Page 78 of Insidious

I stare at her, then look down at my hands.

“I … formed an emotional connection with someone else,” I say slowly. “And I hid it.”

She nods.

“Again.”

I grit my teeth slightly and repeat it.

Every time feels like swallowing broken glass.

“Good,” she says softly. “That’s you owning what you did like an adult.

“Next step,” she continues. “Is transparency.”

I frown. “What does that mean?”

“It means removing secrecy completely. Let her have access to your phone. No hidden spaces between you.”

“She already has access. Her birthday is my password. I have nothing to hide. I even asked her if she wanted to see my messages.”

“What did she say?” she asks.

“That she wasn’t ready.”

She nods. “Because she doesn’t trust you.”

I don’t respond. It seems like an endless hamster wheel, leading nowhere.

“Right now. She doesn’t trust you right now,” she says. “But if you are open, she may change her mind. Fair warning, there are no shortcuts down the road if you want to win her trust.”

I nod slowly. That … makes sense.

Chapter 21

Luna

I toss and turn, unable to fall asleep. My mind is in overdrive. It has been since Isaac crowded me on his parents’ two-seater sofa, his hard thigh pressed into mine. It felt like it was too close after how we’d been these last weeks.

It has been a week, and I still feel the warmth from his thigh bleeding into mine, and my body having that knee-jerk reaction to having him close. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed he planned the entire thing.

I can’t forget the flicker under my skin, like pinpoint sparks lighting up places I’ve been deliberately ignoring.

It’s been weeks since he’s touched me because I couldn’t bear to have him close.

And now, even a week later, my body remembers that irresistible pull of Isaac.

It unsettles me.

I turn to my side, trying to get comfortable. When we left, he deliberately reached for my hand, and I … I didn’t pull away.

I remember that tentative look in his pale blue eyes as his fingers closed around mine, like he was giving me the chance to pull away. And that sensation … It was electric.

Ridiculous that something so simple can feel like that.

It travelled up my arm, and I could feel the flush stain my neck and face. It felt like coming alive again after being asleep for so long.

I didn’t look at him, but I didn’t let go either. It felt like that first time he held my hand.