---
Chapter Four: Missing Pieces
The halls of Braxton High were narrower than I was used to, and colder too.
Not in temperature—but in eyes.
People stared.
Not in a mean way—more like curious cats watching a butterfly land in the middle of their lawn. Like I didn't belong here. Not yet.
Maisie had practically attached herself to my hip.
"Just walk with purpose," she whispered. "Even if you don't know where you're going."
"I don't."
"Then walk like you do. Fake it 'til you graduate, babe."
I chuckled nervously as we turned down another corridor. Locker doors slammed, the scent of cheap perfume and overcooked cafeteria food clung to the air. A girl with a shaved head and perfect eyeliner glared at me from across the hall. Another one openly whispered something while looking at Maisie and me.
"Who are they?" I asked quietly.
Maisie rolled her eyes. "The Drama Queens. They run the cheer squad and date local legends. Speaking of legends..."
My heart skipped.
Jason and Alex weren't at school.
Not in the halls. Not in any class. Not anywhere.
At lunch, I finally asked.
"Where are they?" I said, trying to sound casual.
Maisie looked up from her soda. "Oh. Didn't I tell you? They left town yesterday."
"What?" I tried not to sound too surprised. Or disappointed.
"Yeah. Jason's older brother got in trouble out in Clay Ridge. Alex goes wherever Jason goes. They'll be back. Probably by this weekend."
I nodded, pretending it didn't sting.
But something felt off.
Like a door had closed too soon after being opened.
---
A month Later...
A whole 30 days I never saw them my heart raced with torment each day at school without me seeing them .
Even though I didn't want to go the bonfire , I had built a new felt relationship with Maisie .
Yes she is the opposite of me but she bonds me to my heart interest so we are best friends now.
The bonfire was just outside Braxton—technically not allowed, which is why everyone showed up.
It was cooler now. The night sky shimmered above the open field as music thumped from a too-small speaker and people huddled around the fire, drinks in hand, secrets on their lips.
Maisie had dragged me there, claiming it was a "social baptism."
I was starting to regret it.
Until—
They arrived.
Jason stepped out of the darkness first, backlit by headlights, his hoodie down, sharp jawline catching the light of the fire.
Then Alex—clean-cut, calm as ever, hands in his jacket pockets, scanning the crowd like he was already looking for me.
My pulse quickened.
I thought I was imagining it—that they wouldn't notice me in a sea of people.
But they did.
Jason's eyes locked onto mine across the flames.
Alex smiled faintly, like I was the only familiar thing in the world.
Maisie leaned in, wide-eyed. "Holy hell. You're about to become a myth."
"What?"
"They look like they came back for you."
And somehow…
I knew she was right.
---
Chapter Four (continued): The Weight of Them
They didn't come to the fire.
Not really.
Jason and Alex stood just outside the glow, where the music couldn't reach and the flames only flickered across their features.
But I saw them.
I felt them.
My whole body reacted—tightening like a wire pulled too far. I hadn't realized how much space they took up in my thoughts until they walked back into them like they'd never left.
Maisie watched me closely. "You okay?"
I nodded too fast. "Yeah. Just... overwhelmed."
She leaned in. "You don't have to explain it to me. I've known those two since forever. They don't show up like that unless they mean something."
I looked at her.
Maisie's expression softened. "You mean something."
---
Later That Night
The house was quiet when I got home.
Lila and Liam were asleep on the couch, limbs tangled like puppies. Mom was half-dozing in the recliner, a book still open in her lap. The kitchen light was left on, casting a soft yellow halo across the floor.
I walked past them like a ghost.
Upstairs, I sat on my bed with the necklace Alex gave me still in my hand.
I hadn't put it on yet.
It felt like a choice I wasn't ready to make—like putting it around my neck would brand me as theirs. And I wasn't sure I deserved that.
Or if I could handle it.
---
Flashback – Day Three Without Them
I'd walked through the town square like I was retracing footsteps that weren't mine. Everything reminded me of them. The alley where I first saw Jason. The bench where I sat with Alex. The bookstore window they once leaned against.
It was insane.
I barely knew them.
But my world felt... quieter without them in it.
---
Now
My phone buzzed on the bed beside me.
Jason
> You still up?
My heart jumped.
I stared at the message for longer than I should have.
Then typed back.
Me
> Yeah.
There was no reply.
No dot to say he was typing.
Just silence.
I waited, fingers twitching against the blanket.
Another buzz.
Jason
> Can I call?
---
Dalynn's POV — Phone Call Scene
I pressed answer without thinking.
"Hey," I said softly.
There was a beat of silence. Then his voice came through, rough and quiet.
"You sound tired."
"You sound guilty."
He laughed—but it wasn't amused. More... cracked. "I am."
"Because you left?"
"Because I didn't say goodbye."
My chest tightened. "I thought you changed your mind."
"No," he said instantly. "No. That's not what happened."
"I thought maybe I imagined it... all of it."
"Dalynn." My name in his mouth sounded like smoke and truth. "I don't make people up. Not ones like you."
I closed my eyes, my voice barely above a whisper. "You scare me."
"You make me feel like I'm worth something," he said. "That scares me more."
We both went quiet.
Then—
"I wanted to kiss you the first time I saw you," he admitted.
"I wanted to let you," I breathed.
Another pause.
"Tomorrow," he said. "Me and Alex... we'll explain everything. No more confusion. No more games."
"Promise?"
His voice dropped.
"I'd burn the whole damn town down before I broke a promise to you.
---
Chapter Four (continued): Wolves With Matching Scars
I didn't sleep.
Not really.
After Jason's call ended, I stared at the ceiling and tried to slow my heartbeat. I couldn't. His voice kept looping in my head—raw, low, full of something that sounded like regret and hope wrapped together.
I didn't know everything about him.
Or Alex.
But I felt something every time they looked at me.
Something that whispered:
We know broken, too.
Maisie once said Jason and Alex had been inseparable since they were kids. More like brothers than friends. She said it like it was common knowledge, like everyone in Braxton had grown up watching the storm and the stillness walk side by side.
But the more I watched them, the more I started to understand it wasn't just friendship.
It was survival.
Jason was the fire.
The boy with fists clenched too tight and shoulders always squared for a fight. Raised by a father who drank his name into the floorboards and disappeared before Jason turned ten. The boy who learned too young that love could sound like slammed doors and smell like gasoline and breath that burned.
They said his older brother got caught stealing copper from abandoned buildings. They said Jason once punched a teacher for talking down to Alex.
They say a lot of things about him.
But none of them explain the ache in his eyes when no one's looking.
Alex was the quiet.
Raised by grandparents who took him in after his mother left and never came back. He'd been nine. His grandmother taught him how to cook. His grandfather taught him how to keep secrets.
He learned stillness like other boys learned sports.
Polite. Reliable. Always calm.
But still water runs deep.
People think Alex is the good one—the safe one. And maybe he is. But there's something in his silence that feels deliberate, like he's keeping the worst parts of the world out by locking the doors inside himself.
And then there's the way they look at each other.
Talk without words.
Move like a pair of magnets—opposites, but drawn together by something stronger than reason.
Not brothers by blood.
But brothers by wounds.
Alex stitched Jason back together more than once.
Jason protected Alex like a shield, even when he didn't want it.
They were each other's first home.
Their first anchor.
Their first real love—even if it wasn't romantic.
And now…
They're looking at me like I could be the second.
I didn't know how to hold two boys like that.
Two boys who'd already been through fires I hadn't even seen.
Two boys who knew how to survive but maybe not how to love.
Not fully. Not safely.
But they wanted to try.
And I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to let them.
Even though I didn't know them I didn't want to let them down