“Both,” she admitted.
I had a flight booked for tonight. Missing school wasn’t on my agenda—not because I gave a shit about it, but because I didn’t want to add any more concern to my already troubled household. They were going to find out soon that the only reason I was still in school was because I had been the football captain and Coach would hunt me down and kick my ass if I dropped out. My grades were every teacher’s nightmare. Based on them, you wouldn’t guess I was literate, let alone smart.
I loved Luna, but nothing could keep me away from Mom for very long. This was the longest and farthest I’d ever been away from her.
There was silence on the other line.
“Mom?”
More silence.
“Rosie!” I barked impatiently, kicking the trash can in the hotel bathroom. The mouthwash bottles spilled over, rolling on the floor, knocking against the top of my boot. Without thinking, I reached for a fourth bottle and unscrewed it.
Damn it all to hell.
“Sorry,” she choked on the word. “Drifted off for a second. I’m fine, baby. Totally fine. Just really tired.”
“I love you,” I growled, annoyed.
“Love you, too.”
I texted Dad asking about Mom, and he said everything was cool. I texted Lev and Aunt Em, cross-examining them, but they gave me the same laconic update.
Fine, fine, fine. I understood fully now why Luna loathed this word.
I sat across from my girlfriend in a dirty little diner that smelled like it had been deep-fried in its entirety. The walls, the red-vinyl booths, the tables—everything smelled of fried food, with the undertone of stale coffee.
Real talk? I wasn’t Boon’s biggest fan. If I had to give it a twin city, it’d be hell. Call me a shallow dipshit, but I liked my life in Todos Santos. With the perfect palm trees and mile-long white beaches and sparkling private pools and diners that were squeaky clean and brand new. You could eat from the fucking floor at my local Denny’s.
But Luna was here, wearing a tight green top that made her puckered nipples poke out, so naturally, Boon was my favorite place for this moment.
“How’s Rosie?” She squeezed my hand from across the table. I wanted to sit on the same side as her, but reined in my clingy-ass tendencies. I still hadn’t told her the L word. She had enough leverage on me as it was, so I held on to it like a nun holds her V card.
“She’s fine.”
Then I remembered I couldn’t bullshit Luna, and she didn’t deserve to be bullshitted, anyway.
“That’s what they tell me, anyway. Wanna know what I think? I think it’s nearing the end.”
Luna bit her lip, looking down at her thighs. She was a terrible liar, so I deducted there was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Do you know something I don’t?” I dipped my chin, my throat working.
She shook her head, flipping the greasy, plastic menu a few times, pretending to read it. Upside-fucking-down. Nice.
Drop it, my mind told me. Eighteen years later, you finally got the girl. Don’t pick a fight and ruin this. Not now.
What could Luna know about my mom that I didn’t, anyway? Nothing. I was on top of my shit in that department. I grilled Mom, Em, and Dad on a daily basis. Her doctors, too. Short of gutting a random, healthy person of their lungs and shoving them in my mom’s chest, I did everything I could. Luna wasn’t keeping anything from me.
“I’m hungry for something sweet. I think I’m going to go for the pancakes.” Moonshine tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, her eyes roaming the menu. “What do you want to eat?”
“You,” I deadpanned, flicking my menu across the table. She looked up. Giggled.
Her voice. Her fucking voice. I could drown in it.
“No, really?” She covered her giggling mouth and that chipped tooth she thought made her imperfect.
“Really,” I maintained. “Put every dish on the menu in this place and your legs spread-eagle on this table and test me.”
“Jesus, Knight.” She laughed.
I sat back and smiled. It was easier to be my usual, cocksure self when I was secretly drunk. And the good thing about mouthwash, I’d found out recently, was it didn’t leave the stench of vodka or whiskey. Plus, because you weren’t actually supposed to drink it, it packed one hell of a buzz.
“How’d your roommate react this morning?” I changed the subject from her pussy before my dick sprung out of my Armani slacks and ran to reunite.
Luna rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her giant glass of milk. “She yelled at me.”
I winced. “What did you do?”
“Yelled back.”
“Atta girl.”
“Then she hugged me.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Then she apologized for slapping me.”
“She slapped you?”
“Yup. I mean, I can’t wholly blame her. She thought I was completely mute. I did a lot of apologizing of my own for keeping so many things a secret from her. Then I sent Josh a text message asking to meet him for coffee so I could apologize and explain. I feel like such a dick.”