Page 67

We just…meld together, two halves of one soul, bound by something that could never be broken.

Riley attempts a boardslide on the curb, but she loses her balance and crashes hard. She lands on her back, her fist slamming onto the pavement in frustration.

“Shit,” she huffs, offering me a lopsided grin that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

I rush over and kneel beside her, brushing her neon green bangs out of her face. Her caramel eyes meet mine, and for a brief moment, her fierce resolve cracks, exposing the vulnerable girl underneath. Her sun-kissed bronze cheek sinks into the palm of my hand as though seeking comfort.

I glide my thumb gently across her cheek, trying to tell her without words that it’s okay—that she doesn’t have to carry the weight of everything alone.

She sits up slowly, her hand catching mine and holding it against her skin. “What are we gonna do, Will?” she asks, her voice trembling. “I don’t know how to protect us—protectyou—this time.” Tears brim in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

Ever the protector. My knight in grungy armor, cloaked in toxic hues and fierce rebellion.

I link my pinky finger with hers, lifting her hand to my lips to press a soft kiss there. She leans forward and does the same to mine, just like we’ve done since we were kids. It’s our secret pact,our unspoken promise: no matter what, we’ve got each other, and somehow, we’ll make it through.

“You always know how to keep me grounded,” she murmurs, her eyes fluttering closed as she exhales deeply.

When her gaze meets mine again, her fingers reach up to brush gently over the burn scar on the side of my neck. “We will find a way,” she says softly, her voice steady now, as if saying it aloud makes her believe it.

And I know we will. Together. Like always.

I don’t hide my burn scars anymore. I used to—wrapped in baggy clothes, scarves, and anything that could conceal the marks etched into my skin, the story of my life before. It took me a long time to open up to Riley about what happened, about why I ended up in foster care, and what ultimately caused me to lose my voice—or rather, why I chose silence.

Watching your house go up in flames with your parents still trapped inside, screaming for help, does something irreparable to your mind. The firemen saved me first because I was a child, they said. But they didn’t make it in time for my parents.

The last sounds I heard before I last spoke were the cries and screams of my parents burning alive. Something snapped in my brain that night, a crack too deep to heal. I should have died there with them, but I didn’t. The shock of surviving while their voices were silenced forever was unbearable. It was as if my mind decided my voice no longer had a right to exist when theirs could not.

Back then, I wished they hadn’t saved me. I lost everything in that fire.

Until Riley.

The day I met her, my person, I found the strength to keep living. She taught me how to love myself, even when it felt impossible—when the fire had taken not just my family, but my sense of self.

I don’t remember much about my parents or my early childhood. But I know this: I have never known a love as earth-shattering as the one I’ve found in Riley.

Unbreakable and forged from childhood trauma and loss, we are like shattered glass melted back together—stronger at the seams, unbreakable where we were once broken.

She. Is. Mine.

And I am hers, irrevocably and forever.

I stand and offer her my hand, which she takes without hesitation. The moment her arm slings around my shoulders for support, the rumble of an old, rusted red pickup truck catches my attention. It pulls up beside us, and a grin breaks across my face before I can stop it—I’d know that truck anywhere.

The passenger window rolls down, revealing Felix Crumbley waving eagerly from the driver’s seat. Felix, our only friend in all four miserable years of high school. If it wasn’t bad enough being tormented and ostracized by our foster parents, the bullies at school somehow managed to make it worse. But Felix? He never saw us as freaks. He never treated us like we didn’t belong.

Felix is an outcast in his own right, though he’s always had a group of geeky friends to keep him grounded. That was his world, his safe space. For us, it was just him—a single ally in an ocean of over-inflated egos of the hockey team and bimbo cheerleaders.

“Well, well, if it isn’t just the two ladies I was looking for,” he quips, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Riley tilts her head, her brows arching as she shoots me a look—one I know all too well. That menacing glint in her eye, the slight upturn of her lips—it’s the “I’ve just got an idea” look.

She saunters over to the truck, resting her arm casually on the window. “As fate would have it, Felix, you’re exactly the person I’ve been meaning to see.”

Felix’s cheeks flush a deep pink, and he nervously runs his fingers through his unruly brown curls. “Oh, yeah? What for?”

I smirk to myself, watching the scene unfold. Felix has always had a painfully obvious crush on Riley. Not that he’d ever stand a chance. They couldn’t be more different. Riley would chew him up, spit him out, and laugh while he grovels for an ounce of her attention.

“Well, you know our situation,” Riley begins, her voice dripping with exaggerated drama. “Our foster monster gave us one week to come up with enough money to move out on our own. She’s cut the invisible cord on us.”