“You hanging in there, stingray?” Enzo says back.
I sigh into the wall as my heart beats to incredible speeds.
“Your heart is beating so fast,” he says against the wall.
“Because of you.”
“I know. Mine is just as fast.”
I smile. “I can’t do this. I can’t watch you get hurt—”
“Shh, let’s not talk about the game. Let’s just enjoy the time we have together.”
“How do your shoulders feel?” I ask.
“Milo had me stitched up by the best doctors. I don’t think I’ll drop dead from an infection or anything,” Enzo tries to tease, but I can’t joke at a time like this.
My tongue wags around in my mouth as I contemplate what I’m going to say next. “How has he treated you, other than your shoulders?”
“In a cell better than this. He lets me out to exercise and feeds me well. I’d say he treats me as well as any owner would treat their prized racehorse.”
“What did you do to make him change and hurt you?”
A pause. “It doesn’t matter. How has Langston been treating you?”
“Like a princess. Although, do him and Liesel have a thing for each other?”
Enzo chuckles. “Those two have too much sexual tension between them. But I always thought their hate for each other is what made them keep their hands to themselves. That and Liesel was always too hung up on me to act on any feelings toward any other man.”
“They haven’t acted on their feelings, and I think that is the problem. They haven’t stopped fighting.”
“About what?”
I pause considering but answer honestly. “About you.”
The silence hangs in the air.
“Are you not going to talk to me now?” I ask.
“Langston wasn’t supposed to try and save me. He was supposed to keep you safe—he promised.”
“And he kept that promise to keep me safe. He won’t risk letting me get hurt to save you. He just wanted to consider if there was any way to save you while keeping me safe. Don’t worry, you martyr, he found no option.”
I can hear Enzo exhale on the other side of the door and realize telling each other what has happened lately isn't helping.
“Play truth or lies with me,” I say.
“Why? So you can try to extract more information out of me?”
“No, so we can enjoy what little time we have left together. I don’t want to play anything serious. Just ridiculous facts that neither of us know about each other.”
“Fine,” he says like he’s sulking, but I can feel his
smile from here.
“I’ll start. Truth or lie? I have a tattoo.”
He laughs. “Lie. You forget, I have seen and explored your naked body many times. But I definitely like this game, if it’s going to let me think about your naked body more.”