Saving Sparrow (Slow Burns & Tragic Beginnings, #2)

by C.P. Harris

“To love me, you must love all of me, even the parts you don’t yet understand.” ~H Pierre

The disappointment at him not recognizing me settled in, and I blinked the tears away. I thought our love would bring him back to me the moment he laid eyes on me, but it didn’t. What was I supposed to do now?

“His name is Sparrow. I met him once, only I didn’t know it at the time.” “The gatekeeper,” I breathed to myself, right before he closed the door and locked me in.

Elliott just watched us, and it was hard not to stare back. He was the prettiest boy I’d ever seen.

We were complete opposites in all ways but one. We loved each other more than anything. That we agreed on.

“We loved you,” I whispered. We loved all of him, which meant even the part of him we didn’t know. “We… loved you too.”

“You and Miguel have books. Let me have this.” Let me take care of you, was what he didn’t say.

“Are stepbrothers usually as close as you and Miguel are?” Quentin snorted. “I don’t think anyone’s as close as we are. I’m kind of obsessed with him.” A blush spread from below his freckles, making my heart turn to goo. I loved when Quentin got mushy. Loved when he forced his rough affection on me too. His mushiness usually involved professions of murder and mayhem if anyone came near me. Saying he was obsessed with me was kind of tame in comparison to the usual.

“Elliott came along and reflected the pain we were feeling inside. He gave us something else to focus on, something else to fight, something else to fight for.”

“We were just three broken, codependent kids looking for a type of love no one could ever take from us. We had no boundaries, and before long, going too far didn’t seem far enough.”

We were too blind, too caught up to see beyond our ownership of each other. Too stupid to understand love couldn’t fix everything.

We were smart enough to know that the way we depended on each other wasn’t healthy. We just didn’t give a shit.

This scared, shy boy with missing memories, who loved to wear pretty things.

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you pick out your own gift.” “Hey.” Quentin sounded offended, “I’m great at picking out gifts.” “He got me a barbecue grill for my birthday,” Miguel said to me, folding his arms over his chest as if to say, ‘see?’ “You were craving barbecue all week!” “So, then you take me to Patty’s Smoke Shack for lunch or something. You don’t buy me an Olympic-sized propane grill and ten pounds of beef.” “I stand by the purchase,” Quentin said,

“Kind of hard not to after waking up every day in middle school to his morning wood stabbing me in the back.” “First of all,” Miguel tossed back, “you’ve always been the big spoon, so it was your dinosaur-sized wood poking me in the back.” “It is pretty big, isn’t it?” Quentin grinned. Miguel had fallen right into his trap. “Can you be serious for five minutes?” he asked Quentin. Quentin cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

I made a promise to myself right then. They were my safe space, and I would be theirs.

“What does sex feel like?” “Whoa,”—Quentin removed his one earbud—“what the fuck is on those index cards?”

Quentin and I worshipped him. He was our religion, the altar we knelt at.”

How was I supposed to go on without them? They were the air I breathed, the goodness in my heart, the flame that lit up my body.

Because if I’d learned anything now, it was that in order to save Elliott, I’d need to save Sparrow first.

“I love you, Q. That never changes. It never ends.”

My blood warmed as he continued to graze his fingers along my arm, and in that moment, I allowed myself to think the one thought I’d been denying myself. I’m falling for my captor.

I see you, Sparrow,” I said quietly, “and I’ll always acknowledge you.”

“What’s that?” “I needed a drink.” He held up a beer bottle, letting me read the label. “It’s… non-alcoholic.” “I’m not fucking up this body with real booze.”

“I’m sorry he hurt you, but he thought he was doing the right thing. And by the end, he loved you. I hold his love for you now, and I hold him. Thank you for not hating him. Thank you for loving all of me.”

“I love you, pretty girl. So fucking much it hurts.”

“I can’t live without you, Guelly. My heart breaks with all the love I have for you.”

“This bond will never be broken,” I whispered in the dark. “Nothing or no one will break us apart,” Elliott breathed. Quentin kissed us both, reciting his vow with a growl. “And if they try, I’ll fucking break them.”