Page 32 of In a Perfect World

Finally looking over at him as he sat on the coffee table near me, I said, “What I’m about to tell you, you cannot tell anyone, Winston.I mean it.”

“C’mon, dude,” he drawled out.“You know that goes without saying.”

I shook my head as I let out a heavy sigh.“I can’t believe that I’m even saying this.”

“Saying what?”Winston asked.“You haven’t said anything.”

“Do you remember when I went missing for a bit Saturday morning?”He nodded.“Well, it was because I heard something, but it wasn’t a bear.”

Winston’s back immediately straightened.“What are you talking about?”

Like yanking off the band-aid, I started at the beginning, then didn’t stop until I got to the part where Triana had texted me, asking for some space.I told him everything, and that included how she hadn’t done anything to initiate any of what was now between us.I owned up to my part in all this, and I’d been very clear about how I’d been the one to cross the border for that kiss, not her.

When I finished, Winston looked like a mixture of flabbergasted and panicked, and I didn’t blame him.This was huge, and when you took into account who my father was, this was actually bigger than huge.My attraction to Triana could torpedo my father’s entire career and ruin our family in every way imaginable, and Iknewthis.Still, I couldn’t help how I felt.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Winston finally rushed out.“Holy fuck, Kairo.”

“I know, I know,” I assured him.“Which is why I need some fucking advice.”

“There is no advice for this,” he quickly replied.“You have to end this, Kairo.Now.”

I shot him a look.“You think that I don’t already know that?I already know what the answer to all this is, Winston.The problem is that I don’t think that I can.”

“What are you talking about?”he practically squawked like a fishwife.“All you have to do is delete her number and quit going to the fucking creek.It’s not rocket science.”

“And if someone told you to quit seeing Nadine?”I challenged.“Would it be that easy?”

“Do not go there, Kairo,” he replied.“This is not the same thing, and you know it.Nadine is everything that is legally acceptable these days.Our situations are not apples-to-apples.Plus, Nadine and I have been seeing each other for a lot longer than three fucking days.”

“Which is my point, Winston,” I told him.“I was ready to take a match to everything that my family has built for a girl that I just fucking met, and I can’t say that I’ve ever felt like that about any of the other women that have come before her.My mother mentions dating, and I immediately break out in hives.You mention setting me up on a blind date, and the very idea makes me nauseous.Yet, I can’t stop thinking of Triana, no matter how hard I try.”

“Have you considered that it might just be a case of wanting what you can’t have?”he posed.“Men are competitive by nature, so maybe what you’re feeling is just the thrill of the hunt.”

I eyed him, needing him to get over the shock, so that he could really hear me.“I spent all day Sunday at the creek, talking with her and getting to know her.All fucking day, Winston.What hunt?She’s not some random girl at the club that I’m itching to take home at the end of the night.”

“Okay,” he said carefully.“Just...just relax, man.”

I ran my hands down my face again.“I just...I’ve never felt this way before, Winston.I’ve never felt like this before, and I’m not bullshitting you.It’s also not some primitive need to conquer the fairer sex.”

“Look, even if what you’re feeling is real and not just some...some passing fancy, what does it matter?”He looked genuinely concerned, and maybe I shouldn’t have dumped this on his lap.“There is no way that...there’s no future for you guys, Kairo.It...it just can’t be done.”

“How do you know?”I asked, grasping for straws.“Just because it’s never been attempted before-”

“But it has,” he said, memories flooding back.“Do you remember the Morrison case?”

About eight years ago, Tucker Morrison had been an eighteen-year-old kid from Ivory Meadows, and when he’d been sixteen, he’d had a school assignment that had paired him up with a girl from Morning Peaks.The assignment had been an exercise in random social acquaintances or some such thing, but after the project had been completed, Tucker and Charolette Jackson hadn’t stopped communicating with one another.So, two years later, when Tucker and Charolette had turned eighteen, Tucker had petitioned for Morning Peaks residency to be with her.The petition had made headlines, every news outlet talking about what Tucker was trying to do.

Anyway, after about four years of legal push and pull, Tucker’s request had been permanently denied, no one caring about how he’d done everything legally, trying to do it the right way.He’d been denied, and Charolette had gone viral for addressing the situation, telling Tucker that she would always love him, but that she’d rather see him married and happy with someone else than spend the rest of his life in prison for her.The internet had called it the gut-wrenching heartbreak heard around the world, and the situation had just reinforced how much other countries hated the RNA.In fact, it had caused such an uproar that fourteen countries had volunteered to expedite Tucker and Charolette’s citizenships if they’d been willing to move out of America.

Nevertheless, despite how Tucker and Charolette had been welcomed elsewhere, to stop a domino effect from happening, Ivory Meadows’ Administrator, Phillip Williams, and Morning Peaks’ Administrator, Zach Richman, had refused to allow Tucker and Charolette to apply for outside citizenship, deciding that it would upset the balance that everyone had worked so hard for.It’d been a devastating blow for the two young sweethearts, and tensions had been high for a while.

The only good part of the story was how the world had underestimated the two, and six months after the case had been closed, Italy had thrown up their middle fingers to the RNA, announcing how it was now the new home of one Tucker and Charolette Morrison.The couple had been smuggled out of the country, taken to Italy, then had immediately gotten married.With the exception of the RNA, the entire world had rejoiced in their happy ending, and their story was still a sore point in America’s history.

“No, I...I remember,” I sighed, leaning back against the couch.

“The Administrators will never let it happen, Kairo,” he said needlessly.“And before you think of pulling a Tucker Morrison, think of what this would do to your father.If you left the country to be with this woman, it would ruin everything.Plus, they’re still trying to expedite those two for their crimes.”

“And what if I can’t just let her go?”I asked seriously.“What then?”