I suck in my stomach at his rough, commanding tone. “I won’t. So you see? I know that you hurt me, and you made me cry.” I raise my arms up and around his neck and he snakes his hands down to my waist. “And you’ll probably make me cry in the future as well. But it’s okay. Because you’re the guy I’ll cry for. Because you’re also the guy who’ll wipe off all my tears when I do. So we’ll figure it out. Together.”
"Together.”
“Yeah. Together. That’s what I’ve always wanted, you know? I’ve always wanted to be your girl, and when I came here tonight, I was so scared. I was terrified that I wasn’t –”
“You are,” he says fiercely. “You are that girl. My girl.”
“Your girl.”
“Yeah.”
I smile at him and a rush of a breath escapes him then.
A huge gust of a breath.
It sways the loose hair on my forehead and warmth explodes in my chest.
Warmth and fire and flowers.
The whole world of emotions sprouts up just under my skin but then something occurs to me. “Oh my God, wait.”
He goes alert. “What?”
I fist his hair. “I’m going to St. Mary’s tomorrow.”
Arrow slowly relaxes, his fingers resuming their kneading of the flesh on my waist, his nose bumping against mine. “I know. I’m taking you, remember?”
“But Arrow.” I squeeze my thighs around his body because holy shit, how can he be so clueless? “They won’t let me have any privileges, you idiot. After what I did, and I don’t think I can sneak out anymore.”
He throws me a lopsided smile. “So then, I’ll call you every Saturday. We’ll talk for ten whole minutes. And when they have visiting weekends, I’ll be the first one at the gate.”
“You will?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“And when you go back? To LA?”
His jaw clamps shut, stubbornly. “I told you soccer can wait.”
“But you have to go sometime. You have to –”
“I don’thaveto do anything.”
“But –”
“Shh. I don’t care about that right now,” he whispers. “You said we’ll figure things out, right?”
I bite my lip. “Yeah.”
“So that’s what we’ll do. We’ll figure it all out.”
I look into his blue eyes.
Determined and burning and blazing.
There was a time when they reminded me of calm summers. But now they remind me of a hot flame.
Of wild, savage fire.
