Savage Delight (23 page)

She laughs. “Yeah. His paintings…everyone says they’re beautiful, but they’ve always made me a little sad, and scared. They’re frightening – all those bright colors and all that chaos. But I suppose that is beautiful, in its own way.”

I nod, quelling the snark in me to try and enjoy this moment of peace.   

“He painted Starry Night while he was in a mental asylum,” she says.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.
Right before he died, he painted a lot of wheatfields. I like those paintings the best – they’re calm, peaceful.”

“I wanna see ‘em someday.”

“You will,” she asserts. “They’re really nice. It’s sad though; he killed himself. With a gun. Well, he tried to. He missed and crawled back to the inn he was staying at, and died in his bed after hours and hours of pain.”

“Jesus,” I suck in air through my teeth. She shakes her head and smiles.  

“But his last words were;
‘The sadness will last forever’
. And I think he was right, but I also think he was very, very wrong. It doesn’t last forever. Because we don’t last forever.”

The darkness I’d put bars over to appear cheerful at this party bubbles up from my heart. Sophia must see it, because she squeezes my hand gently.

“Hey, it’s okay. Go and get me some more of the blue stuff, will you? I’m not nearly tipsy enough to dance, yet, and that’s gotta be remedied.”

“Hah, I know that feeling. I’ll be right back.”

I take her glass and squeeze her hand as I leave. Downstairs, the party is batshit insane and only getting batshittier insaner. I wave to Jack, who follows me into the kitchen.

“So? Is she alright?” He asks.

“Yeah, she just wanted a refill on the booze. You should go see her. Drag her down here, dance with her, something.”

He flinches, but it’s well-hidden.

“I still haven’t told her.”

“I know.” I nod. “And I haven’t told you some things, either. So. Everybody’s not telling everybody else stuff. It’s fine. Secrets are kind of the crappy bread-and-butter around here.”

“I haven’t told you something very important. And I want you to know it,” he starts, icy eyes burrowing into me.

“Don’t,” I start. “Don’t, seriously, Jackoff. Not now.”

“If I don’t tell you this, Isis, it’s going to drive me crazy,” He leans in, breath hot on my cheek. “I need you to know. I want you to know –”

A scream rips through the party. That’s typical, but what’s not typical is it doesn’t stop. Someone is screaming, and they’re screaming over, and over, and it’s like metal scraping over slate. It is panic and terror, pure and unfiltered, and it’s coming from outside. Jack looks up, and I follow his gaze.

“What the fuck is that?” I hiss. Jack and I push through the crowd that’s running in the direction of the scream. The night air is crisp and people’s breath floats up as a suspended ring of clouds around a certain patch of grass on the left side of the house. People are swearing, some are sobbing, some are frantically dialing on their phones. Jack keeps pushing through the people, Wren pushing with him, but I’m frozen to the ground as I look up and see the balcony just above.

Everything goes quiet, but people’s mouths are still moving. Jack’s screams are barely audible above the ringing in my head. I move achingly slow, like I’m in a sea of sludge. People won’t move. I lean on them until they do, until the last person in the circle parts, and shows me Jack leaning over Sophia’s lovely white dress, Tallie’s bracelet around her contorted wrist, and her head twisted at a perfect ninety degree angle and her ocean eyes staring at me, wide and open, like a mannequin, like a doll, like a bird who never learned how to take flight.     

 ‘The sadness will last forever. And I think he was right, but I also think he was very, very wrong. It doesn’t last forever. Because we don’t last forever.’

Acknowledgments

~To the reader; Thank you. I know it was hard. It’ll be hard for a while, but I promise, there will be a happy ending in the third and final book. Thank you.

~To Laura, Sarah, the LBs  – I love you to bits.   

~To Katie Ashley, Emily Snow, Michelle Valentine, and all the other wonderful authors-friends I’ve made in the romance indie community along the way – thank you. You have been nothing but kind and loving, and I can only hope to show you the same love and support. Thank you to Stephanie Higgins at Romance Addict Book Blog, especially, for her support and wonderful, tireless work to arrange stellar book tours for me!

~To the community, reviewers, book bloggers, goodreads librarians – you are incredible people. Every review, every blog post, every telling-your-friends-this-book-rocks, and every helpful goodreads addition gives me a little boost. You are truly the support beams of the messed up, hilarious house that is my muse. Much love to you.

About the Author

Sara Wolf is the author of LOVELY VICIOUS, a dark Young Adult about the war between a fiery girl and an icy boy, both equally damaged. She’s currently working on the third and final book in the LOVELY VICIOUS series, as well as an untitled new NA series. She’s addicted to the Vampire Diaries, loves chocolate and romantic angst, and can’t get enough of damaged heroes. For additional books, news, teasers, and giveaways, visit her at sarawolfbooks.blogspot.com or facebook.com/sara.wolf.3304