I wasn’t sure how we hadn’t seen parts of it earlier, given how large the maze was. The front wall was endless, with two entrances, and corn so high you couldn’t see how deep the maze really was. A sign in front stated that children had to be accompanied by adults, which told me this was serious.
Sam and I looked at each other at almost the same time with identical smiles on our faces. “Loser treats dinner?”
“Deal!” I called and pulled Hector with me to the right entrance. Sam was already dragging Ryker to the left one.
“Whoa, slow down there,” Hector admonished when I almost tripped over a twig. He used his body to keep me from falling. I used that chance to steal another kiss before straightening.
Nobody else had taken our route, so it was just Hector and me. I happily took his hand and strolled much more slowly through the paths.
“Are you having fun?” I asked him.
He glanced at me and brought our hands up to his lips to kiss the back of mine. “I think I’d have fun doing anything with you.” His reply made me feel all gooey inside. “But yes. I’m having a good first fall fair.”
“Your first summer fair was with me too. You never went when you were younger? Or with Angelina?”
“No. Angelina isn’t a fan of crowds,” Hector said, eyes looking between the split in the road in front of us. Inodded to the right path, and he led us forward. “And we didn’t have money when I was younger. Plus, I didn’t want to make the townsfolk uncomfortable by being there.”
My heart broke for the boy the town had failed. “It’s a wonder you’re still so kind to the people here when they ostracized you so badly.”
“It was mostly the older folks, but they weren’t all bad,” Hector said. I shook my head because it was just like him to defend people, even if they did him wrong. “I remember Sam’s grandma used to give me snacks when she saw me in town. She was a kind woman. Sam’s gramps continued looking out for me, too, when she passed.”
“I wished more were like them back then instead of believing silly rumors. So what if your parents were drug addicts? That doesn’t automatically make you a hooligan too.”
“I was always big for my age, and I had this mean mug even back then. I’m scary. I always scared the kids in my class back then too,” Hector said with a chuckle, like that was funny.
That pissed me off. I wasn’t mad at Hector, but at the town who’d conditioned him to think this way. Kither Springs had always treated me well, but as Hector told me before, there were dark sides that I never noticed.
That was part of life, but I didn’t want Hector to live in the dark anymore. I wanted him to flourish with me in this town we called home. And it seemed the first step to that was rewiring the way Hector perceived himself.
“I don’t want to hear anyone talking like that about my boyfriend, even you,” I said sternly. I stopped us in our tracks and turned so we were facing each other. My hands cupped his face, so he was looking directly into my eyes when I spoke. “You’re not ugly or scary.”
His eyes shifted, the brown flecks in them almost turning golden, but the light moved, and they went dark again. “It’s okay. You don’t have to lie to me. I know what I am,” he said in a self-deprecating tone.
“You clearly don’t. Not when you can call yourself scary when you’re anything but. So what if you have a resting bitch face?”
“A resting bitch face?” he repeated as if testing the words on his tongue.
“It means you look angry at the world even when you’re not trying to be. And why shouldn’t you be? Angry at the world, I mean. It’s dealt you a shitty hand when all you did was exist. It gave you no reason to smile or be happy.”
I traced my thumb over his scar, and a shiver passed through Hector. His eyes fluttered for a second before focusing back on me.
“But when you smile—and not the forced one you show around others—but when you’re cuddling Shadow or when you’re smiling my way when you think I’m notlooking, your entire face goes soft. Your eyes curve with so much warmth and emotion that you usually keep hidden behind a wall.Thosemoments when you’ve truly let your guard down—that’s the real you. Not mean or harsh, but someone full of love and compassion for this harsh world.”
Hector’s eyes turned glassy as I finished speaking, but he didn’t break his gaze. He looked at me with longing, and his eyes were soft now, like how I’d just described. He was showing me his vulnerability, and it was everything.
“So you, um, knew,” he started, clearing his throat. “When did you start noticing I was secretly looking at you?”
I smiled because it was just like him to feel uncomfortable when he heard nice things about himself. At least he didn’t outright reject the compliments this time. That was progress.
“I love you so freaking much,” I told him with a laugh and pressed our lips together. My arms wrapped around his neck, and his hands captured me around my waist.
“Sometimes I still wonder why you do, but I consider myself so fucking lucky you do, my love,” Hector murmured against my lips.
I pressed our foreheads together. “That means I just have to work harder telling you how amazing you are, because if you knew, then you’d knowI’mtruly the lucky one.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that,” he grumbled, and I laughed again.
“We’re both lucky.”
