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“Dad is thinking about Imperial College.”

“And let me guess, that’s not where you want to go.”

“I’m an artist. I want to continue being an artist.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“Have you seen my dad?” I laugh awkwardly.

“He seemed a lot more reasonable than my uncle.”

“Do you really think that?”

“Not really.” He lifts a shoulder. “But Uncle’s enemy is my friend.”

I laugh, leaning my head against his shoulder. For a moment, we get lost in the lights in the distance as the Ferris wheel continues its ascendance to the top.

Then, a crazy thought comes to mind. “Levi… did you see who hit me that night?”

“If I did, I would’ve told you.”

I pull back, staring at him. Then I grab both his arms and feel around them. “Were you there at the moment I got hit?”

“I heard the hit.”

“Meaning, you were at the road? Did you see anyone?”

“Believe me, princess, if I knew who hurt you, I’d be the first to fuck them up.”

But a crazy idea won’t leave my mind.

Could it be…?

I lift his long-sleeved T-shirt to his elbows.

He chuckles, “Am I going to be your sugar daddy sooner than agreed?”

My gaze zeroes on the lines in his veiny forearms. I pull it to the shadows and gasp.

The mole near his elbow looks like a small star in the darkness.

My eyes blur as I look at him. “You saved me.”

47

Astrid

Just when I think I have you, everything dissipates into thin air.

* * *

Weeks pass and every day is surreal.

Every day, Levi tests my limits and I test his right back.

We’re like two pieces of a jigsaw, him and I. It’s impossible to have one without the other.

I walk into the school with Levi’s arm wrapped around my waist. Most of the football team surround us like knights.