“Thank you.” She falls back into silence.
Finally, I let myself reach out and run my fingers down her arm once I locate it and curl them around her hand. She stays still for a moment and then takes her hand out of mine.
“You’re with Kate,” she reminds me.
I don’t tell her about the breakup yet again. I can’t seem to get the words to work properly, and I don’t even try hard. I don’t want to try very hard. As much as I want Gracie back, and I know she wants me, now’s not the time to play around. With the drugs found, it could be something serious. I don’t know why she’d lie about it, but whether she is or not has to be figured out. That is the main priority, not my relationship status.
So, I draw my hand back and put both into my lap. “Gracie, you’ve come a long way. You don’t have to be afraid to tell the truth. We can help you—”
“Shut up!” she snaps, and I hear the click of the lock. “It wasn’t mine, I swear.”
Before I can say anything, the door pops open, swathing us in light from overhead. With one leg out the door, Gracie looks back at me. Her eyes are swimming in tears, glittering brown orbs that, with any other emotion, would just look gorgeous. Right now, though, my heart feels like it’s going to plummet from the sadness that basks her face.
“Why won’t you believe me?” she asks, her shoulders dropping.
Gracie shakes her head and turns away from me to climb out of the car, making me realize she’d undone her seatbelt and I hadn’t even noticed. I fumble with my door latch and get out quickly, hurrying around the front of the car.
A blaring horn in my ears turns me quickly, and I freeze at the sight of the oncoming headlights. They turn black to light, and in the blink of an eye, I see Gracie standing right in its path. She’s a dark figure against it, and I open my mouth to shout to her, but it’s too late. The truck rumbles on us, bearing down, threatening to crush her, not caring who is in its path. It’s going to crush her, and all I can do is stand here, watching. It’s going to end her life, the most perfect woman in the world. Perfect with all her flaws.
Kate doesn’t have many flaws. She has everything ready, an entire life planned, and I hate that. I love her for many reasons, but I can’t be with a woman who doesn’t let her flaws be part of her. The way Gracie does. Gracie is perfect because of her flaws. It sounds mind-boggling, but it’s the truth.
Still, I can’t move to save her. No matter how badly I want to, I can’t shout to save her.
The ground quivers beneath us, and the truck rumbles down on us. Wind rustles my hair as the truck passes, leaving Gracie and me unscathed. I let out a sharp, shaky breath of air that makes my lungs feel like they’re rattling.
“Gracie,” her name cracks.
I hear the gravel crackling beneath footsteps before her arms wrap around my waist and her face buries itself into my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her, holding her tight to me, and pressing my forehead into her hair.
“It’s not mine,” she mumbles against my shoulder. “It isn’t mine.”
“Okay, okay, I believe you,” I whisper into her hair, meaning every word.
Because I choose to believe her for good now. She’s adamant about repeating the same truth. And if I know absolutely one thing for sure about Gracie, it’s that she cannot lie. Her tell is wrinkling her nose whenever she does try.
So, I do the one thing I can think of that makes any sense right now. I take Gracie by the shoulders, push her away from me and turn her around, leading her back to the car. When we get to the driver’s side, with her surprisingly not fighting against me, I turn her to face me again and look right into those big brown eyes I adore so much.
“Look me right in the eye, Gracie,” I demand, and she does. “Tell me just one more time that it wasn’t yours.”
Her eyebrows bunch together, and her lips purse, but she does it anyway. “It isn’t mine, Devon.”
No wrinkle of the nose. Not even a twist of the fact to show she’s trying to hide it. I don’t think she knows about her tell, and I’m not about to let her know it.
“I believe you,” I tell her again and draw my hands up, cupping her cheeks. “I really do.”
With that, I kiss her. I kiss her hard. Harder than I can ever remember kissing her. I hear the gasp escape her lips. She doesn’t stop me. Instead, she kisses back, wrapping her arms around my neck as I lower my hands and wrap my arms around her waist. I pull her into me as her tongue darts into my mouth, and I do the same. Our tongues wrestle until Gracie shoves me away.
I stagger, gasping for air, grappling for the right words. “Gracie –”
“We can’t be doing this, Devon. You have a girlfriend—”
“I broke up with her,” I blurt. “We can be together.”
I feel like I’ve said the wrong thing, though, because, in the low light that shines over half of her face, Gracie looks horrified at my admittance.
“Are you fucking stupid?” she shouts, and I flinch. “We definitely can’t be together now. Do you know how bad that’ll look? For both of us.”
I blink, confused at her words. I thought she wanted to be back together.