Page 31 of The Truths We Burn

“Van Doren!” I call over the sound of roaring machines, my feet stepping off the track away from the incoming traffic.

Rook had been right when he told me I was bored in my glasshouse. I’m two breaths away from dying of lack of excitement in my life. It’s always the same men, with their pressed suits and business conversations. The same gossip at brunches, the same faces, the same lies. All of it is recyclable bullshit, and I am so tired of it all.

I am tired.

I’m afraid because that would be my life. Not just for the remainder of the year, but for the rest of my existence. I would be stuck on the Ponderosa Springs’ merry-go-round forever, all because my parents are broke and I don’t want my sister to suffer.

Except for this moment right now. I have this moment.

And Rook is anything but boring.

His eyes follow the sound of his name until they find their target.

Me.

God, I want to choke the smug grin off his face. That “I knew you’d come looking for me” stare that eats up his entire presence. But I hate the feeling of drowning more than him being right about me.

“What the hell are you doing here—” He stops abruptly, pushing off the side of his bike and meeting me in the middle. His eyes search my face, zeroing in on my streaming mascara and obvious tear-filled eyes.Something in his body language shifts, going from full of himself to tense.

“What did he do?”

The way he shifts towards me more, examining the contours of my face. I’m getting another up close and personal view of those eyes everyone is so afraid of.

It’s poetic almost, how the outer edges are pure green like new earth, but as you fall closer, the inner portion is a starburst of amber fire, swirling and eating up the green, all spiraling into one solid black pupil.

And that’s what Lucifer saw when he was cast out of Heaven. The green of our planet before entering the flames of Hell. The story behind Rook’s catastrophic nickname ties into him more and more.

I know he means Easton, and that’s the last person in the world I want to speak about right now. Trying to laugh it off, I wipe at my face. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. I—”

“Then what the fuck are you here for?”

I’m taken aback by how harsh his voice is, the way it slices through my attempt to cover up my pain, ripping my facade into shreds.

Did I do something wrong? Did I do something to make him angry?

Was I mistaken for coming here?

I sigh, shrugging. “Looking for a change of pace, I guess?” I offer a small joking smile, hoping we can brush over the reason I’m here.

Why, of all people to run to in this town, I came looking for him.

“The truth,” he demands, just as he did in the theatre, refusing to let me leave without stealing a part of me that no one gets.

“Truth? I don’t think I’ve told anyone that in a long time,” I say, knowing he won’t give me anything unless I’m honest with him.

My heart rattles inside of its cage, a wild animal tired of being contained within the walls of my own chest, ready to bare its teeth, show the world what it’s made of.

When he doesn’t say anything, just stares at me expectantly and takes another hit of his cigarette, I tell him what he needs to hear.

The truth.

“Because I need you.” My words catch in a gust of wind as engines roar behind my head. My body pushes up from the bottom of the surface, emerging from the water with a gasp of air as I continue.“I need you to help me take the mask off. You’re the only person I know not hiding from the world. You burn for it. This place, it’s eating me alive, turning me into a person I don’t recognize. Show me anarchy, show me something violent.” I shake my head, needing to feel that escape.“Show me all your truths, Rook. And I’ll show you mine.”

His eyes turn into an inferno, burning so bright, so green, it’s hypnotizing.

“You wanna take the mask off?” He picks up his helmet, pushing it towards me, the cool material pressing into my stomach. “Then take me to the place you hate most in the world, and I’ll show you how to make it choke on the ashes of the girl they left to burn.”

Rook