Page 99 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

”No,” he smirked, “those are all airport souvenirs. I never got to see much of the places I visited.”

”If you want to, we can figure that out, you know? You can send me postcards.” I smiled. “You’ll just have to learn how to express your love for me in all the different languages.”

He chuckled and kissed my forehead, then pointed at one of the Las Vegas stickers. “I love you.” Then he pointed at an Ontario one. “I love you.”

”Very funny.”

”I love you,” he said again while pointing out an Australian one.

”You’re just proving that colonialism is horrible.”

“I’m proving that I’m already in the only place that matters.” He leaned down and kissed me, his lips rough against mine. His tongue nudged mine, and he didn’t stop kissing me until I gasped for air, cheeks flushed and pulse racing. “I love you.”

“Uh-huh.” My brain tried to come back fromnice, more, yes, good, to the present. “Are you going to tell me what you and Luka just agreed on?”

He shook his head. “Not here. The walls have ears.”

”Okay, fine,” I pursed my lips and wandered from the dresser to the punching bag, “did you ever pin your uncle’s face on this?” I pushed my fist into the worn leather, coming up against a deceptively hard surface. Good thing I hadn’t swung for it.

“Like this.” Victor’s fingers closed around mine and he rearranged my fist, placing the thumb loosely against the side rather than tucked away. “And no. Imagined it though.”

He stepped around behind me and guided my arm into position. “Hit.”

I followed command and swung my fist into the bag. “Ow! Flip! That hurts!”

“Ideally, you’d be wearing gloves.”

“And then it doesn’t hurt?”

“Less and less with each hit.”

“I’ll leave the punching to you.” I turned and almost collided with his chest. Victor didn’t move out of the way. He just stared down at me, green eyes moving fast, tracing every inch of my face. “What? Do I have something on my face?” I wasn’t evensure if I’d eaten anything. Let alone something that could ruin my makeup.

“No,” he shook his head, a small smirk playing out over his lips, “you’re here. It’s strange.”

“I’m not doing too good,” I confessed, “I’m not… I can’t…”

“I know.” He wrapped the end of my braid around his fingers. “What can I do?”

“Right now I’m okay, but outside, with people, I’m dissociating. I’m on auto-pilot and I have no idea what I’ve said or done for most of the day.”

“I know.”

“How? This hasn’t happened in years.”

“It actually happened last year. After Julian Beckett.” I flinched at the name, but Victor continued. “When we had to take Del to the hospital, I wasn’t going to leave you behind. You came with us to the hospital, and then you spent the night at my place.”

“I don’t remember that.”

Victor tipped his head as if to saycase in point.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. You took a shower, borrowed some sweats and fell asleep on the sofa. But you had the same look in your eyes. It’s like part of you has vacated your body. It’s… scary.”

“Scary? Why? Do I look like a zombie?”

“No, it’s scary because I don’t know where you go. I’d follow you anywhere, but I can’t do that when you disappear like that. I don’t know how to get you back.”

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