Page 42 of Falling Into Gravity

He wasn’t a smoker but needed something so he could keep up with Aku. When he needed to think, you could catch him with an unlit cigarette or a toothpick in his mouth.

Malik held her gaze, the weed forgotten now. His voice dropped again, so soft it scraped her bones. “I want you to stay.”

“Why?” she asked, not to test him, but to make sure he meant it.

His throat flexed as he swallowed. “I don’t even know…just do.”

Something about the way he said it, sent a chill up her spine. It wasn’t lust that made her toes curl into the carpet, it was longing…that deep, slow-burn kind. The kind that didn’t just want your body — it wanted your name, your laugh, your bad habits, your silence…all the shit she hadn’t given the world yet.

She stepped forward, pressing the blunt to his lips. “Then make room for me.”

And when he took it between his fingers again, his eyes never left hers.

Malik’s lips wrapped around the blunt where her fingers had placed it, but it wasn’t the weed that had him dizzy.

It was her.

The way she stood so close, like she wasn’t asking for permission to be here. Like she belonged in his space…in his world. Like her presence wasn’t disrupting everything he’d carefully kept sealed shut.

He blew the smoke out slow, watching her through it. “You dangerous.”

She didn’t flinch. “And you not?” Her eyes went to the shiny gun sitting on his nightstand.

Touche.

His eyes dropped to her lips. They were slightly parted, glossy with whatever she’d applied earlier—but now it was smeared from the smoke and the night and the words they didn’t say.

She held his stare, head tilted like she was daring him to do something. Her voice came quiet, but it pierced. “Why won’t you kiss me?”

Malik blinked.

She didn’t sound needy. Aku didn’t beg. But it hit him all the same.

His stomach turned over, slow and hungry. He was too high to lie and too sober to pretend he hadn’t thought about it every single time he thought of her.

“You want me to?” His voice was tight.

“I ain’t ask for what I want.” She reached for the blunt again, letting her fingers skim his. “I askedwhyyou won’t.”

She took another hit, then leaned in so close he could feel her breath against his neck. “You scared?” she whispered, lips grazing his skin.

That word again.

Fear.

It shadowed her voice, haunted his silence. Because he wasn’t scared of her, not really. He was scared of what would happen if he let her all the way in. Scared she’d see the dirty parts of him…and stay.

Or worse…leave.

Her hand landed flat on his chest, right where his heart was thudding way too fast. “It’s okay. You don’t gotta kiss me. I just needed to know if you felt it too.”

He reached up and grabbed her wrist. His grip wasn’t hard, but enough to make her eyes snap to his. “Don’t play with me, Aku.”

“I’m not.”

“You think I don’t feel it?” His voice cracked. “Shit been choking me since the first night you looked at me like I was more than what I showed you.”

Their silence felt loud again.

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