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Her head jerked and I smiled.
“Good.” I didn’t let go and I choked her for a few more seconds, hoping the message would really sink in. She needed to know who the fuck she was dealing with.
After I let her go, she fell to the floor and I loved to see her at my feet. That was where she belonged.
I stepped away to find Vadik watching me, and Emily with her hands over her mouth. She wasn’t crying and for me, I took that as a plus. I grabbed Emily’s hand and without another word, I took off.
River and Caleb were outside waiting for us. I nodded toward them but took off with Emily, running in the opposite direction. We’d all be sharing her but there would always be moments when we wanted her to ourselves.
“Gael? What’s going on?” she asked, but she didn’t pull away. The truth was I didn’t want to let her go. At that moment, I’d have put her in my car—if I’d driven to school in one rather than take Caleb’s—and drove off with her. Where our pasts meant nothing. I wondered, not for the first time, if she’d be able to handle something like that. Where it was just the two of us. I knew it was what I wanted.
I didn’t push it though.
Crashing through the gym doors, I spun her around. At first, she didn’t laugh. I’d come to notice Emily rarely had a smile on her face. She never had anything to smile about. We all could relate to that. I certainly could.
There was no music, but I imagined it as I brought her close to me and then spun her around. I did this twice more before holding her and dipping her back in a merry dance.
“What’s going on?” she asked, releasing a small smile.
Damn, her whole face lit up, and it took my breath away.
I knew darkness. I’d danced with pain and despair. There had been times as a kid I’d craved affection. When I got older, I fucked women and made them want me just to feel needed, but none of them had come close to the way Emily made me feel.
For once, I felt alive.
I didn’t have a death wish.
“What’s wrong with just having a little dance?”
“There’s no music.”
“Then think of a song in your head and dance with me.” I didn’t let go of her hand as I held her close and moved to tango steps that I’d seen in a movie.
This turned her smile into outright laughter.
Graduation would never be long enough. I knew that now and whatever our dads said, they were wrong. We all could make this work.
****
Emily
Gael’s childishness was infectious.
I craved the way he danced around the gym as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I wanted to let loose, to not think about what my father would do. He’d kissed me and threatened the teacher. No one had stuck up for me. I knew my art teacher tattled to my dad. All my life, no one was on my side, not even my brother. He’d only ever take care of himself, and in our world, it was the way it worked.
Each day, I grew a little more tired of having to put up with the crap. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.
Gael spun me around the gym for what felt like an hour. We’d missed class, no doubt. I panted for breath, but he pinned me against the wall. I didn’t fight him.
“You’re amazing,” he said.
“Gael, you don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
I shook my head. “Don’t.” I put my hand on his chest in an effort to silence him. “You don’t know me. You think you do, but that’s not possible.”
He stroked my hair back, tucking it behind my ear. “You think I don’t know you?”
I licked my lips and nodded. “You don’t.”
“I know you’re beautiful.”
“Gael, come on. Beauty isn’t a good point to have. Lauren’s beautiful.” I tried to move away but he captured my hands, pressing them above my head, keeping me trapped against the wall.
“You’re right. Beauty isn’t important, not really. It’s a good place to start but not the only part of you I love.”
Now my heart started to pound. I couldn’t have heard that little detail correctly, could I? No, it wasn’t possible. He didn’t love me. There was no way he knew love. We barely knew each other.
Yes, we’d grown up together, and I didn’t doubt that he had feelings for me, but love? We didn’t live in a world where love was allowed.
“You could have let me die. I know you don’t mean the shit you say about letting that asshole kill me, but you didn’t.” He pressed a kiss to my lips and this time, I didn’t fight. He ran his nose across my cheek, going to my neck, breathing me in.
