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I quickly jump up and take the easel out from under her arm, setting it up in the corner of the room. I move away, patiently waiting for her to turn the painting for me to see.

“I’ve never been so obsessed with my work,” she says, placing it on the stand. She backs away and then hovers beside me.

My mouth falls open but no words come out. We silently share a moment full of emotions.

“I don’t even know what to say.”

I feel her gaze heavy on the side of my face. “I’ve been longing to paint something real.”

“It’s heartbreakingly real,” I admit, staring at Lexie and me bathed in the soft light of the fading day, cradled in the beauty of the mountains. But there, hiding in the surrounding trees, demons lurk.

“Hopefully she’ll see how beautiful she is. Not despite the darkness, but because of it.”

I shake my head. Daisy is incredibly talented. One of those artists with the rare ability to capture what lies beyond. “I’m almost scared to look away.” I laugh, running my hands through my hair.

Chapter Nineteen

Lexie

Brody snoops around the room as I search through my bag for socks. “So, what do you think of Daisy?” he asks.

“I think I like her a lot more than I like you.”

He laughs and plops down on the bed beside me, making me throw my arms out to catch myself from bouncing off.

“What dumb shit did you do to earn a stint up here at the cabin?”

“Does it matter?”

“No.” He shrugs. “Really, though, what do you think about her?”

“Why do you care whatIthink of her?”

He shrugs. “Because for one, you’re a girl. And … I don’t know. Ash and I are best friends and the four of us are going to spend a lot of time together. I guess I want you to like her.”

“I thought you didn’t like me.”

“I like you.” He dips his head to catch my eyes. “I just don’t like some of the shit you do.”

I try to evade him, going back to my task. I’m not sure how to feel about Brody asking my opinion on anything let alone someone he obviously wants to date. “Fine. I like her. She’s different.”

“Good different, right?”

I pull my socks on, still not sure why Brody is up here with me. We’ve spent a lot of time together recently, but that’s because he had to.

“Yeah,” I finally answer him. “Did the club send you up here?”

“No. I didn’t even know you guys were here.”

“Oh.” I feel bad for ruining his little rendezvous.

“We’ll get out of your hair tomorrow. I know you and Ash have been waiting a long time to see each other.”

“Waiting or dreading?”

“It didn’t look like you were dreading it a few minutes ago.”

I turn away from him, my cheeks heating. “Well, I dread the fact that someday he’s going to look at me and see who I really am.”