Page 70 of Mr. Match

“No,” I say, putting a hand on his chest and looking him in the eyes. “I’m not saying that to make you feel bad. I guess if I wanted you to save me I’d have been honest with you from the start. But instead I’ve been lying about everything.”

“Kat, listen to me, OK?” His eyes track back and forth between both of mine. “I know more than you think.”

I snort out a laugh. “No. Oliver. You don’t.”

“Trust me, Kat. I can handle this.”

But isn’t that what they all say? And the one left over to save the day falls for it every single time. “I know better, Oliver. I know better.”

“Well,” he says, still looking at me with that intense stare. “You might know more about me than most. I’ll give you that. But you know a whole lot less than you should.”

“They’re coming for us.”

“I know.”

But I shake my head. He can’t know. I don’t even know what’s really happening. And I have a hell of a lot more information than he does.

“I got this, Kat. I promise. I swear. And I would not just say these things to you if I didn’t mean it, OK?” He cups his hands to my face to make me look at him. Take him seriously. Believe him.

I nod.

“OK?” he asks again.

I nod bigger this time. “Yeah, OK.”

But I don’t believe it for a second. Because that’s what they all say in the movie. They make promises. And they make plans. And then all those plans go to shit, someone dies, and then even if they pull off a win in the end… it’s not sweet anymore. There is no true win, is there?

“This isn’t that moment, Kat. We’re not there yet. I swear. We’re not even close.”

I sigh and give in. That’s my role in this scene, right? Give in to his promises of salvation and let my guard down.

“OK. I guess you’re right.”

He doesn’t believe me either. He knows we’re there. Hell, our deadline ran out a while back, I think. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if I never see him again after we leave this house this morning and go our separate ways.

“You wanna have lunch with me today?” Oliver says. “We could look at all the pictures we just took.”

“Well.” I smile. “I have a date with your sister today at lunch time. She and the rest of the girls want to ‘get to know me better.’” I make air quotes for that last part.

“Shit,” Oliver says, giving me a squeeze. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I like them. I’m happy to get to know them better. I could use some friends.”

“Well, watch out for Ariel. And Tori,” he adds quickly. “They are trouble.”

“Yeah.” I laugh for real. “I can totally see that. But it’s just lunch. What do you have on your schedule?”

“It’s just another day, Katya. Just another day. But I’ll see you tonight. In fact, don’t be on that bench when I get off work. Just come back to the office with Ariel when you’re done with lunch. Or I’ll come up to your apartment.”

I want to say, Nope. Sorry. You can’t come up to my place because the Silver Society has it bugged and they would like nothing more than to have more dirt on you so they can rip your world apart before the end of the week.

But I don’t say that. Because we’re not in that moment. He said so. And if Oliver Shrike says I’m safe and he’s got things under control, well, who am I to argue?

I’m just the scared girl in the lifeboat for this scene. Surrounded by hungry sharks. Dying of thirst even though land and safety are in full view. And my hero says it’s all gonna be OK.

I am just the girl who wants to believe.

The girl who needs to believe.