Page 56 of Toxic Temptation
I hate that my words make him frown. “Adults always say that when they don’t want to explain something.” He pouts, chin wobbling.
I wrap an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. “You’re right. But sometimes, complicated things are worth it.”
“Like the game of pretend?”
“Especiallythe game of pretend.”
Voices drift up from downstairs, sharp and official. My stomach clenches.
“That’s her,” Luka whispers, suddenly tense and afraid against my side. “The social worker.”
I peek over the railing and see Kovan facing a tall woman with severely pulled-back hair and a clipboard clutched in her hands. Even from up here, she radiates authority and haughty skepticism.
“I’m scared,” Luka breathes.
“Hey.” I turn his face toward mine. “Look at me. We’re going to take care of you, okay? Your uncle and I, we won’t let anything bad happen.”
“Promise?”
I hold out my pinky to him. “I swear.”
20
VESPER
We make our way downstairs, Luka’s hand tight in mine. The social worker has her back to us. From the back, her posture is rigid and unforgiving. I’m certain, even without seeing her head-on, that she’s going to have the puckered, miserable face of Miss Trunchbull fromMatilda.
“How long have you and your…girlfriend…been together?” she’s asking.
A fanged burst of panicked heat rises to my throat. I should have been prepped before this meeting. What if she had askedmethat question? What if I’d fumbled the response? What if I blew this whole thing before it ever gets started, and Luka gets snatched away by this Trunchbull impersonator, dragged away from his galaxy and back into a cruel, cold home filled with hisses and pinches and cramped, dark, dusty attics?
“Almost a year,” Kovan answers without missing a beat.
The lie rolls off his tongue so smoothly that for a second, I almost believe it myself.A year? Has it really been that long already? Time sure flies when you're in love, doesn’t it?
“Still early stages, then.” Trunchbull scribbles a note.
“I don’t measure relationships by time,” Kovan counters, his voice warm. “Vesper and I connected immediately. She’s one of the two most important people in my life.”
I know that’s a lie, too, and yet that doesn’t stop me from leaning into it like a stolen hug. What’s even crazier is that Kovan sounds like he means it, too. Every word smacks of authenticity.
For a wild moment, I let myself imagine exactly that: being one of the two most important people in Kovan’s life.Me, him, and Luka. Unexchangeable, irreplaceable. Three puzzle pieces fitted together with neither room nor need for anyone else.
Then he looks at me and I see the mask on his face, and I remember what this is: a game of pretend. That’s all it is. That’s all it can ever be.
“Ah,” Kovan says, turning toward us. “Here they are. Vesper, Luka, this is Ms. Eliza Murphy. She works for Social Services.”
Luka hides behind my thigh but manages a small, timid wave.
“Hello, Luka. Hello, Vesper.” Her gaze moves lazily to me, sweeps up and down, then back to Luka. “Mr. Krayev was just telling me how you met.”
My pulse spikes. We definitely should have rehearsed this. I throw Kovan a panicked look, but he doesn’t return it. He seems perfectly calm.
“They met at the hospital,” Luka pipes up. “St. Raphael’s, where Vesper works. I was there!”
I’m still busy trying to communicate telepathically with Kovan, who is still busy pretending I don’t exist, when I hear Ms.Murphy ask, with the savvy casualness of a seasoned attorney, “A year ago?”
Mayday, mayday. She’s poking. And she’s going to find massive, massive holes in our story.
