece “I doubt there’s any way around serving jail ti their scholarships, their spots on the football team, the futures they planned on”

I glanced inside at the Scarlett brothers and how their lives could be perht, the injustice of it all I was certain they hadn’t hit Ty half as many times as he had Emma over the course of five years

“I’ they’ve worked for Like you said, the four of you got where you did by erease and sheer deter I would have gladly done had they not taken the honor of it away fro not to overanalyze what the shift in her expression meant “I put the bat in their hands, the idea in their heads; I was the mastermind, they were only the muscle I can’t allow the it if it wasn’t forfor them on the other side and mine will” I’d lived three lifetireen eyes of the one I’d been waiting for

“Patrick,” she said slowly, doubt in her voice, “what exactly are you getting at?”

“Everyone’s on board with the… ht Your brothers, my brothers, Julia, Ty—”

“You saw Ty?” she said, her hands dropping to her side

I nodded my head “I had to convince crapperith son his side of the story with the one I crafted”

Her face dropped too “And what have you been crafting?” she asked, like she already knew

“Everyone is going to confess to ht,” I said, and there it was

The flash of pain tearing open her face I’d wanted nothing more than to avoid The pain that was perhaps the whole reason I’d avoided relationships in the past, because if you wanted to experience the good, you had to take the bad with it Because the good was nothing but the norm without the bad

The norm…

Everything Eive her

“You don’t have everyone in on your lie,” she said, trying to break free of my arms I didn’t let her

“You went tome see the hurt in her eyes “You went to the devil hi to ain because she didn’t want to believe it

“I did,” I admitted, because there was no other way to put it

“Yeah,” she said, breaking through uess it doesn’t really matter what the woman you supposedly love thinks The boys are all on board, so of course E towards the slider “But guess what?” she hollered, looking at ood luck getting your story to stick in court” She rushed through the door, whooshing it shut with a sla like I wanted to turn the wood to powder, I tilted my head back and cursed at the ning the stars to not be in ht

Oneunder my breath and I followed after her, not because I orried about ould happen to all of us if she didn’t carve her story to match ours, but because I’d hurt her No punishment that could be inflicted by man could hurt me worse than this

The sets of brothers were still on opposite sides of the roo to make small talk

“You guys,” I snapped at the pacing Scarletts, “you need to get out of here now Before the cops get here” When their pacing continued, I shouted, “Now!” One word put the of them

While one set of brothers were scra into action, I looked to the other set, one of which had a s up the lower half of his face

“That ell,” Joseph said, clapping his hands ata woman is as easy as you are”

Willia his head in a not now kind of way

“Don’t you have a rainbow to paint or so round because that’s hoe Hayward brothers tended to resolve these kinds of situations An old fashioned, rough and tuht to the word mercy

“You guys need to get out of here too,” I said, looking at Willia at et , so make like a tree and leave”

“What?” Joseph said, shoving off the countertop “I thought you wanted us to sit back and enjoy the shoouldn’t want to leave just as it’s about to good” Motioning to theof popcorn to enjoy the part where Patrick is about to have his ego bubble burst”

“Get out,” I whispered because it see that a screaating at the door

“Hey, guys,” I called out, forcing e fuse to snuff out They weren’t the ones I was mad at, and it wasn’t fair to take it out on them because I couldn’t on Ty “Thanks,” I said, “and sorry for the s”

“When you say sorry,” Nathanial said, opening the door, “are you apologizing for tonight or since the day you were born?”

Joseph turned away, probably to hide the expression he was stifling a laugh around

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, shooing thely brutes”

“We love you too, little brother,” William replied before the door closed behind them

Once they were gone, I wished they were back because nothing aiting for me but the uncoht have been a good time for the cops to come and take me away

Forcing uest rooo

“Go away,” was her succinct and immediate response

“Not gonna happen,” I said, sounding another knock before letting myself in

“Go Away,” a blanket covered lump repeated from the bed

“No”

“I don’t want to talk to you I don’t have anything to say So be on your ry, but ry than affectionate

“Don’t go to bed ht back “Stay up and fight

You won’t be able to sleep anyways”

“You want to fight?” E acrobatics across the room

“Not really,” I said, taking a couple steps back because she was three shades of pissed “I’d rather discuss what’s bothering you in a mature, peaceful, you talk and I’ll listen, then I’ll talk and you listen kind of way”

Walking on her knees to the end of the bed, she ca at me like I’d betrayed her in every way a man could betray a woman “How about I talk loudly and you listen because I’ve heard ten lifeti and I made a promise to myself I’d never allow ht now” Shewith her voice, but her eyes were picking up the slack “So, what defense could you possibly have for getting everyone else to go along with your lies, and then you caht?” she said,aany proble those arms now “Emma doesn’t even have a backbone She won’t stand up to e me on this” Her eyes were too swollen for me to detect the tear before it skied down her cheek She wiped it away so fast it could have been acid “What sort of explanation could you have that I’d want to hear?”