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“Thanks.” Her voice is a whisper, sounding so small and unsure.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why do you wear the pins then every day?”
“As a reminder and a promise to myself that no matter how hard life gets, I’ll keep pushing.” Her watery smile makes my whole chest tighten to the point of it being difficult to breathe.
I grab a lock of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. “You’re ridiculously amazing.”
“Because I wear awesome pins?”
“Because you’re you.”
I press my lips against hers. It’s a soft kiss, not meant to tease or provoke. I’m not sure what it’s for but I know it feels right.
She sighs and it makes something weird happen in my chest. Like I can make her content.
I press my forehead against hers. “One day I hope I can be strong like you. To maybe talk some things out that have been weighing on me.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “Strong like me?”
I nod. My throat grows tighter as if it wants to stop me from spilling secrets.
Don’t do it. You open up this kind of wound and you’re asking for her to pick at your weaknesses.
But what if she’s not likehim. Zahra is kind, loving, and everything good in the world. She’s nothing like my father. She wouldn’t judge me. No. Because she actually likesme—the complete opposite of him.
An asshole who doesn’t care about making others cry, beg, or poor.Someone who’s chosen himself time and time again because if I didn’t protect myself, no one would.
“I—I was very affected by my mother’s death.”
Zahra’s entire face changes. Her smile drops and her eyes soften around the edges. I’m tempted to stop. To erase that look and never bring up the subject again.
But she surprises me. “A kiss for a secret?”
I nod, unable to get any words out. She presses her lips to mine. The feel of her body against mine urges me forward. To take. To own. To make her remember who I am, regardless of my hidden weaknesses disguised as secrets.
I dominate her lips, branding her with my tongue. Showing her I’m still the man she likes no matter what I might say that makes me seem less than.
Don’t be stupid. She wouldn’t think that.
She pulls away and cups my cheek. “My secret.”
I sigh. Am I really going to tell her about this?Can Ieven do it? That part of my past is under lock and key, submerged somewhere deep within the crevices of my darkest memories.
She wraps her legs and arms around me. Her warmth trickles into my skin, bringing back some kind of warmth to my chilled veins.
I release a tense breath. “My dad was a latchkey kid who had access to anything money could buy. Private jets. Boats. A full-time wait staff. But none of it mattered once my mom came into his life. They are—were the closest thing to true love. At least that’s what I was told because I was too young to remember much about them together. But Declan always said that whatever my mom wanted, my dad granted.”
Zahra pulls back. “That’s so sad.”
Shit. “Don’t feel sorry for my dad. He’s an asshole.”
“I feel sorry forallof you.”
I clear my scratchy throat. “My parents loved Dreamland as much as my grandfather…until everything changed.”
“When your mom got sick?”
I nod.
