Page 108 of Unloved

“I’m sure you were gorgeous, and he was just a bad accessory.” I pull at a loose thread on the shoulder stitch of her shirt. “Did you redeem yourself the next year?”

Ro shakes her head. “No, um…” She trails off, hesitant, chewing mercilessly on her lip. “My dad had a stroke that May, my junior year. It was really touch and go for a while.”

My heart thuds a little harder as I squeeze her tighter in my arms, a familiar, similar pain throbbing in my chest.

“After, I spent a lot of time taking care of him.”

“I didn’t know,” I breathe. “That’s… that’s horrible, Ro.”

“Yeah.” She nods, head bobbing out of my hold on her. “But he’s okay now. He can’t really move that well anymore, and he has trouble speaking, gets stuck on words sometimes.” She pauses. “It’s why I started going by Ro, instead of Rosalie. It was easier for him to say.”

“That’s—”

There are no real words to say, all of them sticking in my throat.You’re the most amazing, wonderful person I’ve ever met, and sometimes I nearly make myself sick over what I’ll do without you when this is over between us.

In my dreams, I take care of you the way you take care of other people, and you’re relaxed and calm. And before bed, you tell me how easy it is to love me. I’m starting to think I’d give up anything, even hockey, for that life with you.

Instead, I lean in and kiss her forehead, hard, taking a minute to feel her skin against my lips, still dewy and warm from her steamy shower. The crisp smells of tropical florals and coconut waft from her damp, springy curls into my nose.

“You’re perfect, you know that?”

She laughs. “Yeah, yeah.” She snuggles into my hold now, fully relaxed in a way that works like a calming drug to my system. Her giggles slowly die off before she asks, “What about your prom?”

I want to smirk and ask, “Which one? The one where my history teacher showed me how to eat a girl out in a closet? Or the one where my girlfriend, for whom I’d already planned a romantic night and spent every dime to my name to make it special for her, asked if I wanted to try a threesome with her best friend in the hotel?”

But something about the way she’s looking at me, wide hazel eyes and a little soft smile, makes me want to be different. Makes me wish I was someone different. Her vulnerability pulls at mine, but I am drowning in humiliation.

So I lie.

“It was amazing. I look great in baby blue, princess.”

Realizing I won’t say more, Ro tucks her hair behind her ear and inches closer, so our thighs completely press together, knee to hip.

“Do you want to stay here tonight?” Her head tilts almost too close, voice dropping into a whisper.

“Yeah,” I breathe, the answer coming easier than I expect. “Do you want me to?”

“Yeah.”

Breaths come out slow but uneven as our mouths move closer and closer together. Kissing her now would be easier thannot, and yet…

“Do you want me to kiss you?” I ask, lips brushing hers with the question.

She moans slightly in the back of her throat, but there’s a hint of hesitation, and that’s more than enough for me to pull away.

“Wait, I—”

“It’s okay, Rosalie,” I whisper, smoothing her hair back. “But just know—the second you ask me to kiss you again, I’m not holding back.”

And though I have self-control, I’m not a saint, so I steal a kiss on her cheek, near the corner of her mouth.

“All I have to do is ask?” she asks, raising her hand to where I my lips had just been.

I nod. “All you have to do is ask.”

CHAPTER 40Ro

“C’mon, princess, take what you need.”

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