Free Burning Bright by Sophie McKenzie

without Flynn’s permission. ‘It’s just no one
understands him,’ I finished lamely.
    ‘Come on, Riv,’ Emmi said. ‘Flynn doesn’t exactly make it easy, does he?’
    ‘You’ve got to admit he likes keeping people at a distance.’ Grace made a face. ‘Sometimes I think he
wants
people to be scared of him.’
    I considered this. Maybe Grace was right. The wind whipped my hair across my face. As I brushed it back Emmi shook her head at me.
    ‘You can’t let him tell you what to do, girl,’ she said slowly. ‘I’d never let Alex boss me about.’
    ‘He doesn’t tell me what to do,’ I said, immediately feeling disloyal that I’d talked about Flynn in the first place. ‘I know he sometimes comes across as a bit
defensive, but it doesn’t help that everyone blames him whenever something goes missing.’
    Emmi and Grace exchanged another look. I suddenly remembered my little silver heart bracelet and how it had appeared the very day Alex’s iPad was stolen. Did they think Flynn was capable
of that theft? Did I?
    I quickly changed the subject to our weekend plans. Before I knew where I was I’d agreed to go to a party with the girls and James and Alex on Saturday night. I knew Flynn would be annoyed
at having to socialise with Alex, but Grace said she was sure we could stay over at James’s house again. I hoped that the memory of our fantastic night there would persuade Flynn that
we’d have a good time.
    It did. Sort of.
    Even so, when we met up on Saturday after he’d done an early shift at the café, I could see he was in a bad mood. He sulked all the way through the party, refusing to talk to anyone
except me and James. He was superficially polite to Grace, though I suspected that was simply out of respect for James. He ignored Alex and Emmi point blank, though neither of them seemed that
bothered.
    I felt exasperated with him. After defending him earlier in the week to Emmi and Grace, it was deeply annoying that he should act in exactly the way they’d described.
    He was still in a bad mood when we got back to James’s house. But then, as soon as we were on our own in the little room with the blue silky curtains he was so sweet. He lay me down on the
bed and held me and stroked my hair. I felt like texting Emmi to tell her. But of course I didn’t. Instead we talked. Flynn told me how much he’d missed me all week, how much he worried
about me being safe. He also talked about Siobhan, how he worried about her – how nervy she’d been after their da’s visit.
    I felt like I should tell him about Gary, but it wasn’t really my business and Siobhan had asked me not to. Anyway, I didn’t want to bring up anything that would change the soft,
loving mood he was in.
    I texted Mum to say I wasn’t coming home, that I was staying over ‘with friends’. She wouldn’t like it, of course, but then she didn’t like anything I did at the
moment as far as I could see. As soon as I’d sent the message I switched off my phone.
    Flynn and I talked for hours, then woke up late the next morning. We had to rush to get back to his flat to be ready for Caitlin’s first Holy Communion service. As we opened the front door
to the flat the bathroom door just in front of us opened. Gary stepped out into the hallway.
    I gasped.
    Flynn jumped forwards and grabbed Gary’s arm.
    ‘What the—?’ Before Gary even had time to register what was happening, Flynn slammed him against the wall. He rammed his elbow under Gary’s chin.
    ‘What are you doing here?’ he hissed.
    ‘Relax, mate. I’ve just come to meet Siobhan.’ Gary frowned, pushing Flynn away with what I noticed were extremely muscular arms.
    My breath caught in my throat. ‘Flynn.’
    Flynn pushed back, pressing Gary harder against the wall. ‘You think taking her home once means . . . ?’
    ‘Stop it.’ Siobhan rushed into the hallway. ‘It’s okay. Flynn. It’s okay.’
    Flynn stared round at her. ‘It’s not okay,’ he