Her brows tug together. ‘Can that happen?’
‘I’d prefer not to find out,’ I say, with a shrug, and I feel her smile against my lips, the sweet warmth of her breath on my face as she chuckles.
‘That’s fair.’
And then she kisses me again, barely a whisper of a thing, and the sincerity in it makes my heart kick out a few beats– almost a rhythm– before it fades. It shouldn’t make sense, this thing between us, but somehow, when I’m with her, nothing feels more right.
‘Lucy?’ I murmur in her ear before catching her earlobe between my teeth.
She shivers. ‘Mhmm?’
‘When I said you should want someone who’d die for you, do you think it counts if they’re already dead?’
‘I’ll allow it,’ she quips, giddy and breathless, and there’s a rasp in her voice that sends goosebumps scattering across my skin, like that first note played on a guitar to a packed crowd. It’s the sound of promise– of possibility. Because no matter what the future holds, she’s here now.
And I know one thing for sure.
This is going to be one hell of a song.
Chapter Thirty-Four
LUCY
I’d like to say that I descend the 199 steps in rather a more sedate way than I climbed up them, but I’m not sure that’s the case. There’s less wheezing, that’s for certain, but I’m practically skipping as we head down, every step taking me towards our happily ever after.
I’m so happy I could burst. But I won’t, however goth that might be. Let’s face it, I’m about as far from that as it’s possible to be.
We reach the bottom, and Bram tugs me left, down the old cobbled street that leads to the harbour.
‘Just a quick detour,’ he says, a smile working its way onto his face, and his fingers, wound between mine, leading me along.
I almost don’t recognise the street, as empty as it is today. It feels strange without all the black lace and bustles, with hardly a vampire in sight. Just the one beside me. The only reason I recognise the bookshop as we pass it is because I notice the doorway beside it, the one recessed from the street, where Bram comforted me that first time. But this time there’s something else, too: a small sign in the window.
Bookseller Wanted – Enquire Inside.
‘I might apply,’ I say, pointing to the sign. ‘Since I’m in need of a job. I can’t think of anything better than selling books in a little shop by the sea.’
He turns to me, brows furrowed in a question. ‘In need of… what?’
I can’t help but laugh. It shouldn’t even be funny. ‘Oh yeah, I quit my job.’
Those green eyes widen.
‘Jon told me my Goth Weekend piece was too bland to publish, and instead he wanted me to put my name to a trashy piece he’d knocked up about you.’
He stops dead. ‘He didwhat?’
‘So I told him he could stick his job, and if he ever dared to credit me with a single word I hadn’t written, I’d set my lawyers on him.’ The more I tell this story, the more impressed with myself I am. I like this new version of me. I hope she’s here to stay. ‘I don’t actually have lawyers, but it seemed to do the trick.’
When I look back at him, he’s looking at me strangely.
‘What?’ I ask, a little concerned that I said something wrong.
But then his face breaks into a smile so wide that the dimple pops in his cheek. ‘Two things,’ he says, in that perfect low rumble of a voice. ‘Firstly, you’re an absolutebadass, Lucy Partridge.’ One hand goes to my cheek as he says it, his fingertips gently grazing the curve of my jaw. ‘And secondly, you might not have had lawyers before, but you do now. If you think for a second that Sammi or Sean or both wouldn’t leap at the chance to grind that bastard into dust, you’re crazy.’
Emotion tightens my throat. I’m so used to it just being me and Mina against the world that the idea of having more people in my corner feels a little overwhelming. But good overwhelming.
Everything-I’ve-always-wanted overwhelming.