Page 113 of Under Your Scars

“Hey old man,” I say to him as we stroll into the room. Elena pokes her head in the room to wave and then gasps, announcing she forgot her phone charger in her room and runs off to get it. I give Edwin a small grin. “I’ll be gone for a couple days. Do you need anything before I go?”

Edwin nods, languidly pointing in the direction of the newspaper on his bedside table. I point at it for confirmation, and he nods again. I hand it to him, and he rolls it up into a tight tube and then hits me over the head with it before laughing like an old prospector.

“Ow!” I exclaim, even though it didn’t hurt. “What was that for?”

“So you know what’ll be waiting for you if you don’t take care of our girl.”

“Ourgirl?” Weird phrasing on his part. “Do you even know who you’re talking about?” I ask teasingly.

“A’course, I do. The lovely Elena.”

My head snaps up to look at him, my eyes wide with shock. “Edwin—”

He bonks me over the head with the newspaper again. “Shut your yap and listen to me, boyo. That girl loves you to death. Don’t you mess it up or there’ll be the devil to pay.”

Fuck. I can’t go to Texas. Not anymore. Edwin is rarely lucid. I can’t miss this opportunity to—

He pokes me square in the chest, pulling me out of my thoughts. “No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“But—”

Another smack to the top of my head. “Your stubbornness has always irritated me something terrible. You’d best get out of here before I put my foot up your arse and kick you out myself. Make her happy. She deserves it, and so do you.”

I hesitate, and although we have a flight to catch, I need to hear his wisdom. I never valued it when I was growing up, but it’s like gold to me now.

“She’s so close to slipping away, and I can’t lose her, Edwin. I can’t. I wouldn’t survive it.” I take a deep breath. “I didn’t know love could be so hard. I feel like no matter what I do, no matter how much I love her, it will never be enough.”

“Aye, love is hard. But that’s why we cherish it so much.” He takes my hands in his. “Your happiness means everything to me, you know, and I want what you have with her to last for an eternity.”

I squeeze his hands and suck my bottom lip in between my teeth as I think. “So how do I make it last an eternity?”

“By remembering that a gilded cage is still a cage.”

I tighten my jaw. I want to defend myself, but what is there to defend? He’s right. He’s so right and I don’t think he even realizes the extent of it. Wisdom is what Edwin does best, and he’s never let me down in that regard.

I gulp. “How do I open the cage?”

“Give her the keys.”

“What if she leaves? Ijustsaid I couldn’t handle that. If I lose her, then my entire life means nothing. I might as well have…”

I trail off, because I don’t know if Edwin remembers my suicide attempt the night I met Elena, and if he doesn’t, then it’s better for it to stay that way.

“If she leaves, then you didn’t love her the way she wanted you to.”

I huff. “How am I supposed to know the way she wants to be loved?”

Edwin smacks me,again, with the newspaper. “Bylistening. Something you’ve never been good at."

CHAPTER 32

THE SILENCER

When Elena and I board the jet, she has a certain…pep in her step. Like a child walking into a toy store. She seems happy.