The Ravens (The Ravens #1) - Kass Morgan Page 0,69

a ten-foot radius turned away from them.

“Look, I know things haven’t been completely normal between us lately,” she said, trying to stay calm, trying to reason with him. She could save this. She was Scarlett Winter, after all. “You were gone all summer, and I’ve been distracted with the new members’ education. But we’ll get back on track. We’re great together. You know that.”

Mason took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. His nervous tic. His poker tell. One she’d always found adorable until right this very second. Because when he did that, she knew.

Such a tiny gesture to snap her heart in two.

He moved closer, and despite her throat squeezing shut with panic, she held his gaze, like a drowning woman who wanted one last gasp of air before she went under. He put his hands on her shoulders, his touch ever so careful. Like she was something fragile, breakable. Like she was a stranger.

“I care about you, Scar. I always will. That hasn’t changed. But I have.”

This was really happening. He was using all the words and phrases of a bad romantic comedy. He was a breath away from saying, It’s not you, it’s me . . .

He shook his head. “I don’t think our futures are as compatible as our pasts. And deep down, I think you know that too.”

No, Mason. I don’t know. Explain it to me, she wanted to shout. She wanted to shake him until he said something that made sense. But she could already tell his mind was made up. Maybe it had been for a long time, and she’d just been too busy, too oblivious to notice. “You don’t mean that, Mason. You love me and I love you. We are supposed to be together.”

His face fell. She knew what he was thinking—he didn’t believe in “supposed to” anymore. But it really didn’t matter which words she used. She could see that from his resolute face and his squared shoulders. This wasn’t a spell, where if you said the right things and held the right cards, someone would love you the way you wanted him to. There were love spells, yes, and it would be possible to woo him back magically, to force him to act like someone in love. But that was all it would be: an act. You could bend a heart to your will, but underneath, it still beat to its own rhythm. There was no changing that.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought,” he was saying. “And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do this here, tonight. I love you, Scar, but I think we’d be better off as friends.”

Her throat was thick with unshed tears. Friends. Screw that. She took a stumbling step back.

“Scarlett, wait.” He started after her.

She raised a hand to ward him off, stopping him with her magic. “Please. I . . .” Shit. She was going to start crying, right here. “Later,” she managed, practically flinging herself into the party.

She needed to get out of here. Now. Before she really lost it, before she brought this party crashing down around them.

She pushed her way through the crowd on the dance floor, shoving people aside with her elbows and her mind. The party throbbed around her, everyone shrieking with laughter, dancing, kissing, staring up at the décor in wonder. For everyone else, everyone but Scarlett, this was just another amazing night at Westerly.

The exit was finally in view when her mother and Eugenie stepped into her line of sight. Shit. She could not handle them right now. Not at her most vulnerable. She couldn’t stomach her mom’s disappointment, her sister’s ill-disguised glee. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how she’d break the news to her mother. She was stumbling back through the party, looking for another exit, when someone grabbed her arm.

Jackson. Oh God. She just couldn’t. “Jackson, can you please yell at me another time?” she said, angrily brushing away a tear that had escaped down her cheek.

Jackson’s expression shifted instantly, losing its usual sharp edges. He looked at her with something bordering on understanding, like he knew what it was like to lose your shit in the worst possible place. Of course, given that Harper was his stepsister, he probably did. Scarlett’s heart gave a painful squeeze that had nothing to do with Mason.

Until a few days ago, she’d had no idea that Jackson was Harper’s stepbrother. She’d always liked Harper, but they’d never been that close. After she