Page 44 of My Sweetest Agony

Vibrant.

Beautiful.

Horrible.

Stunning.

Those familiar demons crawl over my skin, making it too tight. Making it itch. Making me want to tear it off so it will finally stop.

But I learned long ago that won’t help.

Nothing does.

Nothing except this.

A brush in my hand.

Paint on canvas.

Swirls of agony and ecstasy.

Of shared pain and constant anguish.

Misery and sorrow played out in each stroke of bristle and splash of darkness that matches that which threatens to overpower me tonight.

Truth laid bare.

13

IVY

TWO DAYS LATER

The sound of Cam’s motorcycle pulling up outside rumbles through the front window, and I drag my attention from the television and glance at the clock.

Nearly ten p.m.

What the hell is he doing here?

In the past few days, since our trip to Max’s, we’ve fallen back into the same routine—him coming during the day while I’m at work and leaving to go to his meeting before I get home.

Which means I haven’t seen him.

And that’s probably for the best.

Because Camden Usher is so much more than he appears.

The man should be dangerous for a dozen different reasons.

Should be kept at arm’s length.

He’s hiding secrets.

He warned me away from him.

Yet, he’s also the one who has somehow made me laugh again with simple stories and memories, who has ensured I’m eating by leaving me my favorite dinners every night, who brought me back from the brink of that abyss when he told me those words that Drew said.

When he insisted I believe them.