“You should.”
Neither of us moved.
The wind came up again, cold enough to make my eyes water, carrying the scent of him.
“And you’re not going to explain that,” I said.
“Not tonight.”
“Tomorrow?”
His mouth tipped into something like a smile but not quite.
“Tomorrow will bring what it will. If anyone asks, you came up here to tell me not to go into your room again.”
“I did.”
“It’s a good story.”
“It’s even partly true.”
His eyes stayed on mine.
“That’s usually the safest kind.”
The second bell rang below us.
He stepped back first.
I hated him a little for being able to.
Then I went down the stairs.
Inside, I closed the door and stood with my back against it.
I had gone up to tell Kieran not to enter my room again.
I had done that.
I had also let him kiss me on a roof Hale had warned me away from, with no one watching and no one writing it down.
My mouth still tasted like green apple.
9
Iwas back in room 114 before curfew, but I couldn’t sleep after the clock tower.
The apple stayed in the drawer.
The note stayed under my pillow.
My mouth kept remembering Kieran anyway.
I remembered his breath breaking against mine, his hand stopping before my waist, the way he had looked at me afterward, like wanting more had become a thing he could hold back but not hide.
By dawn, I had learned two things.
One: a kiss could be brief and still ruin a good night’s sleep.
