“Thank you.”
She gives me one last warm smile before slipping back into the crowd. I remain in the backyard as instructed, waiting, until none other than my Stella comes storming outside. She looks pissed. Enraged. And, God help me, she has never looked more beautiful.
“Come here,” she snaps, grabbing my arm and yanking me away from the windows where people can see us. Once we turn a corner, she shoves me against the wall.
“What the hell were you thinking, crashing my induction?”
“I wasn’t thinking. Clearly.”
She lets out a frustrated huff.
“What am I supposed to do with you? My dad is asking all sorts of questions.”
“Tell him the truth.”
Her eyes narrow. “And what truth is that?”
“That you love me. And I love you.” I thread my hand under her hair and press my palm against her cheek, forcing her to look at me. “That even if it doesn’t make sense on paper, we make sense. That living without you these last few months has been torture. That I couldn’t go another day without seeing you—without touching you.” My voice lowers. “Tell him you’re mine. And I’ll tell him I’m yours. That I will forever be yours.”
“Stop it, Kill,” she whispers, unable to meet my eyes. “I can’t be thinking about you today. Not today.”
“Would you rather I hadn’t come?”
She locks her gaze on mine, and I see all the pain she’s endured without me shimmering in those emerald jewels. “No. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Good,” I murmur, relief hitting me like a freight train. I draw her in until her head rests against my chest. Her scent—black cherry perfume and night-blooming jasmine—wraps around me as surely as my arms wrap around her. For the first time in ages, I feel like home isn’t lost to me.
“I fucking missed you.”
“I miss you too,” she says quietly, holding onto me just as tightly.
I brush her hair back, tipping her face up so I can see her eyes.
“You did?”
She sighs softly. “Of course I did. I’m not some unfeeling monster, you know. But that doesn’t change anything.”
“It changes everything,dusha moya. It fucking changes everything!”
Her green eyes sadden as she presses a hand to my chest, gently pulling herself out of my arms.
“Not for me, Kill. It doesn’t change anything for me.”
She tries to walk away, but I grab her by the waist and pull her back to me.
“You want me to leave you alone? You want me to forget you? Is that what you want?”
“It’s what I need,” she says quietly.
“Then make me believe you don’t give a shit. Make me believe it was never in the cards for us. Make me hate you, Stella, because anything less won’t cut it.”
Her eyes glisten as she softens against me, her resolve melting.
“It would be so much easier if hate was all there was between us,” she whispers, her gaze dropping to my mouth.
“Easier, yes. But who wants easy? Not us.”
She traces her fingers along the seam of my lower lip, and my heart slams against my ribs at her touch. Before she can say anything that will shatter the moment, I lean in and capture her mouth with mine.
