I stand with a dramatic groan. “I’m so tired of being compared to others.”
“Tell me about it,” she deadpans.
We make eye contact then. The kind that says no matter how different we are, maybe we can relate to one another.
I also have the deep sense that these truths she’s speaking, she’s learned from experience. Maybe she regrets her choices that led to divorce. And maybe she loved her husband enough to let him go.
Boy, that messes with my view of the world. I take a deep breath and look at my twin.
Even though it’s too late for her marriage, maybe it’s not too late for the two of us. We’ve both definitely got some fears to overcome.
I’ll focus on our issues later. Right now I have to decide whether I’m going to safety academy or not.
“Isn’t there anything else I can do?”
She smooshes her lips together as if she has an answer she doesn’t want to speak. Which means it has to be good.
“What?”
Small smile. “You could date Thad instead.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
KARSON
They say everyone’s born a hero. But if you let it, life will push you over the line until you’re the villain. Problem is, you don’t always know that you’ve crossed that line.
—JESSICAJONES
Idon’t have to be here tonight. I’m not sure why I’m torturing myself. Maybe because I still have stupid hope.
No, I’d been right to be wary all along. I knew to trust my gut. And my gut said Gemma was trouble. I’m here for the same reason I take hot showers with a sunburn—to get the sting over with.
I don’t even have to see Gemma to know she’s arrived. It’s obvious by the way the company of firefighters goes on alert. They stand straighter and punch each other. Does she even realize what a stir she causes with every single entrance? If I’d been afraid of losing Amber, then I should be terrified with Gemma.
I’m not going to avoid her though. I take a deep breath, cross my arms, and look over.
Her eyes are on me, scratching the itch of my heart.
I wish I’d at least kissed her goodbye. Though it wouldn’t have been one of her happy kisses.
Charlie and Kai flank her, and I’ve got their eyes on me as well. Charlie’s are wide and demanding, while Kai’s glare. Seriously? This isn’t a shower for my sunburn. It’s a blast from a fire hose.
“I’m glad to see you moving on,” Thad says from behind me. Like he has any right at all to comment on my love life.
I roll my eyes his way. “You looked like you were interested in dating Gemma last week.”
“You mean when I carried her out of the smoke-filled building and she couldn’t keep from talking about you?”
I study him hard.
He holds his hands up as if he’s getting read his rights. “You’re the muse for the screenplay she’s writing.”
Gemma’s little posse joins the circle of students gathering around mats and dummies in the parking lot, and I warn Thad with my eyes to end the conversation.
“Hey,” she says from my right side, and I know she’s talking to me even though I can’t see her.
I hate that Thad is here to witness our awkward interaction.
