Page 92 of The Penalty

Her words are blanketed in guilt, but I’m not sure I even care. May as well go with her. I’m sure she’ll get sick of my moping ass soon enough. “Fine.”

“At least change your clothes. You’ve been wearing those for three days. What if someone takes your picture?”

Another harsh reminder that I don’t get to live my life like other college students. Someone could take a random photo of me and sell it to the highest bidder. Cecelia Whitaker drunk again. I can’t even just be a heartbroken college student who just lost the two people who mean the most to her in this world.

“Fine.”

I drag myself upstairs to slip into something clean. My arms ache when I reach back to pull my hair into a ponytail. I slap on a pink ball cap as a final measure. The blonde locks have gotten a little greasy.

She drags me out of the house for a walk. The air is chilly, but there’s not a cloud in the sky. It almost matches my insides. But I’m filled with thunderclouds to match the icy air.

She takes me on the long route in spite of my protest, so I’m a little winded by the time we’re walking back down our street.

The sun is glinting off something shiny and silver in the driveway. Is that my...

A hint of excitement rises, then explodes into pain again. If my father decided to give me my car back, it’s because he knows I’ll need it to move away.

The roof is smooth under my hand.

“My car?”

“Come on,” Anna says, dragging me away from the vehicle.

“What’s going on?”

Anna fumbles with her key, finally sliding it home and throwing the door open.

My brother is standing in our living room, and... “Dev!” I cry out, racing over to him, but then I stop myself, looking to my brother. What’s going on here?

“I don’t understand.”

I want nothing more than to jump into Dev’s arms. My heart is begging for it, but my mind is telling me to be cautious.

“I hate that I did this to you. I know you don’t need my permission, Cece, but I need you to know that you’re both my family. And if you two want to be together, I’m not going to fight it. I’ll even try to embrace it.”

“Really?”

I take a cautious step toward Dev. He reaches behind his back, pulling out a bouquet. It’s not an ordinary one, though. Yes, there are flowers. But there are also...

“Is that a comic book bouquet?”

“So they say.” He’s looking a little uncomfortable holding it out for me, so I take another few steps to grab it from him.

I stick my nose in the purple and yellow flowers, eyeing the plastic-wrapped comic books. It doesn’t matter if I alreadyown them. They’re going into plastic sleeves and getting put on display. They’re my new favorites. Just like Dev.

Georgia squeals from the kitchen doorway, startling me. I didn’t even realize she was here. But she’s standing next to Blake, and they’re both smiling.

Dev holds out his arms, and I step into them, crushing the bouquet between us.

“Let me take that,” Anna says, pulling it away from me and moving off to join our other friends.

“Hi,” I say to him, tilting my head up. I hope he can’t hear the uncertainty in my voice. It feels like this can’t be real. “Am I dreaming?”

His hands swallow up my face. “I hope not.”

“Dev, I need you to know...”

“Cece, I love you.”

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