Page 56 of Hexed & Hazy

This could go terribly wrong, but I hop into her car anyway. Even though I haven’t been in it in years, it’s familiar: perfectly clean, smelling of leather, with a seat that still feels like my own.

“Still living in the same place?” she asks.

“Yup.”

We both know there’s nowhere else for me. I moved out for a few years, only to move right back in after my mom’s sickness got worse: weaker muscles, more exhaustion. She needed someone to help around the house, and my sisters were about to go off to college. I wouldn’t let it be them.

“So…” Scarlet draws out the word. “Hexed, huh? Is the bad luck why your friend left you behind?”

“No. I just needed a minute to myself.”

She snorts. “Typical. Always need to be alone.”

I wince.

“Sorry—”

I gaze into the glass sunroof and the bare trees looming high. “No, keep going. This is what I need. Someone else to make me feel like an ass.”

“Well… I’m here for that anytime.” She chuckles—nowhere close to the laughter I used to pull from her, but it’s something. “Ass.”

I’m hurting Rowan with my hex. It’s the last thing I ever wanted to do.

“It’ll wear off eventually, you know,” Scarlet says.

Scarlet is right, and if anyone knows about hexes, it’s her—even if she wasn’t the one who cast it. Probably. Trusting her about this feels important, even if it would be easier to blame her.

“I know.”

“Then what’s the problem? Why are you fighting for it? It’s not like you want to date again. I’ve heard rumors⁠—”

“I’m sure you have.”

“Then why?”

I close my eyes and hit the seat with the back of my head. “Because I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Right. That’s what it’s always been about for you, but in trying to take care of everyone, you hurt people. Everyone. Your sisters miss you, you know. When’s the last time you texted them?”

She doesn’t have to say what I know she’s thinking—that it’s why I left her, gave her the freedom she didn’t want. Never wanted. Scarlet wanted me to be a better boyfriend, but instead of trusting myself to do that, I ended it. It still feels like the right thing to do, but I can’t deny it hurts.

I was hurting, too.

I huff. “You still talk to my sisters?”

Somehow, that’s the most confusing part of this conversation.

“Yes. I do.”

She parks outside my house, and Rowan’s car still isn’t in the parking lot across the street. What would she think if she saw me with Scarlet? Why does it matter when she already thinks the worst of me?

“I’m sorry,” I say, the words coming easier now that we’re alone. “I really cared about you, and I still do, even if it’s not the same.”

“I know. You can still care about me, I can still care about you, and I’m still allowed to be bitter about how it ended. All of that gets to coexist.”

“How long is that going to go on for? It’s not healthy, Scar.”

“At least another decade.” Scarlet turns to face me, smiling ever so slightly. “Look, I may not be over it yet, but I’m getting over it. I am. And I actually want you to be fucking happy.”