They’d offered her painkillers, but if she was going to walk out of here, she needed a clear mind. Her leg was numb. Thirty-seven stitches and the docs promised little scarring. They’d brought in a plastic surgeon to close the wound, afraid of marring her perfect legs. She didn’t care about a scar. Everyone had scars, some more visible thanothers.
Her thoughts bounced around, changing shape and reorganizing like pieces in a kaleidoscope. The colors were dim and uninspiring. Maybe she was down because she’d gotten herself into a mess and missed her flight. Or, maybe it was being with London and Karen again that brought the not-so-great memories to the surface. She was too woozy and too tired to keep them away, so she opened the gate and let themin.
“The vertex is the …”
Maia watched London’s tongue slip between his teeth as he worked to come up with the definition. They had a test in the morning and he needed to pass. Several 1A schools were after him, and he had to keep his grades up if he was going to meet their admission requirements. Which is why they were studying in his dining room with his mom within hearing distance and not in the library where they could get lost in kisses behind theencyclopedias.
“… interception point of two sides of a planefigure.”
She giggled. “Close enough. It’sintersectionpoint.”
He shrugged. “I like to call itinterception,as in the point where I steal the ball right out of the receiver’s hands.” He tickled her sides, making her laughter bounce off the bright, cream-coloredwalls.
Karen came in the dining room. She had a smile on her face, but her shoulders were up like she was trying to protect her earlobes. “Can you two keep it down?” She made brief eye contact with London. “Your dad just pulledin.”
London’s eyes rimmed with panic. He glanced at Maia and then back to his mom. “We’re done here anyway.” He slammed his book shut and did the same tohers.
Maia’s mouth fell open. She still had four problems to go. But she could take a hint. She slid her book and papers into her backpack and zipped it with unnecessaryforce.
They made it to the front door right as Reed threw it open. “You ready to ditch the homework and throw a ball?” His eyes landed on Maia, and a primal fear scraped down her spine like a jagged pizza cutter. She tried to shake it off as meeting-the-parentjitters.
“Dad, this is Maia Esposito—she’s helping me withgeometry.”
Maia held out her hand, her head spinning with the fact that London hadn’t introduced her as his girlfriend. She threw a questioning glance over her shoulder at London. He kept his eyes fixated on his dad’s tie, refusing to look ather.
She tried not to worry about it since she didn’t have a father and had no idea how to handle one. “Hi, Mr. Wilder. You have a beautifulhome.”
He sneered at her outstretched hand. “Esposito?”
This wasn’t the first time she’d been judged by her mom’s jaded past, but it was the first time she wished they didn’t share a last name. The way Reed looked her over made her skin prickle, and she dropped her hand, brushing thousands of invisible spiders off her arms. “Yes,sir.”
“Thank you for your help. You can go now.” He opened the door and motioned for her toleave.
Shocked at his dismissal and confused by London’s sudden statue impersonation, she tripped out the door. Reed slammed it shut behind her. “What have I told you?” His voice made the windows shake, and Maia involuntarily stepped back. “Who you associate with says a lot about you, and even more aboutme!”
Maia strained in the silence to hear London’s response. His voice was like orange juice, sweet and tart all at the same time. But she couldn’t make out hiswords.
“You’re telling me that in a school that size, there is only one person who understandsgeometry?”
Maia clasped her hands over her heart as it divided. One side told her that London was in trouble—his dad was bad news and he was saying whatever he had to to keep Reed happy. The other side cramped with London passing her off as some second-rate math tutor. She rose up on her toes and promptly spun around, headed to the rust-bucket on the curb. Her mom needed the car to get to workanyway.
The stench of stale cigarette smoke and perfume greeted her as she slid into the driver’s seat. She choked on the hate she carried for her mom and vowed to lose her lastname.
Drip.Driiiip.
Looking back, his dad’s tirade was the first crack in her and London’s fairy tale, the first time she questioned them. And she’d blamed herself for the entire episode, brushing it aside the next day as if it had never happened. London followed her lead, treating her with extra tenderness for a while. He seemed scared to lose her, and his vulnerability was enough of a reassurance at thetime.
“Miss Maia, are you awake?” asked a nurse in pink scrubs. She had beautifully highlighted blonde hair, which she’d pulled back into a ponytail. Her eyes were rimmed in black liner and she had false eyelashes that made her look like apixie.
Maia hadn’t heard her come in. She pushed herself into a sitting position. “I’m up.” She might as well get on with getting out of thisplace.
“Sorry to disturb you, but I need to check your vitals.” She noted the liquid left in the IV bag and typed on the keypad for a moment. “There’s a man sitting outside your door. I encouraged him to move to the waiting room, but he refuses to go.” She lifted her eyebrows. “I don’t suppose you’re ready to let him in here? He’s kind of amess.”
Maia’s heart pounded at the thought of London sitting outside her door, making the monitors flash. His hands had wrapped all the way around her bare leg and he’d lifted her as if she weighed no more than a daffodil and was equally as fragile. The paradox of strength and tenderness London carried had her remembering the way his hands could work study knots out of her neck while his lips burned fire on her shoulder. Being in his arms was familiar and yet new. He might remind her of the boy she’d fallen for, but he had grown into a man. A powerful, sensual man. The kind who would slow dance her into a kiss and would lead her heart into dangerous waters. She and London had their chance, and it blew up in theirfaces.
She rubbed her hand against the back of her neck. She’d have to face him sooner or later. Better here, in the privacy of the hospital room, than in public, where cameras and wagging tongues abound. “He can come in,” she said like a petulantchild.
The ugly hospital gown didn’t exactly flatter her figure, and her olive skin took on a green hue from the florescent lights. She ran her fingers under her lower lashes in an effort to clean up the mascara that was sure to haveaccumulated.
