Chapter Twenty-Four

Amaryllis Lexington

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Other than the beautiful sounds of crickets dancing around the lake, the only sound that could be heard was my failed attempt at playing a guitar. This was our second and last night at the resort.

The camp was fun, but nothing could be more fun than this moment right here. Just Carlson and I, bickering and at the same time asking weird questions that revealed a bit of ourselves to one another.

After last night, I spent the bulk of the day talking to Rosaline on the phone and asking her questions we both had answers to, but I wasn't ready to admit. Questions like why I suddenly lose my breath when Carlson's eyes meet mine.

"Amari, just stop. Playing a guitar isn't your forte. Find something else." He broke my trance, taking the guitar from me and carefully laying it on his other side. I had to admit I was a little bit jealous of the guitar. There's a way he handles it that just makes me wish he would do just half of that with me.

"What's the wildest thing you've ever done, Amari?" He asked out of the blue and I laughed. The answer was dancing on the tip of my tongue.

"Getting a tattoo." The tattoo he apparently loves so much. My answer seemed to catch his attention because he shifted his gaze from the peaceful water and directed it at me. He had laughter dancing in his eyes.

"Are you for real? That's the wildest thing you've ever done? Pray tell, how many tattoos do you have? Asides the one at the back of your neck?"

I shrugged, "Just one." The look of shock on his face told me he wasn't expecting that answer. I was confused. Wasn't that wild enough? I had a mental breakdown in front of the tattoo parlor and Rose had to shove me in there. We got our tattoos together. It was sort of a final bonding gift before I left Halloway.

"Who would have thought you were such a sweet little thing. Getting tattoos don't count as being wild, Cielita." Hah! Yeah, right. Not with parents like mine. Mama and Papa Burton almost had a mental breakdown, but they let it be because they were trying to get back into my good graces after they basically lied to me all my life. One of the very few perks of the grand revelation that caused my life to tumble.

"To me, it does. What is the wildest thing you have ever done? Jump down a plane? Eat fifty tacos?" He had an amused smirk on his face. How does eating fifty tacos even count as being wild? It would be a blessing, yo!

"None of those. But, I have jumped into a burning building just to get my phone. I had this new girl I just met when I was fifteen and I had to go through hell to get her number. The building I was in caught fire, and they managed to get us out, but I jumped right in just to grab my phone. It had her number in it and I wasn't about to lose it." My. Jaw. Was. Almost. Hitting. The. Floor.

"Were you insane?!" He looked at me for some seconds, then he erupted into laughter. He was laughing so hard, he started wheezing.

"Goodness, Amari. You are even denser than I give you credit for. You actually believed that? Come on!" He started laughing again, making me look like a fool.

"What? It's not my fault you come off as highly desperate. I wouldn't be surprised if you actually went through that length just to get a girl. Things like that don't come easy for your kind." His laughter died in his throat and I mentally gave myself a high-five. Way to turn the tables around.

"My kind? My kind as in unbelievably attractive looking dudes?" Although he was undoubtedly right, I barfed. He moved closer to me, covering the tiny bit of space between us. Gulp.

"Getting girls isn't hard for me, Cielita . The hard part is getting me to actually want them." His ego had to be larger than the whole of Texas Medical Center. No kidding!

"Whatever. So, what's the answer then? No lies." He moved back to his original position, sadly.

"I haven't actually done anything wild. But I did drive blindfolded once." My eyes doubled for size of saucers. He had to be joking!

"I don't believe you." I voiced out my mind and he smiled, bringing his leg up and rolling up his trousers to reveal a scar that was barely visible under the moonlight. Wow.

"I got into an accident." He had a small but extremely sad smile on his face and I knew he wasn't kidding at all. I wanted to slap him and throw him in the water for being so stupid.

"What if something worse had happened to you? How could you be so reckless?! What were you thinking?" I was so mad. So mad at him for being so stupid and risking his life. He was surprised at my outburst, judging from the look on his face.

"Hey, come on. I didn't die. I'm here, aren't I?" That only infuriated me more, and before I knew it, tears were burning my eyes. I rarely ever got to that point of anger when I start to shed tears. I hated that phase.

