Page 42
Story: Pyre
“THAT WAS QUICK ,” Jonah called from the kitchen, his back to her. He stirred something in a pan, the smell of eggs mingling with the sharp bite of coffee and the faint sweetness of their vanilla air freshener.
Ruby didn’t respond. She couldn’t. Her stomach churned, her hands trembling at her sides.
Jonah turned, a spatula in one hand, concern flickering across his face as he took her in. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his tone shifting, the teasing edge replaced with something softer.
“Did you know?”
Jonah blinked, setting the spatula down. A hesitant chuckle escaped his lips. “You’re gonna have to be more specific, sweetheart.”
She took a breath. “Did you know your sister was still alive?”
The color drained from Jonah’s face. He froze, his body stiff as the words hung between them.
“No,” he shook his head.
Ruby’s heart, which had been racing, stuttered. Relief edged in—until she noticed his eyes.
He couldn’t look at her.
He looked everywhere else, her feet, the door, the kitchen, but never her eyes.
Her stomach lurched, bile forcing its way through her throat.
Ruby took a step back. Then another. The world tilted, her vision tunneling until her back hit the front door.
“Ruby—” Jonah started.
No.
Her legs gave out beneath her, and she sank to her knees on the carpet. Panic clawed at her chest, but before she could spiral further, Jonah sprinted to her. He dropped down in front of her, his hands steadying her shoulders.
“Don’t,” she muttered, shoving him away without thinking. The force sent him sprawling onto his back.
Jonah groaned but didn’t protest. He sat up slowly, his shoulders slumped, his hands resting on his bent knees, a man defeated.
“Explain,” Ruby demanded, her voice icy and controlled.
Jonah lifted his head, his brow furrowed as he searched for the words. But no matter how long he floundered, they didn’t come.
“She’s a thermy,” Ruby said, barely audible but breaking the tense silence. “I saw her eyes myself. I gave her to the TCA. Why would you tell me she died? Are they holding her? Why would they let her back into the public? Why—”
It hit her, the weight of the truth slamming into her chest like a battering ram.
“It’s real,” she breathed.
Jonah paled. Then nodded.
And just like that, the world as she knew it ended.
“How long have you known?”
“The day after I got the call about my sister,” he admitted, his words spilling out in a panicked rush.
“They told me about the cure. That they’d give it to my sister if I caught Edward.
I told them I wouldn’t hurt thermophiles, that it was cruel.
So they let me track humans instead. But I technically didn’t lie about her being dead, she did die, the way all thermophiles do, and they didn’t think they would be able to bring her back after—”
Her laugh cut him off, hollow and brittle.
Years. He had known for years.
She staggered back a step. How many thermophiles had she killed in that time? While Jonah played his reality show star persona, avoiding the responsibility she bore? Every justification she’d clung to, every excuse she’d made to herself and trained herself to believe—shattered.
The buzzing in her ears drowned every thought. “Edward warned me, too.” Another bitter laugh escaped her lips, sharp and grating. “He told me I couldn’t trust you. Hell, he told me about the cure, right before he died. And I wrote it off as desperation.”
Her breath hitched, cracking under the weight of heartbreak. “Was it real, Jonah? Any of it?”
“Of course it was real. How could you even say that?” His hands raked through his hair. He reached for her before rethinking the action, balling his fists at his sides.
“Then what was the plan?” The room swayed. “Let me watch you grow old and die while I carried on this miserable half-existence? Were you going to let me keep killing people for the TCA until the day I finally burned?”
“They promised they’d give you the cure. But only if I didn’t tell you.”
Her chest tightened, her anger rising. “When?” she hissed. “When I was no longer useful?”
Jonah hesitated, his mouth opening and closing before he finally said, “Two years. They said two more years of us working together, and they’d give you the cure and we could leave the TCA, start over somewhere new.”
She shook, her whole body flushed, red and trembling.
“They wouldn’t have,” she said bitterly.
Jonah frowned, confused. “Why not?”
“Because I would’ve told everyone,” she snapped, “I would’ve become the new Edward. That’s probably what he wanted—what he was trying to tell me all along.” She shook her head. “They couldn’t let that happen. They played you, Jonah.”
He took a step forward, his hand wrapping around her wrist. “Ruby—”
She flinched, yanking her arm back.
“You’ve been manipulating me this whole time,” she rasped with a dawning realization. Did the TCA make you ask me to move in with you?” Jonah’s face went pale. She nodded. “Not because you cared about me, but because they wanted you to keep a closer eye on me. None of this was real.”
His face crumpled, desperation flaring in his eyes. “I love you,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I’m in love with you, Ruby,” Jonah pleaded. “I have been for years. I asked the TCA to pair us together. Because I couldn’t forget you. And I was terrified, but none of it mattered because I love you.”
She unraveled, but she forced the words out. “No, you don’t.”
“I do. I have since the first night at the TCA. I remember every moment with you. That night you explained your book to me—some nerdy thing—and your hair was cut short, you were in sweatpants, and a KISS shirt…” His words tumbled out, raw, filling the space between them. “And you snorted at your own joke.”
Her breath caught, her chest tightening painfully. The first person to say those words to her—really say them—and it was the bastard breaking her heart.
“Lying to me,” she whispered, “Manipulating me.”
Her anger erupted, her voice rising as she took a step toward him. “That’s not love, Jonah. That’s cowardice. You’re just a coward.”
“I know you probably can’t forgive me,” he begged. “But everything was for you, for us. I just wanted to keep you—”
“You’re right,” she interrupted with a grimace. “I can’t forgive you.”
She slammed open his door, expecting him to follow. He didn’t. She walked down his sidewalk, up his street, onto the next street, knowing each step pulled her further from the life she had yearned for, one that would never be hers.
Table of Contents
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