I swat at his chest. “That was a stylistic choice. Minimalist. Avant-garde.”
“Yeah, sure. Minimalist despair,” he teases, brushing his fingers through my hair.
For a moment, we both fall quiet, still smiling. The room feels softer, heavier somehow, like the kind of quiet you get only when you’re tangled up in someone you trust completely.
“Honestly,” Vincent says after a beat, “can you imagine us? Famous, traveling around, making videos... Then having this exact conversation after—” His mouth quirks into a smirk. “—you know.”
I let out a small gasp and smack his arm, laughing. “Vincent Cooper!”
“What?” he grins, totally unbothered. “It’s true. We’d be celebritiesandreally naughty in private. The internet would lose it.”
I roll my eyes, cheeks warm, but I can’t help smiling. “Yeah, well... maybe I’m glad we didn’t post them. Some things are better off just ours.”
He softens instantly, brushing his lips against my temple. “Yeah. Definitely better this way.”
And then, of course, he ruins the moment. “Still... I’d totally buy a hoodie with my roadkill hamburger on it.”
I groan, burying my face in his chest as he laughs. “You’re impossible.”
“And you love it,” he says, smug.
Yes. I really, really do. I love you.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Nova Marshall
PRESENT (2023)
"Besides being a guitar player, I'm a big fan
of the guitar. I love that damn instrument."
Steve Vai
––––––––
In a little more than two hours, it will be Vincent’s birthday, and I’m lying in bed staring at the glowing stars on my ceiling while chewing on fruit jellies.
Sam still has no news about Asher, and my mother has blocked me in every possible way. Steven isn’t speaking to me, and I don’t even know what’s happening with Maggie—but she’s been acting strange.
I don’t know what to do about college, and I can’t find the courage to take flowers to Fleur. The hardest part is that we buried her in Vincent’s parents’ garden, and I don’t know if I can risk seeing him.
Roxy starts meowing beside me, so I get up to prepare her bottle of milk. When I chose to adopt her, I also chose to change veterinarians. I could never go back to Fleur’s.
I head toward the kitchen with Roxy curled on my shoulder, her tiny claws clutching my shirt. I open the cupboard, but just as I’m reaching for the formula, the doorbell rings. Maggie’s not home; she’s out recording choreography videos with some of her students.
When I open the door, my eyes widen and I choke on my breath.
“S–Steve?” I manage after a fit of coughing.
Steven stands there, watching me, holding a paper bag from his bakery. “Hey. Can I come in?”
I nod quickly and step aside, shutting the door behind him with a little too much force, making him flinch. Roxy startles, meows, then leaps off my shoulder.
“Sorry for the mess, I—I wasn’t expecting anyone. Do you want something to drink? Of course you do. I’ll grab you a soda—”
He stops me by catching my wrist. “Hey, it’s fine. Can we just talk?”
