So does this mean you’ve figured it out?
Mmmfuuck! God fucking damn it! Figured outwhat?
“Alex?” she says, breaking me from my memory. I lean a sore hip against the counter.
I feel like shit.
Everything hurts.
Eyes ache, head pounds, mouth as dry as the desert, the side of my fucking face is stinging.
And now, of course, I hear voices.
Noah’svoice.
Alex, please stop.
Oh, I’m not stopping… my pretty dancer. I’m paying for my swimming lessons.
No. No, no, no.
My hand tightens, too hard, too fast—pop—the cap flies off and water splashes straight into my eye. It makes me stagger back a step, blinking.
What the hell did I do?
I tip the bottle and chug it down, trying to recall anything from last night.
ANY FUCKING THING!
I’d been ripping pissed at Elijah,thatI remember. And I fucked him. Jesus Christ, I remember that too.
I glance up and find him staring at me while water trickles down my chin. I wipe my lips with the back of my wrist.
Um, Alex? This is Gabriel.
For fuck’s sake! Gabriel answered Elijah’s phone when I called to?—
The whole scene slams back into me. Gabriel stepping out of Elijah’s apartment. His hand on Elijah’s face. Thumb tracing those thick, beautiful lips. Wind tousling his hair.
And then?—
The kiss.
Goddamn it! They fuckingkissed!
My eyes squeeze shut against the memory, but it comes anyway, too loud, too bright. The bottle slips from my hand and hits the floor.
Gravity.
I glance up, stomach churning. Elijah’s watching me—his eyes soft, dark, unreadable. And beautiful. Just as beautiful as?—
Oh god. Nooooo…
I swipe the back of my hand across my mouth, smearing the sickly-sweet taste of strawberry balm across my cheek.
Stop thinking. Stop remembering.
“Your sister called me… from your cell,” Elijah tries to explain amid the rodeo I’m riding in my head.