"That's not the point, you doofus! The point is that it was stupid, and reckless, and downright unreasonable! You could have killed yourself or killed someone! What were you thinking?" He had that 'what have I done' look on his face, but I was too busy crying and scolding myself for crying to even care.

He tried to hold me against himself but I pushed him away angrily. The thought of him even considering the possibility was just too much for me to wrap my head around. Unfortunately, he didn't give up, and soon enough, my resolve melted and I allowed him to hold me against his chest. He was the reason for my angry tears yet he was the one comforting me.

"I'm sorry. I won't do that again, I promise. Also, I couldn't have killed someone because it was a lonely road. No one ever passes that route."

"What about yourself?" I asked with my tear soaked voice.

"At that point, I didn't care if I lived or died. I had so much going on and I just wanted something to make me feel something different. Something asides anger and raw pain. A group of guys were organizing the event and I signed up." My head lifted off his chest as I stared at him in disbelief. He was low-key trying to commit suicide?

"Why?" was the only question I could come up with. He looked away from me, but thanks to our close proximity and the moonlight, I could see the pain and anger in his eyes. It was something I had never seen before.

"What I'm about to tell you, no one must know about it. Only the boys know and that's because I trust them with my life. If the press should find out about this, the name my family has built for years could come crashing d..." A ruffle in the grasses behind us halted him. He waited a while but no movement was heard, so he continued. I felt so honoured that he would tell me something only his best friends know about.

"Anyway, the point is you have to promise me not to tell anyone." That wouldn't be hard at all, seeing as I was a very tight lipped person. I had to give myself credit for that, so I promised him.

"About two and half years ago, my dad was diagnosed with some kind of strange illness. He could still move around a bit and attend to work stuff, until it got worse about two years ago. The business world is really cruel and the opposition can use the slightest opportunity to ruin your business. We tried to keep things a secret for a while, but somehow word got around that he was bedridden and the shareholders in the company were really worried. A lot of other companies saw this as an opportunity to pull out a lot of our clients, but our legal team came up with a solution." He swallowed and continued.

"They asked my mum to step in and take over the position, and it was like magic. Everything became stable again because they trusted my mum's business skills. She's a very smart woman who can turn a dollar into a million if you allow her work her magic. Unfortunately, my dad's sickness really got to her. She loved him so much that it wrecked her." He ran his hand over his face, and I could tell from his voice that he was trying to hold back his tears. I didn't know what to do or say, so. I just held his free hand in mine, squeezing it slightly.

"She started drinking, and soon enough, she became irredeemable. We couldn't let anyone know what was happening. We couldn't afford to have the press finding out, so I stepped in. Everyone thinks I'm just helping out with managerial duties while my mum is the one running the show, but the truth is, I'm the one doing everything. My mum gets so drunk, she can't even remember the way to her room. It fills me with so much rage! So much anger!" The anger in his voice scared even me.

"At first, I tried to understand her. I tried to sympathize with her, but then it became too much. It became unbearable."

"Sometimes, I just really hate her for doing this to me. Sometimes, I get really selfish and I want to hurt her by taking myself away also. So, when I heard about the stupid driving thing. It was the perfect opportunity and I took it." For the first time since he started talking, he looked right at me and my heart melted at his broken look.

"You know what's crazy, Amari? You showed more care and concern tonight than my mum did. She was too wasted to even get her sentences right. But hey, what can I do? She's my mother and I love her all the same."

My heart broke for him and I wrapped my arms around him without even giving it a thought. For a split second, I thought he would be weirded out by that but instead he hugged me back, nestling in face in the crook of my neck.

My heart was hammering at an insane pace, but this time there was no fear of heart attack. The only fear was that he shouldn't miraculously hear just how fast my heart was beating.

"It will be alright. Everything is going to turn out fine. Just don't try that ever again. If you hurt yourself, you won't be taking yourself away from her, but from all of us, and then the cycle of broken hearts will just get bigger." He removed his face from the crook of my neck to stare into my face, and the biggest and most beautiful smile in the world adorned his face.

"What?"

"You said all of us . That's the best thing I've heard in months. You do crazy things to me, Lexington, and I'm loving every minute of it."