AllFreeNovel
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My spine and face freeze. I pull my hand away from his, and to his credit, he lets me, though he does step closer to me. “I won’t be locked away anymore. I will experience life. All of it. The pain, the happiness, the disappointment. I want it all. I’ll never let anyone take it away,” I say firmly.
Zane’s brows lower and his head tilts to the side as he watches my face. I realize I’ve put my Viviana Rossi mask back on and it takes me a moment to take it back off. She’s gone.Dead and buried.“You were locked away?”
The smell of laundry detergent and turpentine oil fill my nose, making me dizzy. That’s the only excuse I have for telling him the truth. “I might as well have been. I lived in a huge house surrounded by people who watched me for various reasons. My dad hired tutors to come to me. I never left the house without someone there to keep an eye on me. Sure, it was for safety, but it was stifling. I’ll never be controlled like that again. I’ll be who I want where I want, no matter what anyone says. I’ll stay out all night and sleep in till noon if I want to. No bubbles,” I whisper at the end.
Zane’s palm cups my cheek. “Okay. No bubbles.” His eyes focus on mine. “Who do you want to be?”
I almost say Viv Russo, but that’s who I’m already supposed to be. “I don’t know yet.” I furrow my brows, realizing how true that is.
Zane pulls his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans. “Okay, if you don’t know who you want to be, you can decide what you want to do. I’ll make a list and you can cross stuff off as you go.”
He looks at me from under his lashes expectantly, and I realize he’s being serious about making a list. I take a moment to consider what I want to do now that I have the opportunity. Biting my lip, I hesitate. “You won’t judge me?”
“Never,” Zane says with so much conviction I believe him.
I nod firmly, looking down at my toes. “I want to read one of the booksthey talk about on TikTok. You know, the ones that are basically porn?”
Zane smirks as he types at his phone. “Read smut. Got it. What else?”
I breathe out a sign of relief. “I want to stay out until the sun rises and I want to go on a date my dad didn’t arrange for business.”
“Are those separate points or together?” Zane quirks his brow.
“Separate. I want to get drunk and sing karaoke.” I jump on my toes.
“Are you a good singer?” Zane asks as he types.
“Nope. Horrible. I want to have a slumber party with pillow fights, candy, popcorn, and rom-com movies.” Zane types without hesitation. “I want to have my first kiss.” His fingers pause and he looks up at me.
“You’ve never kissed anyone?” His eyes are steady on mine.
I shake my head. “No.”
He types it into his phone. “I’m putting it down, but just so you know, I want it.”
My brow wrinkles. “What?”
Zane looks at me in that intense way he always has since the first time I saw him watching me. “I want your first kiss. I want you to be my first and I want to be yours,” he says softly.
I bite my bottom lip. “You’ve never kissed anyone either?”
Zane shakes his head, looking back down at his phone. “Anything else?”
“Yeah. I want to go to Walmart,” I tell him. Zane laughs, but he types it out. “I want to learn how to cook.”
Zane frowns. “I don’t know how to cook, so I won’t be any help. Nox says I’m a lost cause. What else?”
I whisper the last one. Zane leans in closer. “What was that?”
I say it a little louder. “I want to lose my virginity.”
Zane looks at me for a moment before nodding and writing it down. “I won’t ask for that one. I can’t hurt you. I’d rather die. Just know whoever does take it may not live very long afterward, so don’t get attached.”
I purse my lips and raise my brows. “Okay. Noted.”
“Viv!” Sandy shouts as she comes out of the building and rushes toward me. She stumbles to a stop when she sees Zane. Her brows raise and do a little wiggly thing that I’m instantly jealous of. Mine don’t do that. “What’s going on here?” She does the brow wiggle again.
Zane smiles at Sandy. “Nothing. I was just keeping Viv company while she waited for you.” His eyes find mine again. “I’ve got to get going, anyway. The guys have been blowing up my phone.”
