The moon kisses her eyes. They illuminate a deep shade of midnight, and like a heartbeat they pulsate all on their own. Lucky Madden has stolen a part of me that I’m afraid I can never get back. I’m not sure I want it back.
“I don’t know if I still feel that way.” I’m confused as hell, and for the life of me, I want an answer from myself. “I don’t want to.” There. That’s as honest as it gets. I want to believe in love and all of its trappings of forever. I think with someone like Lucky this might be a good thing. I wouldn’t have to get worked up over the fact she’s with someone else. She’d be with me. Lucky and I fit. We’re matching ends of a sour stick, and something about that ridiculous thought brings a goofy grin to my face.
“You’re up at bat.” The wind picks up, and I scoot her in closer to me, her body heating against my own to create our own little furnace.
A heavy sigh expels from her chest. “I do have a secret. Nobody knows this—nobody living, anyway.”
My body thunders with the erratic ticking of my heart. A boulder of anxiety lands over my shoulders at the thought of what this might involve, considering people who are aware of it have already crossed the great spiritual divide.
“I had a sister named Jade.”
Had. Right there my heart breaks.
Lucky sniffs into the air before continuing. “She was my twin, and she was born first. She died, and I lived. I don’t know anything else other than that. I don’t know what killed her. I don’t know if we were identical or fraternal. All I know is that my mother confessed this to me when I was five and said it was our secret. She said her name was Jade.”
“I’m so sorry.” I wrap both arms around her and bury a kiss over the top of her head and linger. A swell of tears crops up, and I blink them back. “You’re pretty close with your brother, right?”
“More or less. Someday I’d like to be closer.” She gives my waist a firm squeeze, and something about having her arms wrapped around me makes me feel as if I’m home. I almost want to laugh, but it’s true. There’s something comfortable about Lucky, something that I’ve been craving all along and didn’t realize. “Right now, Jet is trying so hard to protect me, provide for me—he actually has the ability to drown me in his affection. I know for a fact he’d feel the same about Jade if she were here. He would probably blame himself for her death. Jet took on a lot after my dad died, but once we lost our mother, he went into parental overdrive. He sort of became both father and mother. He’s pretty good at it, too.”
“That’s a pretty heavy secret to carry around all on your own,” I whisper the words over her temple and feel the warmth from her skin on my lips.
Lucky looks up, her lips spun like a ribbon. “It’s not so heavy anymore now that I’ve shared it with you.”
A still moment slices by as my eyes lock over hers. Lucky Madden is beautiful, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think that thumping in my chest is the heart she just kick-started.
“I’m honored,” I whisper, and mean it.
“Is this the part where we make a wish?”
“Yup.” I try to sound casual, but every synapse in my brain fires off, commanding that I lock my lips over hers—and I plan on doing just that. “But in order for it to come true, we need to do this first.” I lean in and cover her lips with mine and linger. She doesn’t throw me over to the ground, so I go for it.
Lucky’s lips are the softest on the planet, delicious, feathery cushions, and as if that wasn’t enough, her mouth tastes like root beer. A soft moan emits from me as I indulge in the moment. I’ve never been much of a kisser. Never saw it as a singular act I could enjoy, simply a means to an end to get what I really wanted, access to far more lucrative bases. But with Lucky, this is enough. This is enjoyable. A perfect moment.
A laugh bubbles up her throat, straight into my mouth, and I join her right there, enjoying the hell out of this beautiful girl in my arms, this kiss, this perfect magical moment in time.
Lucky moves inside my mouth with vigor, with a powerful domination as if this kiss had become her mission in life. I know it’s mine. This kiss, this girl has become my mission, my goal, my destiny. All of those old eroded ideals of love and its ill-conceived notions have just gone out the proverbial window. Anna wasn’t my destiny. None of those one-night stands meant more to me than a bodily function—but this angel, thisspitfire—Lucky Madden has put the shine back on that four-letter word, on the concept of forever. Lucky shines like a sparkler against the dim canvas of my life. She’s lit up my world, my life, my heart. There are moments in your life that leave you with perfect clarity, and right now one thing is very clear. Lucky Madden is the girl for me.
The next morning, I rouse to life just after two in the afternoon. Lucky and I spent hours in that old oak tree making out, making all of my dreams, all of my wishes come true. A dull smile springs to my lips before my lids have the chance to crack open. It’s finally happened. I’ve taken a big bite out of that forbidden apple—been struck with that fabled arrow straight through my heart. I’ve never felt this way before—not with Anna, for sure not with any of the other girls I’ve been with. I didn’t know this level of happiness, of wanting, of aching need was possible. And it wouldn’t be if it weren’t for Lucky. She’s it. There will never be another girl for me. Lucky Madden is my once in a lifetime. There’s no way I’m going to let her slip away. I’m not losing Lucky to Eli Gates or any other douche who tries to get in my way. Lucky and I are excellent at matchmaking, and that’s exactly why we’ve ended up together—whether we were willing to admit it or not in the beginning, we’re the perfect match. You can’t deny this. This is more than some primal infatuation—far more intimate thanlike. This is love. It is. I love Lucky Madden. I love her.
I groan into my mattress. I’m in love? Dammit all to hell.
A laugh gurgles from me. It’s true. I can’t see straight—don’t want to. I never want to go back to the way things were. And I pray to God that Lucky feels the exact same way about me.
I pluck my phone off the floor to text her good morning—good afternoon, and ask her if she wants to hang out—get some food, get back in that tree, in the laundry room, anything. On second thought, the laundry room is off the table. The next time I’m with her needs to be special, somewhere private where I can enjoy the taste of her skin, drink down her mouth like the most exotic wine.
I’ll take her to Lake Avalanche. We can make every square inch of that place our own. And after that, I want to take her home. Take her to meet my dad and Lynette once again, only this time as my girlfriend. I want to reintroduce her to Knox and Trixy that way, to my sisters, to Rex.
Holy crap. I sit up on my elbows as Jet and his fierce mug runs through my mind. He’s going to shit a brick and then cram said brick down my throat.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and I flip it around, only to find Jet’s name staring back at me and I flinch. Damn. There’s no denying the dude is psychic, psycho, and all of the above.
Meet me down at Think Ink if you can. I’ll be here until four.
I frown into the phone. As much as I don’t want anything to do with Jet Madden, we need to find a way to coexist if I want Lucky in my life. The first step in that awkward direction will be meeting up with him. I have no clue what I’m about to say, but I’m sure it’ll come to me—and then I’m sure his fist will come to me as well.
At exactly three thirty, I shower and shave, put on my cleanest, least douchiest clothes I own, and head down to Think Ink with five minutes to spare from the deadline he gave. The smaller the window to deal with Jet, the better.
Think Ink sits in the center of the armpit of downtown Jepson. There’s a strip club across the street, The Dungeon, and I can’t help but feel as if I’m about to head into a dungeon myself.
