“You.”
Discomfort shifts through me. “Me? Why?”
“I mean, I just spilled allmysecrets. It’s your turn.” His blue eyes are a bit intense as he studies me.
My lips feel dry all of a sudden. I take a second to moistenthem. Meanwhile, my insides twist harder, unhappy with this line of questioning.
“I don’t have any secrets,” I respond in a light tone. “I’m actually pretty boring.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“It’s true. My biggest secret is…maybe that I dyed my hair black once? It looked terrible.”
“All right. Fine. Be difficult.” He thinks it over. “What’s something you love? Like, really love.”
“Um…” I hesitate, biting back answers that feel too close to the real me, things I can’t reveal. “I love being outside. The woods, the lake, stuff like that.”
“ ‘The woods, the lake, stuff like that,’ ” he mimics. “You need better favorite things, Gemini.”
“Because your favorite things are so original? Oooh, football!”
“I’ll have you know, the thing I love most in the world?” He pauses for dramatic effect. “Pie.”
I break into a loud laugh, triggering another smile from Everett.
“See? That’s what I like,” he says, leaning in closer. “You, laughing like that—no filter, no trying to be ironic or cool.”
“Tryingto be cool? Sorry, Everest, but I don’t try at all. I just am.”
We stay out on the bridge for a while longer, before it gets too dark to see and the bugs do indeed make an appearance. Everett suggests hanging out in his truck instead, so we walk back to the parking lot, where he opens the door for me and bows with a little flourish that makes me giggle.
When we’re sitting in the dark pickup, he starts the engine so that the dashboard’s glow is the only light. A slow song plays on the radio.
“Oh, I like this song,” I say, and he turns it up for me. We listen for a minute, until finally I sigh and glance toward him. “You know…you’re not the self-absorbed jock I thought you were.”
He chuckles. “Really? So I’ve managed to fool you too? Damn, I’m good.”
We lock eyes across the front seat, and then he leans in, bridging the distance. He places a hand behind my neck and brushes his lips against mine. When I don’t resist, he nibbles on my lower lip, and when I part them, he deepens the kiss, his tongue meeting mine. It’s a slow, sweet kiss at first, but it doesn’t take long before we’re both breathing hard.
I’m just getting into it when the song fades off and a voice starts reporting the news.
I hear the nameGabriel Thornand my body instinctively tenses, the mood totally ruined. I pull away and focus on the radio, shushing Everett when he tries to talk.
“They’re talking about that serial killer,” I tell him, and his expression clouds over.
“—due to supply issues for lethal injection drugs, the prevailing method of execution in the state of Tennessee, Thorn was given the option to stay his execution until the drugs are available, or to opt for electrocution at the end of this month. He chose the latter method, which has not been used for an execution in several years but is an option given to any death row prisoner convicted prior to 1999…”
Electrocution.
I suck in a breath, my lungs screaming as if they’ve been deprived of oxygen for days. My father had the option to live a little longer—and he chose to have an electric current forced through his body.
He’schoosingto die.
fourteen
Nine-One-One, What’s Your Emergency?
“They’re going to electrocute him,” I blurt out. The romantic moment has officially passed. Now all I can think about is my father being electrocuted to death. “That’s so…brutal.”
