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“For fractured souls are like magnets. Drawn to collide into an impossible bliss…”
At those words my eyes snapped shut. My heart sprinted in my chest, but the flames in my blood, the heat in my blood, was calmed. The flames never calmed. They forever fucking burned. But with her… I wanted to grip her tighter.
I realized, that not once had I felt this safe since he had been gone. Flame swallowed hard and watched me. My heart fluttered when I admitted to myself that I liked the way he watched me. I liked that, when I was near, the pained expression he always wore fell away.
“She would never want me. I’m a fucking retard.” I hit the side of my head with the heel of my palm as my eyes blurred again. “I don’t think right in here. I’m fucked up—I don’t get people, they don’t get me. And I ain’t ever gonna be able to read people. Why would someone as perfect as her want someone as fucked up as me? Someone who isn’t right in the head?”
“Because she’s perfect. Everything about her is fucking perfect. Every-fuckin’-thing.”
“We have been in greater danger than this in our lives, Lilah. And Flame saved me. Twice. If it is my turn to be his savior, then I will happily step into the fire.”
I think perhaps, if you are told something often enough, you end up believing it. But maybe, just maybe, someone comes into your life and makes you question yourself. Makes you believe you are worth something.”
“What are words? Sometimes the flick of a pair of eyes or the flush of skin reveals everything you need to know.
Words can wound. Silence can heal.”
“That is how I regard Flame. As mine. From the moment I was able to touch him, and he touched me, I was claimed. I have been his this whole time.”
“And as all the barriers around my heart crumbled to dust, I held him. For the first time in my life I held a man, I embraced him. I felt his hot skin against my cheek, and I felt his heart race in his chest. And then a miracle occurred—he held me back. A man. A man held me, and I felt no desire to throw him off me. Because this man had saved me.” Maddie paused, eyes unflinching. “The man they called Flame.”
“You draw and I like to watch you. I like you being near me. It’s better than standing under your window. I like being able to see you up close.”
“That beat, that new lease of life pounding within my chest? It is his. The awakening of my heart belongs to Flame.” I steadied my tears.
“I slept. With her beside me, I can sleep with no demons in my head. And she sings to me. To me. No one’s ever sang to me before.”
“I need her.” I tapped my head. “In here, I need her.” Then I bounced my fist over my heart. “And here. I feel her in here too.”
“I know I’m different. I know I don’t see the world like everyone else does. But I want to see your world, Maddie. Even if it’s the only one I’ll ever understand.”
Then his finger stroked along my cheek, and his lips began to move so gently against my lips. And I felt this kiss all the way to my soul.
“Just like your picture, Maddie. I’m holding you just like your sketch.”
“That you are my anchor. You are the one I was meant to find on this Earth.” Her finger stopped and she looked into my eyes. “That you are the one for me. Only you can understand me, Flame. No one else. You have spent your entire life lost, not understanding what people want, but with me, you always know how to make me happy. How to make me feel safe.”
And that is when I knew. I knew that what I was feeling was love. It had to be. Because it was all-encompassing and irrational, yet at the same time it felt so perfect and true. And it had to be true, because in front of me was my Flame… and I was his Maddie. Two fractured souls made whole only by the other’s unconditional love.
He’s the baby of the Hangmen now. We got his fucking back. All good?”
Little Ash breathed out a long breath, then sitting back said, “I think… I think I’m gonna like it here, Flame. I think I’m… I think I’m gonna like having a big brother.”
