“I’d say you’re lying, Tempest.”
“Why’s that?” She turned in my arms and faced me. “Why would it be a lie?”
"Because…” I leaned in and brushed my lips across her neck. “I’m the sort of man that you think about—often.”
"Narcissist.”
"Realist,” I snapped back. “Now, stop annoying me with your voice so I can focus on the only part I like about you.”
She reared back. “My face?”
“No.” I grabbed her hands. “These. They reach for me before your brain can tell you to stop—they’re the only honest thing about you, Tempest. Your hands.”
Her lower lip wobbled, just enough for me to catch it, just enough for me to pull her closer for a little bit longer. Was that going to be all I could hold on to? The small moments where we were both fractured? Human? Where we allowed each other to see beyond the cracks? I didn’t even know anymore. I stared down at her hands and gripped them, then slowly lowered my head until my lips were just a breath away from her knuckles and one by one I kissed my way around her hands counting as I went, and when I finally reached ten I pressed my forehead to both of them. “Beautiful.”
“Nobody has ever kissed my hands so much.”
“Most people don’t take their time appreciating the hardest working parts of our bodies.” I lifted my head. “Before this year is over, I vow I will.”
17
LOUIS
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
It was D-Day.
I wasn’t excited about it.
Tempest seemed even more nervous than I was and just as confused. We had a joint alliance and everything relied on me getting in and not getting killed on the spot.
“Try not to be yourself too much.” Tempest exhaled a shaky breath. “You talk a lot, it might get on their nerves.”
“Does it get on yours?”
“I hate the silence.”
“I know.”
“Being alone with your own thoughts is pure torture to me. The house will be quiet without you cursing and talking to yourself.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, I’ll be back. If you want to greet me naked or with a silk robe on, I won’t be mad.”
She ignored me. “The meeting can last up to three hours. Make it through whatever weird testing process they have and come back to me.”
The car pulled to a stop.
It was right on the water, a warehouse, typical, stupid. “It’s like a bad mob movie.”
“Get out.” She grinned. “It’s not the warehouse, it’s the Chinese restaurant across the way. I parked farther down just in case.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I opened the door. “See you after school.”
TEMPEST
“Make good choices.” I tried to joke but I meant it. I hoped he understood that I was at least mildly concerned about how all of this was going to go. I wanted to have this completely dissociative like persona, but I cared. I did care. Even if he cared about my sister more than he ever would me, he was still a human I was sending into a shitty situation and a human I genuinely didn’t hate, which was progress.
Plus, he saw through a lot of the pretense.