Page 93 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

He takes my lips or I take his—I don’t know which, but wetake each other, and there’s somehow no end or beginning to it. This didn’tstart twelve years ago on the rooftop of my house under a quarter moon. Itdidn’t begin under the Mediterranean sun or idling on the sea. It feels like itstarted when I was born, and everything in my life brought me to him and him tome—like all the times we were apart were held breaths, and here together, ineach other’s arms, we can finally breathe.

He pulls away, one hand under my dress, gripping my thigh,the other palming my ass.

“Shit.” He lowers his head again, kisses me again like it’sa compulsion, an involuntary action he can’t or won’t even try to stop. “If wedon’t go now, we won’t go, and I won’t care.”

“No.” I give him a gentle shove. “We’re going. We have a redcarpet to walk.”

He does a double take, a smile spreading across his face.“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ll call Cliff tomorrow. I don’t know how he’llrespond, but we’ll deal with it as best we can. Besides.” I execute a slowturn, making sure he sees every curve from every angle. “I’m always making sureeveryone else is ready for their big moments.” I smile, grabbing his fingerswith one hand and the doorknob with the other. “It’s my turn now, and I’m readyfor my close-up.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Takira

“What’s up, Tee?” my brother asks, sounding like halfhis attention is on our conversation and half elsewhere.

“You got a sec?”

“Anything for my little sis,” he says, still soundingabsentminded.

“What did I interrupt?” I find myself smiling in spite of his distractedness.

“I was drawing up some plays.”

“It’s summer. The season won’t start ’til the fall. You’vegot some time.”

“True, but I can’t stop thinking about what we might do nextyear. We got a great group of guys.” He sighs. “Anyway, lemmestop. My baby sister is on the line. Big-time stylist to the stars.”

There’s no mockery in his voice, only pride, and thetightness in my chest eases. He’s been through a lot; he’s put us through alot, but when it comes down to it, he’s still my big brother who I loved morethan just about anything growing up, even when he was a jerk. In spite of it all, he’s still my Trini twin.

“I don’t want to hold you.” I clear my throat. “So I’llget right to it. I’m seeing someone.”

“Ahhh,” he says, teasing, knowing.“Boy or girl?”

I release a shallow, nervous laugh. “Boy.”

“Well, tell me about him. He must be special. You neverbother telling me about the jerks you meet on Tinder and shit.”

“You, uh, you know him, actually.”

“For real? Know him like a celebrity out there in Hollywood,or know him—”

“Personally. You knew him back in the day.” Impatience withmy own stalling rushes the words out of me. “It’s Nazareth, uh…Naz Armstrong.”

My words reverberate in the silence that follows them.

“What the fuck, Tee?” he explodes. “You shittingme?”

I flinch. Even braced for his disapproval, I’m still shakenby his anger. “No, I ran into him in LA and—”

“And out of all the guys you could’ve fucked,it had to be him? The one who took my place? Ruined everything for me? Is thatit? Wanted you a baller?” He expels a harsh breath. “My own sister. Chasingclout and giving up ass for—”

“Fuck you, Cliff,” I say, my voice low and lethal in a way Ireserve for him when he’s showing his ass. “I love you, and it’s been hard towatch what’s happened to you since that game, but you made those choices. Itwasn’t Naz’s fault. None of it. You hit that coach. You started using. Acceptresponsibility for it.”

“You have no idea how it feels to have everyone turn onyou.” His voice hardens, sounding so brittle I’m afraid it will break. “To haveall you did your whole life count for nothing because of one bad call.”

I’m not sure if he means that ref’s bad call, or his baddecision-making in the wake of it, but I let him go on.