An ache forms in my ribs and pulses outward until I can barely breathe. “I’m sure they’re not stupid enough to leave it somewhere people could find.”
“And if they were?”
I press my lips together and look away. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Okay.”
She doesn’t push. But after a few seconds, she reaches out under the water and finds my hand.
My entire body locks up.
Her fingers thread through mine, and she doesn’t say anything. Just holds on.
Pull away.
This is mybest friend’sgirl. The woman Art asked me to protect, not to hold hands with in a waterfall like some tragic fucking fairy tale.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.
I let go. I don’t deserve her, but maybe this way I’ll get to relive this moment when I die.
She drifts away, giving me space.
“We should head home,” I say. “You’ve got work, and it’s getting cold as shit.”
We swim to the shallow end, and I climb out first, keeping my back to her while she pulls on her clothes.
When I turn around, she’s standing there in her soaked sports bra and damp shorts, arms wrapped around herself, shivering as the air hits her skin.
I grab my hoodie and hold it out.
She blinks at it, then takes it and pulls it over her head. It swallows her. The sleeves are past her hands, the hem hitting her mid-thigh. She looks ridiculous. And perfect. Something surges through me so fiercely it nearly buckles my knees.
We walk back in silence, Cavall herding us like sheep.
At the door, she stops and turns to face me.
“Thank you,” she says. “For today. For all of it.”
I can’t find my voice, so I bite the inside of my lip and nod.
She studies me. Then she rises on her toes and presses a kiss to my cheek.
“See ya later, Champ.”
Chapter 26
Genevieve
“I need to go to the store.”
Lance looks up from where he’s been reading on the couch, Cavall sprawled across his feet.
His eyes narrow.
“The store.”
“Yes. You know, that place where they keep the food? Big building, lots of aisles, fluorescent lighting that makes everyone look slightly ill?”
