Page 115 of Crossing the Brooklyn Briggs
She gasps, and I don’t think it’s because of the kiss I place on her jaw. “Never?” she repeats shakily. “Do you really mean that?”
I know this relationship of ours is so new. I also know she’s been burned so many times by bad relationships and sad excuses for men who didn’t deserve her. As someone starts up a song on the karaoke machine in the back—an old familiar song from our high school days—I take both her hands and lift her to her feet.
“Dance with me, Queens.”
She looks around. “What? Here?”
No one else is dancing—it’s hard to dance to a drunken rendition of “All of Me” by John Legend—but I pull her into my arms anyway. This particular song feels like fate, and I can’t let it go to waste.
It doesn’t take her long to relax into me, dropping her head onto my shoulder and letting me sway with her to the music.
“I probably would have gone with the original if given the choice,” I say quietly, “but this song is important. Do you remember why?”
She shakes her head. “No, why?”
“Because this is the song we danced to at prom when we were royalty together.”
Her body stiffens in my arms, but only for a second. Then she leans into me more heavily, like she’ll never be close enough.
I keep talking, hoping I can get the words out right. They’re too important to mess up. “I lied to you the other day. When I told you I didn’t cheat to get voted in as king? I knew you were going to be voted queen, and I couldn’t stand the thought of someone else standing up next to you. Especially not your bumblebee of a boyfriend.”
“Bumblebee?”
“Going from flower to flower. It’s not my best work.”
She hums into my chest. “I like it. I don’t like that you lied to me.”
“I know. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry I was too stupid to realize what you meant to me back then. I could have saved you from so much heartbreak because I never would have let you go once I had you.”
I don’t know if we would have made a good couple back then or what our lives would look like now if we hadn’t spent so much time apart. What I do know is how little I want to waste any more time.
“I’ll tell Houston everything, whether or not he’s ready to hear it. I’m not letting you go now.” I tip my head back, waiting until she looks up at me with watery eyes. “You’ll always be my queen, Queens. Can I be your king?”
She snorts a laugh, her face turning red as she fights to control her expression.
I wrinkle my nose. “That’s not the response I was expecting.”
Covering her mouth with her hand, she shakes her head and takes a step away from me. “That was the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard. Queen Queens! And you’re no king, Torres.”
“I’m not sure I like that I brought the old Brooklyn back,” I mumble. “The quiet, people-pleasing you was much nicer.”
She cups my cheek with her hand. “I don’t need a king. Just promise to love me. That’s all I need.”
“Always.”
I kiss her, silently promising that she will always be the first thing on my mind no matter what life throws at me.
Chapter Forty-One
Brooklyn
October 25
I’m pretty sure I’m hallucinating. It’s the only thing that explains why I have an email from the top research lab in Sun City asking if I’m available for an interview today because they had a spot open up on their cancer treatment team. Like, it is way too specific to be anything but a dream, and yet several pinches have yet to wake me up.
So I call Jordan, hoping he can jolt me into reality.
“Good morning, love.”
