“Creeper,” I tease.
“Says the one who loves the fact that I used to smell her in her sleep,” she drawls.
“Oh, hell yes,” I groan. “Tell me more.”
I shift and strap my legs over hers, our torsos aligning when she wraps her arm around my waist. Her lips meet my cheek again and again, the playfulness rising between us. “You want to know how I used to stuff your underwear in my mouth when I touched myself?”
“So you could taste me?” I ask eagerly.
“I was desperate for any taste I could get,” she says, her teeth dragging along my jaw.
“Did you ever drink my bathwater?” I ask.
“Ateveryhotel.”
“God, you’re fucking disgusting,” I breathe, shoulders drawing up. “I love it. Tell me more.”
At the sound of a horn blowing, we both look to the house.
It’s an excited-sounding horn blow—as if a parade route is coming through—and I just start laughing.
“Wow. They’re earlier than I thought they would be,” I say.
“Same.” She kisses my cheek again as if she doesn’t want to move. “Will you tell them I’m the woman who withheld who she was at the Masked Mayhem just to fuck you on a bathroom sink?” she asks, biting my earlobe. “What will they think when they find out I fucked myself with your thong and sucked on the fabric after just to know how we would taste together?”
The hair on my neck rises. “I’ll just tell them to go home,” I say. “This…” A forced breath leaves me. “I can’t handle this kind of information before I’m supposed to work.”
Gemma chuckles and pulls back to kiss me, and I wrap my arms around her neck to hold her there for one more moment.
Elongated sighs leave us both as if we know once we paddle in, we’re no longer just us. There are things we have to face. Subjects we have to talk about with the band. The thought of it all pops the little bubble we’ve settled into, and I sigh as I pull back to look at her.
“Nothing changes because they’re here,” I say. “Even if they all find out who you are, it doesn’t change the way I feel about you. They can’t change my mind about being okay with who you are.This?You and me?” I chuckle, feeling the sardonic smile licking my lips, embracing the euphoric swell inside. “What we are is feral andsickand god, I fucking love it.”
Gemma’s eyes soften. She pulls me flush against her again, burying her head in my shoulder as we hug. The embrace does something to my body—it makes my muscles restless, brings an energy to them that I don’t know how to contain. I close my eyesand hold her tighter, wondering if I just surrender completely, will my soul feel complete?
“I love you,” she whispers into my hair.
Goosebumps rise over my arms when she says it. There’s no urge to run, no inkling of fear, not even a threat of nerves. I feel the words in my bones. They reach into the darkest corners of my mind and stroke the maddening itch, and suddenly, I’m entirely free.
The end of the Wonderland tunnel is within reach.
And while I can’t say those three words to her yet, I know they’re on the tip of my tongue. I won’t say it until I’m fully there. I won’t do that to her, not when I know she can see through me like she does.
I shift just so I can kiss her again, hoping to fuck she can feel it in my lips, my touch.
We part, and when our eyes meet, I stroke her cheek with my thumb, heart feeling like someone just lassoed a rope around it. My mouth opens, but Gemma shakes her head, a nervous smile on her lips.
“Don’t say anything,” she whispers. “This… you in my arms, giving me a chance to prove myself… That’s enough for me.”
She kisses my cheek, then my forehead, and before I can say anything, she stands to paddle us in.
Zeb is on the beach when we reach it.
“Look at this—you two take long walks on the beach now? That’s cute,” he teases us, his arms open.
I run across the sand and bound into his arms, legs wrapping around his waist as he hugs and spins us. His laughter mingles with mine. I hear the rest of the band inside, yet as Zeb sits me on the ground, he beams at me in a way that I haven’t seen in a long time.
“You look really fucking good, Bon,” he says, eyes narrowed. “Is this what happy looks like on you? Why does it feel like I’m looking at a different person?”
