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This is the hardest part. The part that takes effort and force to pull out from my core. “If I get spotted out in public with Luna, I’m gonna tell my family that I’m just using her.” It’s a knife in my gut just saying the words, but… “This is the way.”
Lo lets out a breath.
“It’s the only path forward,” I add. “The only path with her, really. And in the future, if I ever date Luna publicly, then my family will just believe I’m faking this relationship to stay close to you all so I can help them, but I won’t be able to help ‘em. And years later, I dunno, I pull away completely from my family. They realize I fell for her for real, and I’m just gone. Detached from them and attached to all of you. They won’t ever think I ratted them out years prior, and they’ll have no reason to come for me.”
Lo is processing, his hand raking through his light brown hair.
“Everyone will know the truth that I’m really with Luna,” I say. “The only ones being duped are my family. And if I stay in their good graces, I might be able to figure out their real intention that night, which wasn’t to kidnap Luna.”
Lo is wincing.
I frown. “What’s wrong with it?”
“You. Your family. Going back there.” He points off to the side. “That wasnotthe plan. It was supposed to end.”
I sit up further on the toilet lid, phone tightened in my fist. “I’m not planning on befriendinglong-lost cousins, Xander’s dad. I’ll be talking mainly to one person.”
“Your father,” he says like that’s no better.
I run a hand down my jaw. “You’re not gonna like this, but he has to be in on the truth too.”
“What?” he snaps.
“He knows…” I swallow a rising lump. “He knows I have feelings for Luna. I don’t wanna get into it, but he still helped me that night, even knowing. He’ll help me again and vouch for me when it comes to the rest of the family.”
“At what cost?” Lo questions. “What’s he going to ask from you?”
“Hopefully he’ll just want a relationship with me,” I mutter, but I can’t even say it’s a strong enough pull. “He went to jail for me. He was willing to go toprisonfor me. He has more to gain by helping me now than he did before—that’s all I know.”
Lo groans and cringes, not a fan it seems, then he sighs. “Just keep me informed. Trust.” He motions from me to him, since our trust in each other has been like walking a rickety plank off a pirate ship.
Truth is, I trust him more than I do my own dad.
I nod and say, “I like green grapes and Granny Smiths.” Off his confusion, I add, “For the fruit basket.”
“The one I’m never going to send you,” he reminds me. “You stilldidn’t waitfor her when you told me you would. Don’t press your luck, Paul.”
I want to laugh. Because all I’ve done is try my hand at luck, especially with his daughter. Hasn’t always turned out in our favor, but I’d rather keep taking my chances. At least then, I’m still racing towards her.
* * *
Pocketing my phone,I exit the bathroom to find Luna chilling in the living room with her puppy. She’s upside-down on the sofa, flipping channels rapidly, but she mutes the TV as soon as I appear.
Seeing her just makes me smile. “You hungry?” I wonder.
“Yeah, I could eat.”
Before she moves, I go to the back of the sofa and reach down, catching her hands. I pull her up and over the furniture, and her body melds against my chest. Luna is in my arms, breathless, and I remind myself,she just met me.Slow.
Be slow with her.
Doesn’t mean I have to be distant. I carry her against my chest to the kitchen, her legs wrapping around my waist.
She’s grinning. “I bet she loved when you did this.”
I know she’s referring to her past-self. The self she doesn’t remember. “Carrying you to the kitchen wasn’t something we did on the regular.”Or really at all.“We were mostly friendly outside our rooms.”
“This isn’t friendly?”
