Excerpt: White Rose

“You think I wanted you like that?” Brendan asked her, “Some sloppily drunk, cheap fuck?” Neve recoiled at the bitterness that was loaded behind his words. “No, Neve, I didn’t see you that way, and I won’t see you that way. You may do this shit to yourself, but it’s just because you’re running away, and you admitted it yourself; you’re scared.” Brendan slammed his drink down before he continued, “And you know what? I respected you, that’s why I waited, that’s why I didn’t understand when you went and fucked every guy that came by your way. When you called us out as just friends, it hurt, but I accepted it, because I respect you. I’ll stand by you, and support you, even when you won’t do it for yourself, but you don’t like to see that. That type of emotion scares you. So you can condemn me, and run away from me, but I’ll still watch out for you, because that’s what someone who cares does, Neve. That’s what real love is. You were never the rejected one here, I’ve just been nursing this sad and pathetic one-sided love while I watch the person I care about drown herself in anything available. If I could hand you a bucket of acid, I half think you’d dunk your head straight in! You don’t want to live, and it’s obvious in all the destruction you’ve done to yourself. When I first met you, that was a bad place, but it quickly was on the road to getting better. You had hit the bottom and were building yourself up. But no, you didn’t want a nice life; you had to start creating your own roadblocks, setting them up like dominoes and hoping that something would finally set in to knock them all down. Well, you’ve found that someone. Natalie will gladly knock your roadblocks down, but she doesn’t give a flying fuck what destruction will come in the aftermath, whether at someone else’s or your own expense.”