Page 35 of The Temptation of Truth
“You deserve to be a priority. And if your girlfriend wanted to, she would.”
My heart thuds hard into my rib cage as my breath catches in my throat. My lips part, but no words come. I don’t know when we got so close, but I can see every fleck of green and gold in her irises. A bit of blue, too. Her lashes are long and dark blonde. When she blinks, they flutter against her curtain bangs. There’s a single freckle just beneath her left eye. When she exhales, her breath feathers across my cheeks.
She’d be taller than me if I weren’t wearing these platforms. Taller than Sav, but shorter than Kat. Aurora might be the perfect height, actually.
Goose bumps rise on the back of my neck and over my arms. I find myself wanting to lean even closer. To see how we’d fit if I closed the distance entirely. But then something down the hall crashes, and we both jump to look toward the noise.
“A ladder,” I say, shaking my head to clear the fog. “Someone dropped a ladder.”
My pulse is still thrumming rapidly, my nipples are peaked against my tight white shirt, and I try not to think about how easily I could have kissed her.
She’s Hammond’s niece, I remind myself.And Kat.
I’min lovewithKat.
I kick off the wall and head to the dressing room, changing the subject to something safe.
“Where will you be watching the show?”
Aurora falls in step beside me, her bare arm just an inch from brushing up against mine.
“Uncle Wade has me in the VIP tent.”
“Are you excited?”
“Yeah. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a concert. It’s been a long time since I’ve done much of anything fun, actually.” She laughs and flashes a glance at me. “The last time I heard live music was when I was sixteen. My parents took me to see The Hometown Heartless in Phoenix.”
“Jesus,” I say on a surprised exhale. “I forgot what a baby you are.”
Sixteen.
Aurora saw us in concert when she was sixteen years old. It’s like a bucket of cold water over my head.
When I was sixteen, I was already on the run. That was the year I met Sav. We were living in Nashville and working as buskers and pickpockets for this guy named Oscar. He taught us how to play instruments, and for a while, he kept a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs, but the guy was an asshole who made a living off scared, vulnerable kids.
Fuck, that feels like a lifetime ago.
Sixteen.
“I’m not a baby,” Aurora says, pulling me from my thoughts. “I’m twenty-three.”
We stop outside the dressing room door, and I turn to face her.
“Trust me, compared to me, you’re basically a toddler.”
Her brows slant and her eyes narrow. “You’re not that much older than me.”
I smile, but I don’t argue. “Are you coming in?”
She shakes her head and gestures down the hall. “I have to meet up with my uncle.”
“Well, if I don’t see you before the show, I’ll look for you in the VIP.”
She nods. “Okay. See you later.”
As Aurora walks away, I can’t ignore the strange pull in my chest. One that almost wants to follow her.It’s been a long time since I’ve done much of anything fun, she’d said. She looks so small in this large hallway. She looks so alone. Ihatebeing alone.
Before I think better of it, I call after her.
