I feel myself stiffen. “She passed away when he was young. We don’t really talk about it,” I say, and add, “She was killed by a boyfriend. It was very disturbing and tragic. Titus blamed himself for a long time. At least, according to Mom. He never speaks about it either. We do have pictures of her throughout the house, though. Mom wanted to make sure Dame knew she wasn’t trying to replace her.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “You have a good family.”
“I know.” I lick my lips. “Dame was there when I found Dad. We were on our way to school and I kept saying I had a really bad feeling, so Dame drove to my dad’s instead of school.” I swallowhard. “He waited in the car while I went inside. I blocked most of it out, but I do remember him carrying me out of the house.”
Finn squeezes me tighter. “That sounds awful.”
“It was.”
We’re quiet for a long time before he takes my hand and links our fingers together. “I didn’t like it when you left.”
I feel my lips tug. “Really? It seems like it took you a while to realize that.”
“I needed time to process,” he says. “I thought I could wait until tomorrow, but when I went to bed, I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to sleep without you. Icouldn’tsleep without you.”
My heart skips. “And here I was thinking that this was the perfect example of why we can’t move in together.”
His arms tighten. “I fucked up, Joss. I told you I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“You’re doing better than most,” I say, lifting the hand linked with mine up to kiss it. “You know, if you were ‘playing the game,’ you would have ghosted me for a day or two.”
He scoffs. “Fuck that. I play to win.”
I close my eyes again. “I would have never pegged you for a cuddler.”
“I’m not sure I am.”
I laugh. “You’re always touching me.”
“You said you like touchy-feely guys,” he murmurs, his breath tickling my neck. “I’m trying to be that guy for you.”
My breath catches. “You know I like everything about you, right?” I ask. “You don’t have to be anything other than yourself.”
He kisses my neck. “Go to sleep, Josslyn.”
I’m getting out of class when my phone buzzes with a call from my mom.
“How does it feel to be back on campus?” she asks.
“Pretty good, actually.” I smile as I walk out of the building.
“Has anyone bothered you?”
“They don’t bother me, Mom, but no,” I say. “I’m wearing Dad’s San Francisco Giants hat.”
“Ah, that explains it,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Anyway, I was calling to let you know that we’re singing happy birthday to Titus at 6 p.m. He wants to get it out of the way so?—”
“Okay. I’ll be there.”
She pauses. “What’s going on with Damian?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been MIA lately.”
“I mean, he’s playingprofessionalhockey now, and it’s not like he was around a ton when he was playing for the Blaze.”
