Phoenix Rising Issue #3 - S. R. Watson Page 0,47

sobs as she throws clothes into her suitcase. Asher arrives in the room seconds later. “Sis, where are you going?” He looks at me, questioning.

“I can’t pretend anymore, Asher,” Harlow warns.

“Please don’t,” he whispers.

“Pretend about what?” Lily pushes.

I’m stunned silent as I watch this fucking catastrophe play out in front of me.

“I can’t pretend I’m okay with any of this. Can’t pretend I don’t know the only family I have left fucking hates me—tolerating me so that his girl doesn’t leave if I do. Can’t pretend that seeing Phoenix with that monstrous bitch isn’t shredding my damn heart and soul like a meat grinder. I’d rather go back home and live under the same roof with the man who destroyed my innocence,” she screams, but I’m still stuck on her last statement. “At least I grew to learn how to push past that pain.”

She drops to her knees and curls in a ball, rocking. Melissa pokes her head through the door, and surprisingly, Asher and I both yell for her to go downstairs. Asher looks at me, his skin white as a sheet. Overwhelming fear strikes me; a feeling that’s so fucking foreign, I don’t know what to do with it. I’m afraid for her to elaborate about her “destroyed innocence.” Lily drops to her knees with her. “You’re not going back there. I told you I’d keep quiet, but you can’t let him get away with this.”

“So you fucking knew? You knew someone had hurt my sister, and you kept this from me?”

Tears fall from Asher’s eyes. I can feel the sting behind my own, but I swipe at them before they make their appearance.

“She made me promise, Asher. It wasn’t my story to tell.”

“God-fucking-dammit,” he yells. He walks over and punches the wall. “Was it the fucking stepfather? Thomas?”

Harlow flinches at the sound of his name, and we have our answer.

“I’m going to murder that son of a bitch,” I growl.

I pick up Harlow, but she’s catatonic. I set her on my lap, and everything that I’ve been holding in releases without my consent. I fucking cry into her shoulder—a full-out cry. Memories invade this moment with the state she was in when I first met her, the shit she’s had to endure because of Melissa, all of it. I’ve added to her hurt and suffering.

“Oh, believe me, he’s going to pay. I’m so sorry, princess. Please forgive me for not recognizing the signs. Forgive me for what I said to you in the room that day. I love you so much. We won’t let him get away with this.”

Harlow is unresponsive. She remains in a ball as I rock her in my lap. This shit with Melissa is over. She has to leave. I will find another way. Besides, let her try to play her last ace. I already put it out there, so what. I’ve been fighting a losing battle with my heart from the very beginning. I don’t want to love. I don’t want to be weak for anyone. It’s only now that I’m realizing the decision isn’t up to me. The harder I fight it, the harder I fall. I never stood a chance. This broken woman in my arms has owned me since the day we met. My heart chose her. Now I have a new goal—a new mission that has nothing to do with Melissa or the fucking scandal or hostile takeovers. My goal is to fix my broken princess. To fix us. I will do whatever it takes to undo the mental fuck job this guy has done to her. I pull her hair back. I need to see her face, but her stare is empty.

I pull the covers back and lay her down with me in the bed.

“Asher, I love your sister more than you know. I have a lot to explain about the Melissa situation, but for now, I’m not leaving her.”

Asher nods.

“Can you let Melissa know I will talk with her in the morning but to get her clothes packed. She can’t stay.”

“Gladly,” Lily says. She grabs Asher by the arm. “Take care of her, Phoenix. We’ll talk in the morning,”

She closes the door behind them, and I pull Harlow closer to me. She lets me unfold her from her ball, but she still isn’t responding to me. I wrap my arms around her, and I sing softly in her ear. I sing the very song I sang that night when I first professed my love to her.