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My cheeks flushed. “He doesn’t,” I insisted, even though I wanted to believe her words. “He’s just a great actor.” My mind wandered to his lips on mine, the way he kissed me in front of everyone. Was that all acting? Was that all part of the deal? Was there any, tiny part of the kiss that was real to him?
Of course not. None of this was new to Alek. None of this was special.Iwasn't special.
“Then I guess we’ll find out whether or not that’s actually true,” she muttered. “Because he’s here to pick you up.”
“He’swhat?”
Natalie stood up and walked over to my closet, picking out a sweater and a pair of jeans. “He’s here to get you. You might want to get dressed. Everything else you’ll need is in the bag.”
“This better be a joke.”
“Oh, I’m very serious,” she replied. “And so was Alek when he insisted on surprising you with this. Get moving!”
I couldn’t deny the flicker of excitement that ignited in the back of my mind. After all of this, after pushing me away and swearing to me that he wasn’t good for me, Alek wanted to surprise me with a trip?
“Can you at least tell me where I’m going?” I asked Natalie as I got dressed and picked up the small duffel bag. I tossed her my mother’s cell phone.
“Nope,” she said with a smile. “But you’ll thank me later.”
My nerves had me smiling, too, as I crawled out of the window and walked over to Alek’s car.
He stood just like he had stood every time before, with his back leaning against the passenger side door. “What is all this?” I asked, motioning to the duffel over my shoulder.
When I was close enough, he grabbed the bag from my shoulder and threw it in his trunk. “Get in and you’ll find out.”
I climbed into the car and waited for Alek to explain what we were doing, but he didn’t. He silently started driving, pulling off my street and into the city.
“I owe you an apology,” he said after a few minutes of driving.
“For what?”
“I didn’t mean to treat you that way, Lyra. I let my fear get the best of me. After the carnival… I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t seeing things clearly.”
I definitely wasn’t expecting an apology. Did he regret the kiss, too? Did he regret all of it?
“You don’t have to run away from me, Alek,” I said. “If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have much going on in my life. This is… even the danger is exciting to me. I know that’s bad, but it’s true.”
He smiled. It was his real smile—the one I hadn’t seen in ages.
“Well, I’m relieved to hear you say that. I guess after what happened at the lake house, I’ve started to feel responsible for you.”
“You’re not responsible for me, Alek,” I said softly. “You have no idea how much you’ve done to help me.” I reminded myself I was supposed to be angry with him. Maybe not completely pissed off, but I shouldn’t be letting him off so easily. He was giving me whiplash with all of his mood changes.
But he was here. He was making an effort. And once again, he had the ability to pull me out of the cage of an apartment.
I had missed him. I had missed this.
“You deserve better,” Alek said. “For whatever reason, I’m glad I have a deal with you. But you deserve better.”
His words were flattering, but a void of emotions washed over his face. He was thinking something else; I just didn’t know what.
I would give anything to know what he was thinking all the time. Alek was at war with something in his own mind. If anyone understood that, it was me.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked again, turning my attention to the road.
“Yes,” he answered. “I’m showing you the world.”
My chest tightened. Half with excitement, and half with nervous energy.
