Scar by Kelly Favor Read Free Book Online

times earlier but she hadn’t wanted to engage with him. She was angry and hurt and sad in a way that she couldn’t even begin to explain. Instead, she sat and stared out the window at the road.
    Nobody was coming to see the house, she realized. Eventually, the sun began setting and then went down. Elijah told her they probably shouldn’t put any lights on that could be easily seen from the street, but he’d turned on the lights in one or two rooms that were less risky.
    Still, it was like being in a house with the power out. Only they didn’t have any candles. Or furniture.
    “Hey,” Elijah said, startling her.
    Caelyn turnedand saw his dark shadow in the doorway. “You scared me.”
    “We should talk,” he said, and the floorboards creaked as he stepped inside. She could tell from his tone of voice that this time he meant it and wouldn’t let her brush him off any longer.
    “I don’t have anything to say.” She pursed her lips tightly, feeling like a petulant child, but still unable to change her attitude.
    “Let’s not waste our last few hours together being angry,” he said, his voice infuriatingly calm.
    “Maybe I’d rather be angry.”
    Elijah came close enough that she could begin to make out his features. He sat down next to her. “I’m sure you would rather be angry right now. It’s easier that way,” he said.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means,” he said, reaching out and putting his hand on her leg, “that if you’re angry with me, you don’t have to deal with how sad it is to say goodbye.”
    Caelyn pulled her leg away from his hand, even though she didn’t really want to pull away. But she was so mad, so furious that he was saying these things. “I am angry with you, Elijah. You’re the reason we have to say goodbye. Who else should I blame?”
    “Maybe you don’t have to blame anyone.”
    “Don’t try and talk your way out of this,” she said.
    “I’m not talking my way out of anything, Caelyn.”
    “You are,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “You’re the one giving up. I’m ready to keep fighting for us, and I won’t ever stop. But now you’re quitting on me.”
    “I’m not quitting on you.”
    “You are. This is the definition of quitting. You’re acting like a loser.”
    He was quiet for a moment. “I know you’re mad, but don’t ever call me a loser.”
    She looked down, even though she could hardly see his eyes as it was. She could feel him watching her with disappointment.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered. And then the tears came and her shoulders shook.
    Elijah leaned in and grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. He kissed her teary cheeks with his soft, warm lips. “I love you,” he told her. “I’ll always love you no matter what anybody does or even if I never see you again.”
    “Don’t say that!” she cried.
    “I have to,” he told her. “If I die, or I go to jail, or you move on with your life because you can’t wait for me anymore—“
    “That won’t happen,” she protested.
    “Shhh…” he hushed. “Let me say it. Just let me say it, okay?”
    She quieted down, but having him hold her and love her at the same time that he told her they might be apart forever was almost too much to bear.
    “Even if you move on with your life, and have a house and a husband with the kids and dog and white picket fence—even if you do all that—I won’t ever forget you. I’ll love you ‘til the day I die and beyond. And I won’t blame you for doing what you need to do to be happy.”
    “But I won’t be happy if we’re not together, Elijah.”
    “I know you don’t think you can be,” he said, rocking her gently as he spoke into her ear. “But I want you to promise me you’ll try,” he told her.
    “I can’t. I just can’t.” She sobbed some more. The anger had drained from her body and now she was wracked with sorrow because she felt the end was coming.
    We’re going to be