62. Felix
Water drips down my body as I step out of the ocean. The sun beats down, heating my skin, and sand clings to my feet as I walk. The Maldives is picture-perfect. A tropical paradise I never want to leave.
Up ahead, Theo is stretched out on a lounger with his girl, Olivia, straddling him as they kiss. She’s exactly Theo’s type, blonde and covered in ink. Together, they’re sun-kissed and languid, shaded by palm trees.
“Water nice?” Theo asks me, lifting his sunglasses as I approach.
“Refreshing.” I drop onto the lounger beside the two, rubbing a towel over my face.
“Glad you came, man. This is what life is about—beautiful girl, good friends, and fucking off from reality. Am I right or am I right?”
“You’re definitely right.” At least about the fucking off from reality part.
It’s been two weeks since the three of us arrived here.
The day I got back from Westbridge, after all that shit went down with Tyler and Harper, I went straight to Theo.
My father warned me to keep quiet about what got me sent to Westbridge.
The difference between him and me is that I know who I can trust.
Fuck. That’s not entirely true. I thought I could trust Tyler. Fucking traitor.
I told Theo everything. When I mentioned I was skipping town for real this time, he said we’d piss off to the Maldives together
Here we are.
I can’t fathom going back to New York. Not when it means watching Harper and Tyler build their perfect little life together. Maybe I won’t go back at all. Nothing is left for me there. I changed myself for Harper, to be the man she deserved. And where the fuck did that get me?
As for my brother, I can’t stand to look at his face.
Theo stretches, placing both hands behind his head. “We’re living the high life right now. I’m telling you, Blackwood, you need to come back to eclipse. Business is booming. Eclipse is everywhere. We’re making a killing, and it’s only going to get bigger.”
I glance at him, at his confidence, his smirk, his absolute certainty that the world bends for him. It’s tempting. More tempting than it should be.
Why the hell shouldn’t I go back to eclipse?
It’s not like anyone gives a shit what I do anymore. Besides, no one will find out I’m involved with eclipse. They didn’t find out the first time. I’ll be even better the second time, considering how much practice I got keeping my secrets buried while at Westbridge.
“I’m in.”
While I’m at it, I may as well open my speakeasy.
Not a goddamn thing about it will be legal.
I suppose Clara has died in vain after all. But fuck it .
Theo grins, satisfied, like he never doubted my answer. “That’s what I like to hear.”
A bag of my belongings sits on the sand beside me. I reach for my wallet, retrieving my poker chip to feel the familiar pattern of it weaving between my fingers. But this chip was a promise between me and Tyler. A symbol of a brotherhood that doesn’t exist anymore.
I toss the poker chip onto the sand, never wanting to see it again, and instead reach for a coin.
Fuck Tyler.
Fuck Harper too.
Closing my eyes, I twirl the coin between my fingers.
“Cool trick, Felix,” Olivia says. “Hey, what happened to your hand?”
My gaze flicks to her, unsure what she’s talking about.
Her eyes are locked on my palm. My scar.
“Looks nasty,” she says. “How’d you get the scar?”
My jaw clenches and my chest burns. For a second, I’m back in Harper’s living room as an eleven-year-old kid, reliving one of the most cherished memories of my life. The day Harper marked me and Tyler as hers, linking the three of us forever. I hear her young, sweet voice in my mind.
You belong to me for life.
What a fucking joke.
I force a slow breath and push the memory down.
The past is dead.
“I don’t remember how I got the scar. Must not have been from anything significant.”
Maybe if I repeat those words enough, I’ll start to believe them.
TO BE CONTINUED
Felix, Tyler, and Harper will find their happy ending in the completion of their duet: MY FAVORITE SINNERS.