“Dad is thinking about Imperial College.”
“And let me guess, that’s not where you want to go.”
“I’m an artist. I want to continue being an artist.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“Have you seen my dad?” I laugh awkwardly.
“He seemed a lot more reasonable than my uncle.”
“Do you really think that?”
“Not really.” He lifts a shoulder. “But Uncle’s enemy is my friend.”
I laugh, leaning my head against his shoulder. For a moment, we get lost in the lights in the distance as the Ferris wheel continues its ascendance to the top.
Then, a crazy thought comes to mind. “Levi… did you see who hit me that night?”
“If I did, I would’ve told you.”
I pull back, staring at him. Then I grab both his arms and feel around them. “Were you there at the moment I got hit?”
“I heard the hit.”
“Meaning, you were at the road? Did you see anyone?”
“Believe me, princess, if I knew who hurt you, I’d be the first to fuck them up.”
But a crazy idea won’t leave my mind.
Could it be…?
I lift his long-sleeved T-shirt to his elbows.
He chuckles, “Am I going to be your sugar daddy sooner than agreed?”
My gaze zeroes on the lines in his veiny forearms. I pull it to the shadows and gasp.
The mole near his elbow looks like a small star in the darkness.
My eyes blur as I look at him. “You saved me.”
47
Astrid
Just when I think I have you, everything dissipates into thin air.
* * *
Weeks pass and every day is surreal.
Every day, Levi tests my limits and I test his right back.
We’re like two pieces of a jigsaw, him and I. It’s impossible to have one without the other.
I walk into the school with Levi’s arm wrapped around my waist. Most of the football team surround us like knights.