“The scorpion and the frog. The scorpion asks the frog for a ride across the river and promises not to sting the frog. Halfway there the scorpion stings the frog, and the frog begins to drown. Just before he draws his last breath, he looks up at the scorpion he trusted and asks why. The scorpion replies, it’s my nature.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I should have known better.” He gave up trying to sit up and slouched against the wall.
Chills crawled over my limbs. Was I the scorpion? Some horrible little creature that couldn’t be trusted?
He shut his eyes. “Your date’s waiting.”
Noah rolled to his feet and grunted, taking three unsteady steps to his door and leaving me confused, on my knees. He didn’t look back, and Micah didn’t help me up.
When Noah’s door closed, I just stared at it. So many men in my life, yet I never felt more unloved or unlovable.
“Avery, get up off the floor and come inside.”
I shook my head, my heart hardening and cracking like ice. “I can’t … be around you right now, Micah. I need you to leave.”
“Avery, this isn’t how we behave. This isn’t how you behave. Get up off the floor.”
I blinked up at him, and a tear fell from my lashes. “You beat up my friend.”
“That man is not your friend.” He stepped closer and held out a hand. “Come on, love. I’ll take you inside.”
But Noah was my friend. He cared about me. He left me funny little love notes and flowers. We danced in the snow and made love on a bed of roses. He understood me. Maybe a little too well.
And then he called me a scorpion.
I shut my eyes and slid my hand into Micah’s as he pulled me off the ground. Was that what I was? Poisonous? Toxic? Was that why I had no friends and why my siblings all left and never called to see if I was okay?
Maybe Noah was right, and this was my nature. Maybe that’s why Micah seemed so certain people like me were better off contracting their relationships rather than trying to form organic ones.
I couldn’t afford to burn another bridge. I stood and brushed the dust off the hem of my dress. I glanced at the floor. “My purse?”
“I have it.” Micah put an arm around me and escorted me inside.
It seemed natural to simply shut off. The reality was too sharp and could only bear a dull throb right now, or I’d crack. Lowering my gaze to the floor, I followed him inside.
32
Avery
I stared at my lap as Micah ran water in my kitchen. My stomach swirled with a nasty mix of fear and self-loathing. Noah was across the hall, bloody and furious. And I was here—with Micah.
He called me a scorpion, one of the most duplicitous creatures on this earth. A venomous, arachnid predator, so married to its nature, it was doomed to live a life barren of friendship.
I glanced up as Micah’s tailored pants filled my view. Dressed in a designer suit, dark skin pampered to perfection, he did not look like the lethal weapon that emerged only minutes ago when Noah charged at him. The man didn’t have a scratch on him, yet Noah could barely open his eyes.
He settled across from me, lowering his weight onto the coffee table. “Your makeup’s running.”
I blinked as he gently angled my chin and traced a warm, wet washcloth across my cheek. His touch was tender, nurturing, and so contrary to the man he was a few minutes ago.
“There are people in our lives, Avery…” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and continued to wash away my ruined makeup. “…who we feel an attachment to, but need to cut off for our own good.”
He could be referring to Noah or my mother. Both had drained my emotional reservoir. My mother’s demand for money was infuriating, mostly because I went through hell to help her so many times and she couldn’t even spare a thank you.
But Noah … that look in his eyes as he turned away from me five minutes ago… It depleted something inside of me, something I was already low on and needed very much.
Micah’s dark eyes looked into mine, always so patient and guiding. They were wise eyes.
“I know it’s hard to cut people out, Avery. I have friends from the Badlands, friends I’ve known since childhood and loved very much, but it’s for my own good that