Chapter 61: We Fit So Perfectly, Harmony, Don’t We?

~“We’re not equal parts. Light and dark, we can be brilliant.” —Nilu.~

Chapter Theme Song: “Are You With Me” by Nilu.

HARMONY

I follow Blaze into his house, but not before catching the eye of the woman on her porch. She’s shooting Blaze one of her signature death glares.

Her hatred is palpable. It’s as if she’d kill him on the spot if she had the chance.

I can’t help but wonder about the story behind her icy stares.

“What’s the deal with you and that woman’s son?”

Blaze shuts the door behind us. The house feels darker today, with the blinds drawn and the lights off.

“You don’t want to know, green eyes.” He grins as he heads to the living room. I trail behind him, my curiosity piqued.

“Actually, I do want to know.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.” He sprawls out on the couch, arm draped over the back, legs spread out comfortably.

“Good thing I’m not a cat then.” I tilt my head, smiling.

He chuckles, shaking his head. I sit next to him, tucking a leg under me, waiting for him to share his story.

He looks at me. “Doesn’t this scare you?”

“What?”

He sits up, studying my face. “Hearing about the dark stuff I’ve been through. The things I’ve done.”

“No.” I shake my head. “It’s more interesting than any movie.”

He looks at me, his eyes crinkling with an emotion I can’t quite place. It’s not a bad one, though.

One day, I’ll ask him what that look means. But maybe he won’t be able to explain it either.

He nods, his gaze drifting away. He seems to be weighing his options. Finally, he gives in.

“Alright. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I scoot closer, grinning. “Great. Story time.”

He shakes his head, chuckling. “You’re nuts. And I’m nuts. So if a nut is calling someone else nuts, that means you’re really nuts.”

I laugh. “Sounds like a compliment to me.”

“It is. Crazy people are gods.”

I giggle. “Okay, enough. Tell me—what happened?”

He scratches his head, sighing. “Well, in high school...I used to break into places. One night, my friends and I broke into the school.”

I nod, encouraging him to continue. I want him to feel comfortable telling me anything.

I know my reaction to the condom wrapper in his room wasn’t the best, but I hope he knows I won’t make that mistake again.

Blaze needs time, patience, and most importantly—he needs ~love.~

“So, um...” He hesitates, looking at me. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Yes.” I shift to face him. “What happened? Why did you break into the school?”

“To steal stuff,” he says.

“Like what?”

He shrugs. “Money, test papers...whatever I felt like.”

I nod. “Okay...so why did you stab that guy? Was he with you?”

“Yeah, he was part of our little ‘gang’ or ‘crew’ or whatever. But he was a bit of a ~pussy~, always second-guessing himself.

“We broke into the science office, stole some lab equipment to sell at the pawnshop down the street.

“The next day, our physics teacher found out and started investigating. Toni got scared. I told him to keep quiet, but he didn’t listen. He told our teacher everything.

“We got in a lot of trouble, and I was pissed. So after class, when most of the kids were gone...I just...”

He trails off, that cynical look returning. He doesn’t want to tell me.

“You did what?” I ask gently.

He looks at me, uncertain. “I stabbed him in the neck with a pencil.”

~Oh.~

We fall silent. The image is chilling, sending shivers down my spine.

“Oh...” I look down at the black carpet. “But you didn’t mean to kill him, you were just angry—”

“No,” he interrupts, and I look at him. “Actually, Harmony...I meant to kill him. I just missed.”

I blink.

“You wanted to kill him?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs. “I did. But it didn’t work out...sadly.” He smiles a little.

~Sadly.~

I swallow. ~Okay, that’s not creepy at all, right?~

“Am I scaring you?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m just thinking about it. How painful it must have been...”

“I wouldn’t know, and I didn’t care,” he says. “And I still don’t.”

~And I still don’t.~

I look at him. Most people would be terrified of the man in front of me. He’s scarier than any horror movie villain.

But this is real life, and Blaze Xander is real. And I’m not scared. I don’t know why, but I’m not scared at all.

“So, did you get in trouble for that?” I ask him.

“Nope. I scared him into keeping quiet. Told him I’d slept with his sister and had a video of it. Said I’d show it to the whole school if he ever mentioned it.”

“Did you actually have a video?”

“No.” He chuckles. “Just made that part up. But I did sleep with his sister.” He stretches out, a clear sign he’s done with this topic. “Can we stop talking about my sorry life now?”

I can’t help but smile. “It’s not sorry, but sure, we can stop.”

But secretly, I’m not ready to stop. He’s fascinating, and I want to know more about him.

