Edge of Love by E. L. Todd Page B

her
command without thinking. I stepped back. “Stop it.”
    I lowered my hands to my sides,
surrendering. My brother looked like he was going to hit me again
but he steadied his hand.
    “ Babe, come here,” Scarlet
said.
    I stepped toward Scarlet and looked at
her. Blood was running into my eye and I wiped it away. She had
tears in her eyes and the sight pained my heart. I didn’t mean to
hurt her. She walked away then returned with a clean cloth. She
started to wipe my face and clean the blood. We didn’t say anything
to one another. I caught my breath while she attended to me.
Looking into her eyes calmed me down. I kept my gaze focused on her
beautiful face. When she cleaned all the blood away, she grabbed my
face and kissed me lightly on the lips.
    I stared at her. “I’m
sorry.”
    “ I’m not the one you
should be apologizing to.”
    I shook my head. “No. I owe him
nothing.”
    She ran her fingers through my hair.
“Are you okay?”
    I nodded.
    “ Aspirin?”
    “ I’m fine.”
    She wrapped her arms around me and
held me close to her.
    I rested my head on top of hers and
closed my eyes. “Are you still mad at me?”
    “ Now I’m
angrier.”
    I sighed. “Are you still marrying
me?”
    “ That will never
change.”
    I grabbed her hand then moved her
engagement ring to the appropriate finger. “I’ll be back in a
little while.” I stepped away from her.
    “ Where are you
going?”
    “ Out.” I walked away from
her then opened the front door. I walked across the neat gardens of
our house then headed towards the coast. The morning sun was
shining down on me. It was so bright that I wished I had a pair of
sunglasses. When I reached the beach, I stared out to the ocean at
nothing in particular. This was the worst trip to my family estate.
I don’t know how it got this bad. It just seemed to happen as soon
as we arrived. My mother didn’t approve of my engagement to Scarlet
because she assumed I didn’t really love her. Of course I did. I
would die without Scarlet. Then my brother was being a complete
jerk. I always thought my family was happy and united, but that
couldn’t be further from the truth. The only person I had any
respect for was my father. Now I just wanted to announce our
engagement, get it over with, and then leave. I didn’t want to be
here. And I felt like an asshole for bringing Scarlet here. My
family was her family. She didn’t have a mom to talk to or a father
to care for her. I knew Ryan was the best substitute she could ever
ask for, but it wasn’t always enough. I thought I could give that
to her but obviously I couldn’t. Scarlet wouldn’t put up with this
much longer. If she knew what my mother had said about her, she
would probably call off the engagement altogether. And I would
die.

 
    7
    Scarlet
    Diane cleaned the blood
from Mike’s face before we sat down for breakfast. I thought we
should wait for Sean, but I knew that was unrealistic. Who knows
when he’ll return? I picked at my eggs and bacon but didn’t eat a
whole lot. I had never been more uncomfortable with his family then
I was now. Mike kept staring at me across the table, and his mom
tried to make small talk. She was trying to act like we didn’t just
witness a scene from Fight
Club .
    I didn’t want to be here. I just
wanted to go home. After hearing what his mother said about me,
that she didn’t think Sean should marry me because I was just a
rebound, I just wanted to go. The fact that she still talked to
Penelope made me more upset. She never made an effort to be close
to me. Even when she spoke to Sean on the phone, she never asked
him to hand the phone over. I knew Penelope was beautiful and
perfect, but why didn’t they care for me? They seemed to like me
more as Sean’s friend, not his girlfriend.
    When we were almost finished, Sean
appeared from the backdoor. He seemed calm after his time alone. I
wished I had followed him. I could use some peace and quiet as
well. He washed his hands