Page 23 of Cusp: A Renzo + Lucia Companion

Things were so much easier to deal with when shit never went too deep. She didn’t let anything get under her skin, including people. Or the time she spent with them.

Diego, though …

“I follow you now,” she said. “On—”

“Do you?”

She laughed because he hadn’t even let her get the name of the social app out. “Made an account only to keep up. I won’t be posting or anything.”

He flashed those straight, white teeth of his in a grin. It had her both rolling her eyes at his cockiness and laughing to hide the heat crawling up her cheeks that said she liked his arrogance just as much as she found it mildly annoying.

Boys.

The one thing in the world that could make smart girls stupid.

All facts.

“No, it’s good,” Diego said, waving a hand between them when he added, “and if you ever wanna catch up, at least you know how to find me that way. Right?

Well …

“Right,” she agreed. “I definitely want to do that. Catch up, I mean.”

“Yeah, me too, Luv.”

Her name in his mouth was a curious thing.

Sweet.

And full of sin.

It was the approach of a familiar figure that had her standing from the table, ready to leave. Diego joined her, and his arms opened her way with a hug that she didn’t even hesitate to take. Before his brother had even reached their spot, he’d given her a quick kiss on her cheek, close to her smiling lips, and then retook his seat. With arms folded, he winked under the wide brim of his baseball cap.

“Catch you later, Diego,” Luv said.

He nodded once. “Yeah, I’ll catch you later.”

Luv passed Renzo with a tilt of her chin that was subtly returned. She didn’t bother to check over her shoulder as she left. Time was a fluid thing to her. Something that kept moving around her though it didn’t really leave much of an impression withher.

One second to the next.

This job, then another.

Days, weeks, and months held very little meaning when there was nothing tangible keeping her tied to it all. Hell, she didn’t even have an official birthday to celebrate, so it wasn’t as if events like those mattered much to her either.

She didn’t know how long it would be before her path would cross with Diego’s, but the time in between didn’t really make a difference when she didn’t count time, anyway. Not like other people did. But she also wasn’t like other people.

Luv was just … Luv.

And at that moment, she had a new assignment to handle. Onto the next, she thought while heading out of the airport. What is will always be.

She counted on that.

More than anyone knew.