Always There

Chapter Forty-One

When she drops her hands into her lap, I reach down and take her hands in mine. "I know, Carly, I know. We all deserve to be happy, but it wasn't fair of me to lie to my girl like that. She's so sweet and precious and she deserves the fucking best. Sure, that was fucking awful of you to show up and tell her, but it wouldn't be right for me to continue hiding this from her."

Scarlett gives me a solemn nod. "I feel like shit. I shouldn't have ruined your relationship. You two are just so in love that it hurts me to watch you be so happy together."

Without really thinking, I wrap my arms around Scarlett and pull her to my chest. Her body freezes up for a moment before she wraps her arms around me in return, squeezing me tightly.

She rests her head on my shoulder as she says, "I just loved her so much. She was perfect for me. I know that she was never enough for you because you were so in love with Lexi even then, but Brittany was special. She really could light up a room with that smile of hers. I honestly thought that her and I could have a future together, even though she was clearly more drawn to you than me."

Scarlett snuggles closer to me as I tell her, "She loved you back, you know. I think she was just scared to be in love with a girl. You know how conservative her and Anders' family is. Nonetheless, she looked at you the same way that you looked at her."

Scarlett lets out a sound somewhere between a sob and a joyous laugh. "You really think that she loved me?" she asks, pulling away from me to look me in the eye.

I give her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah, Carly; I do. And I'm really fucking sorry that you two won't get your happily ever after thanks to my mistakes."

Another tear rolls down Scarlett's cheek, but this time, she doesn't make an effort to wipe it away. "I know that a part of me will always love her, but I'm just scared that I'll never be able to move on. I don't want to spend the rest of my life mourning the loss of the love that Brittany and I could have had. I want to find someone else that I love just as much, but I'm not certain that's even possible."

I take her hands in mine once more, squeezing gently. "You'll find someone, Carly. I wish we could turn back time so that she could still be here too, but the world fucking sucks, and so we can't."

Scarlett glances down to where our fingers are intertwined and purses her lips together. "You've never hugged me before. Not in all of the years that we've known each other."

I roll my eyes at her, dropping her hands from mine. "I know."

She raises an eyebrow at me. "You're never going to find anyone that loves you at much as Lexi. And you're never going to be able to love anyone as much as you love her. So you should probably go find her, you fucker."

I blink at her.

Nothing she's said has ever been more fucking true.

"I know," I again state blankly.

"Know what you're biggest fucking fault is, Bryce? It's that you think you know everything. You think that you always know what's best, don't you?" she says, crossing her arms.

I reach for her head, messing up her bun with my fingers. She scowls at me and claws at my arm, shoving my arm away before scooting away from me on the couch.

"I'm working on it," I mutter. "I'm trying to be the kind of man that Blossom deserves, but I'm not doing so well, in case you couldn't tell."

On that note, I stand up from my seat on the couch. I make my way to the kitchen, retrieving two glasses from the cupboard and filling them with water from the dispenser on the door of the fridge. I head back to the living room, handing Scarlett one glass and setting the other down on a coaster on the coffee table for myself.