Page 27 of Royal Shark
“Because it’s true.”
I watch her pull the safe from the oven. Not a bad hiding place considering the limited places where she could hide something in her apartment.
She gathers the money and chips from her suitcase, sets them on the coffee table, and then sits on the futon with the safe, about to do the combination. “Don’t look.”
I sit next to her on the futon and slap a hand over my eyes. “Your secret code is safe with me. Let me guess, Chloe’s birthday.”
“How did you know?”
I drop my hand. “You just told me, and it’s not hard to guess. Use something random.”
“But then how will I remember it?”
“You’ll remember it because it’s important.”
She opens the safe and quickly shoves tonight’s tips in there. I spy stacks of hundreds with rubber bands and some cards sticking up in the back. Wait a minute. Is that what I think it is?
I stare at her in shock. “You still have them. The pair of red twos.” It must mean something. She keeps them in her safe like they’re valuable. Did she hope we’d reunite one day?
She flushes bright red, peeks in the safe, and hastily slides the cards under the bills. “I need to get a bigger safe.”
I lean close. “You pretended you didn’t remember the pact, but you kept the pair.”
She bites her lower lip. “They’re my lucky cards.”
“Why?” For the first time, I’m hopeful. Like maybe it’s a sign we were meant to be. I thought she’d shut me out of her life for good, until I came barging back in, but maybe she never let me go, just like I never managed to let her go.
She quickly shuts the safe and locks it. “They remind me of a simpler time when I believed in heroes.”
I cup the back of her neck, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her lips. “I’m here now.”
She pulls away and stands with her safe clutched to her chest. “It’s different now. I’m different. You should go.” She heads for the kitchen and puts her safe back in the oven.
I’m not sure what to say or do, still reeling from the discovery that Sara held onto those cards. She held onto our connection.
“Please go,” she says quietly.
I stand. “I’m going, but I’ll be back.”
She lifts her hand in a brief wave and turns away, but not before I see the shine of tears in her eyes. I halt. Why the tears? She must have some feeling for me. Why is she upset about it? Does she think I’m going to leave for good? Because if there’s something there between us, something real, I’m open to seeing where it goes. I’m torn between hauling her into my arms and giving her the space she asked for.
I step toward the door, giving her one last look. Her arms are crossed now, hugging herself. I can’t leave her like this.
I cross to her, tip her chin up and kiss her gently. “I’m glad we met again and, if you’ll let me, I want to stay in your life.”
Her green eyes are shiny, her lips pressed tightly together. “Ade, I’ve changed. I can’t do relationships. I’m broken.”
I stroke her hair back. “I always say relationships are a bad bet, but we go back so far it’s not even fair to call it a relationship. It’s more like we just picked up where we left off.”
She stares at me, her brow crinkled in apparent thought.
I want to say more, that I could never commit to anyone, and maybe that was because no one could compare to her. Maybe I’m making too much of the pair of twos she held onto, but this feels right.
I cup her jaw, and her eyes go soft. She definitely has some feeling for me. “I kept my pair of fives too.”
She swallows visibly, her cheeks flushing pink. “You did?”
“Of course. We had a pact.” I give her a quick hard kiss and leave before I can get caught up in her again.
