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“Just behind St. Killian’s, where the forest ends and the cliffs give way to the sea. Under the midnight sky . . .” She nodded, a beautiful, wistful smile touching her lips. “That’s where I’ll marry Michael.”
don’t want my friends to know me as well as they think they do. I don’t know why.”
“We’re only ever good because there are consequences,” I told her. “Take those away, and everyone shows their true self. Kind of like taking off a mask.” “Or putting one on,” she replied. “After all, there’s freedom in hiding, isn’t there?”
“When was your last confession, little one?”
LITTLE ONE
“No, actually, you tell her. Michael’s not allowed around my mom anymore.”
Neither did my brother.
Damon’s sister??
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”
“What would you like to confess?”
My brother was never calm.
WHAT
Your entire world is Damon.”
“The devil I know is better than the devil I don’t, okay?”
I was going to fall hard if he wasn’t careful.
“Not only are your ducks not in a row, Michael, but they’re shitting all over the place.” I stuck the blades back in my pockets. “You boys need a role model.”
“I’m going to confession today. Want to come . . . Banks?”
Yeah. Never forget I know all about you.
“Keep looking at me like that,” Kai spoke up, “and we’re going to have problems.”
Who was really in control of whom? We were both fucked.
“This means nothing,” I mumbled, still snuggling into his body. His chest shook under my head. “Absolutely nothing. I promise.”
I wanted to see everything he was made of. Quiet, pondering, stoic, and reserved Kai Mori.
“No matter how you
cover yourself, it’s never enough. You’re beautiful.”
“Ask me where I buried the body when I cleaned up your shit six years ago.”
I AM SORRY WHAT?!
I would do anything for his son. I have done anything for his son.
THE MOTHER
“Ask me not to hurt him,”
“Did it ever occur to you that all you would have to do is ask?”
“Cry for him, then, and beg me. Beg me to leave him alone, and I will.”
“You have a chance to save his life, Banks. All you have to do is beg me. Come on. I want to see it. How far will you go for him?” I bared my teeth, seething. “Beg!”
“I’m not Kai,” he said, “and you’re not Banks.” There was something pleading in his voice that gave me pause. “Thunder Bay doesn’t exist, and we’re not in The Pope,”
“It’s six years ago when I was happy and excited, and you were curious about everything, and my words were all it took to touch you.”
“You’re the girl I didn’t know, and we could be anyone in that confessional. Everything else fell away. Everything. We could hide and fuck with the world in that little room. It was just us.”
We were back in the confessional. We were younger, and it was no one but us. Tucked away, safe.
But I wasn’t Banks tonight. He wasn’t Kai, and we weren’t here. None of this was happening.
Something’s gotta give. How much pain could he take before he broke? How long until nothing was enough to appease him?
People will think what they want to think, not because they believe they are right, but because it’s in their nature to maintain that they are. By defending yourself, you feed the appetite for drama. By not, you’ve ended the conversation. You. Not them.
Sensou meant “war” in Japanese. This place, the name, what they did here . . . it was part of a larger goal. Rika might be soft, but she was training. Michael might be careless, but he was aware. Will might be weak, but he had Kai.
It’s always best to say as little as possible. The more of a mystery
you are, the less leverage they have.
“You make me feel driven. You make me hungry and on fire and wanting to slow down time instead of wanting to rush through it. It’s you I look for when I walk in the doors in the morning. Not her. You.”
But my gaze flickered farther up the hill to the house perched on top, seeing a single light on the second floor. And I slowed.
He’s been next door this whole time (Damon)?
“The house on the hill.”
Oh so Damon didn’t live here and my first assumption was right oops
“I love you guys,” Michael said, “but are you fucking dense? You’re my friends. She is everything. Maybe someday you’ll know what the fuck I’m talking about.”
“Well, good. Happy to hear it, because I’m the only man whose attention you
should be trying to get, and baby, you got it years ago while wearing another man’s clothes.” He kissed my temple, his hot breath sending chills down my spine. “So, you can imagine how fucking beautiful you are to me right now wearing mine.”
“Rika is my earliest memory, and I’ve loved her forever. The sun rises with her. It always has. And everything we do, we do together. Everything.”
“I like you, little one.”
But when you’re in the thick of abuse and still live with the torment in your head every day, it’s a little different. No one handles it. They just fake it better. How else do you cope with the terrible shit you’ve been through?
Slow clap for him. That was vile, and I was actually impressed.
was, like, expensive, and an antique and shit, so . . .
What an eloquent way to put that Kai
I wanted to show her the world.
A beautiful, small smile pulled at her lips. “I won’t be Banks tonight?” I shook my head. “And I’m not Kai.” “Just for tonight?” I nodded, loving our little game. “Just for tonight.”
