Page 90 of Wristlocked
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Her eyes flicker, then steady on mine.
“I ran away first,” she says with a sigh. I squeeze her fingers and shake my head.
“ToJo’s,” Lyot bursts out, pacing behind me. Gia gives him a warning look, but he’s not having it. “He didn’t simply run away, Gia. He fuckingdisappeared.”
Ouch.Also, accurate.
“And now he’s here, so maybe give him a chance to explain?”
“Yeah, sure.” He turns to me, arms crossed. “Okay, Gale. Please explain how the first fucking thing you did,immediatelyafter I told you not to do anything stupid, was the most idiotic thing possible. You fucking bribed Celeste to kick you out of school.”
“That’s not exactly what happened,” I start.
“Not exactly? Which part did I get wrong? The part where you called Celeste without even trying to talk to me first? Or the part where you told her you were never coming back to ACCA? Or how about the part where you couldn’t be fucking bothered to answer your phone for the last fucking twenty-four hours? You, the guy with the mouth that never fucking quits, fucking ghosts me? Ghostsus?”
I stare at him, wholly entranced by his rage.
“He has a line,” Gia explains.
“I see that.” I still can’t look away.
“It can be fun to cross it sometimes.”
Now I fucking look at her, and I catch the flare of mischief in her eyes.
“I can fucking hear you,” Lyot shouts. “This isn’t one of you guys’ goddamn games.”
“We know,” she assures him. One of those looks passes between them. The ones that speak of years together, full of instinct and history. I want those years with an ache that lives in my bones.
“Jamie’s in jail. Here, in San Jose.”
Lyot’s mouth snaps shut, and Gia’s eyes fly to mine, all her erotic tension draining away in an instant. God, she’s such a beautiful, perfect weirdo. How the fuck are we supposed to keep our shit together if she gets turned on every time one of us loses it? And how fucked are we if I have to learn to be the grown-up in the room?
“I got the call right after you left the studio,” I tell them. “And yeah, I wasn’t exactly in the headspace to go chasing you down asking for favors.”
Gia shifts on the bed like she wants to interrupt but doesn’t. Lyot is listening, but the anger is still there, reined in. And something else, as my words sink in.
Ihurthim, our licker of wounds, when I didn’t trust him with mine.
“It wasn’t because of you,” I blurt, because somehowhispain is unbearable.
“It was because of me,” Gia says. “Because of the things I said.”
“Not because of what you said. Because you were right.” I turn to her. Lyot will have to wait. I hold her gaze without flinching. “I did see your name on the new-student roster before the start of term. And yes, my first thought was maybe your parents were the answer to my problems.
“Butyouset me free, Smalls. Long before your mom stepped in with Celeste. I was yours from the minute I saw you, and I was too chickenshit to realize it. Celeste lost me the day you walked into my studio.” I shoot a glance at Lyot. “Together.
“After that, every minute I spent with you—on the straps and in my bed, at the club with your girlfriends, at that goddamn restaurant with Celeste,everywhere.Everywhere, Gia, I was falling in love with you.”
“Burning the world down,” she whispers, fingers tight on mine.
“And every time I hurt you”—I push off the floor and lean in—“I was making you mine.”
She reaches for me, and our mouths collide, my hands at her neck, drawing her up and into my arms. I kiss her like the warrior she is, without quarter, and I kiss her like I love her, because I really fucking do.
“I love you too,” she says when we come up for air. “And we are not leaving you behind.”
