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I retrieve my Zippo and start flicking the lid on... off. On. Off. On.

Marco needs to pay. I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to make sure he pays for what he’s done to her.

“Anyone else feel like they’re missing an organ?” Bronx asks.

“It’s like I’m naked.” Golden sounds like he’s in agony.

I roll my eyes at him. “You love being naked.”

“Yes. When it’s my choice.” He glares at me.

Kodiak’s only focus is Kelsey. He keeps touching her and speaking to her softly. I can’t work out what he’s whispering in her ear. But I make out her shaky but genuine smile as she brushes a few red strands away from her cheek. The way she turns her body to him like he’s important to her.

The way she used to do when we’d sit at the top of the skate bowl and talk shit.

The sun is starting to set over the distant mountains. A warm breeze stirs through the palm trees on the far end of the skate park. The concrete under my ass is still warm with the heat of the day.

Kelsey moves fluidly into position as she skates toward the rim of the bowl. She’s been practicing this trick all afternoon. Her hand grips the board as she flies over the rim. For a moment she hovers in midair. She twists with the board before landing her new move.

The look of concentration that has furrowed her brow morphs into an exhilarated smile as she skates across the bowl and back up to me. The board clatters as she puts it down before sitting cross-legged next to me.

“You’re going to have to teach me that one day.” Palms flattened on the concrete, I lean back. A new song is forming. Will she care if I write a song about her? Will she hate it?

The shadows morph. The horizon has that wavy look when the light fades but the heat sticks around.

My brothers will probably kill me if I don’t get my ass home. Rebel is such a jerk, always acting like my dad. Not that I know what that would be like since my actual dad left a million years ago. I pick up my backpack. “We should go.”

“Can we just stay a little longer?” Kelsey wraps her arms around her knees. The bliss of landing that trick turns into something far more brittle. She picks at the beaded bracelet I bought her on the pier last weekend. “I’m already going to be in trouble.”

Her foster dad is an asshole. Not that she says so. It’s obvious by how her shoulders hike up to her ears and all the joy seems to get sucked out of her. Plus, there are the bruises.

This week, mottled black and yellow covers her forearm. I saw the handprint earlier when she finally gave in to the heat and scrunched her sleeve up to her elbow.

She must catch me staring, because she tugs on the edge of her sleeve, making sure it covers everything. Her breaths grow shallow, fast. “I wish I didn’t have to go back there. Ever.”

“What if you come back to mine?” It’s not much, but I want to protect her. This is the only way I know how. “Rebel won’t mind.”

She turns her big brown eyes on me. “He won’t?”

The weight in my chest eases. She’s so feisty and tomboyish. I hate seeing her fearful. “No, it’ll be fine.”

So he might be a bit grumpy. After all, I am late. But he likes Kelsey. He’ll be chill.

I put the strap of my bag over my shoulder and stand before offering her my hand. “Come on. I’m starving.”

She takes my hand and scoops up her board before I pull her up. For a second I don’t want to let go. Ever.

That was so fucking long ago, but I ache to be back there with her. Maybe if I’d kept hold of her hand that day, we’d have found our feet as a couple before Sonatina came into our lives.

But I didn’t. Because I wasn’t ready for how vulnerable giving my heart to her could make me. Not that I know... please don’t let me be too late to salvage us. I wrap my hand around the tiny skateboard hanging from my neck. It’s hidden under my shirt. We’re going to find our way back to each other, Kelsey. I promise you. I’m going to show you that I can be the man you need me to be.

Rook enters the room and closes the door.

“Want to tell us what we’re doing here?” Golden asks.

I grip the arms of the couch. Pussyfooting around the mess we’re in won’t make it any easier. I lock eyes with her as I address them all, “Every time I demanded Kelsey tell me where the money went... even going as far as to warn her that she’d committed a felony... Kelsey told me she didn’t know what I was talking about.”

She stiffens. “I still don’t.”