Does it make me a bad person, being so interested in his life, even though it’s filled with other people’s pain?

“Now.” He turns to face me. “I want to hear about you.”

I tense up. “Me?”

~What a dull subject.~

“Yeah, you. I want to know what you were like in high school.”

In high school, I was the weird, bland, boring, introverted girl. More than half of my senior class didn’t even know my name was Harmony Skye until it was called for my graduation and yearbook photos.

I’m not exaggerating.

“I was pretty lame...” I mumble.

“No way.” He shakes his head, standing up from the couch. “I don’t want to hear that!”

He walks to the kitchen and comes back with a big bag of Doritos, then settles back onto the couch.

He opens the bag, takes out a chip, and sets it on the coffee table. “Come on, Harmony, spill.”

“Well...I was in the school choir,” I admit. “Until ninth grade.”

“Wow. That explains the angelic voice.” He grins, brushing his hands together. “Why’d you quit?”

“Well...” I brush hair out of my eyes. “My dad died...”

He freezes for a moment, looking up at me. I know he can’t understand, so I don’t expect him to.

“I’m sorry about that,” he says.

I look at him, raising an eyebrow. “Can you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

I shrug. “How much it hurts me...”

He shakes his head. “No. I’m sorry, but I can’t feel the pain you’re feeling. I lost my mom too, but I can’t feel sad about it, so it’s hard to understand what it’s like for you.

“I feel bad that you’re upset...but I can’t relate to your pain of losing someone.”

I think I get what he means, and that’s okay.

“I’m sorry, Harmony.”

“It’s okay,” I tell him, and I mean it. “It’s totally okay, Blaze.”

I smile, and he sighs, seeming a bit frustrated with himself. I try to change the subject, not liking when his mood is down.

“Okay, I’ll share one more thing.” I grin. “I had only one friend in high school, and we’re still friends now. His name’s Callum, but we call him Cal.”

“Cal?” Blaze repeats the name quietly, then reaches for another chip from the bag. “Is this Cal a girl...or a boy?”

“Boy.” I smile widely. “He’s really cool and fun. I’m so grateful for him. If it weren’t for him, I would’ve been even more of a freak in high school.”

Blaze’s eyebrows furrow for a second and he seems a bit tense, but he quickly shakes it off and smiles. “Friends with benefits, huh?”

He leans back on the arm of the couch and takes the bag of Doritos with him as he looks at me.

I tilt my head to the side. “Friends with benefits?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs. “You know...a girl and a boy who are friends but also mess around?”

I make a face. “What? No way!”

The thought of Callum and I doing that is so disturbing. That’d be weird and gross.

Blaze laughs. “So you ~friendzoned ~him then?”

“No, we were just friends. Plus, he has a girlfriend now.”

“So you’re saying if he didn’t have a girlfriend, you’d be interested?” He pops a Dorito into his mouth, and I frown.

“No, Blaze. I don’t like him like that...”

“Oh...okay, who do you like then?”

I look at him. ~Is he serious?~

He raises his eyebrow with a smirk. “Well?”

I blink. ~Why is he doing this?~ Deciding not to feed his ego, I look away from him.

I don’t know why he enjoys teasing so much, but I remember that his childhood wasn’t a happy one, and he probably didn’t get to play much because all the other kids saw him as a freak with a drunk mom.

Maybe I should just let him have his fun.

“Aren’t you going to answer?” he teases, and I refuse to look at him.

“Blaze...stop.” I frown. He’s being so ~childish.~

Suddenly the couch dips, and he starts to crawl over to my side of the seat. I sink back into the armrest, looking up at him nervously as he looms over me.

That smirk. I know it well. It’s the one he wears when he’s about to get ~touchy.~ I mentally list the things that usually trigger this reaction from him.

Watching intimate scenes in romance movies, wearing his T-shirt, and somehow, mentioning your old high school friend.

His necklace falls out of his shirt, the silver gems reflecting in his eyes that are now pitch black.

But it’s not the wicked darkness like when he tried to cut Mr. Jones’s face. This darkness is pure, raw desire. The kind that makes my heart race uncontrollably.

He seems to enjoy having me like this—beneath him, entirely at his mercy—and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it too.

“You’re going to regret playing hooky to be here with me, Harmony.”

His hand starts to wander down my leg. I silently thank the stars that I decided to wear jeans today. The goosebumps on my skin are standing so tall, they’d probably prick his fingers.

“You know, from what I can tell, you have a thing for danger, green eyes. That’s something we both share.”

Our eyes lock, and he dips his head to rest against my already damp forehead.

“We’re a perfect fit, Harmony...aren’t we?”