Page 37 of Let the Light Shine Through

No.

My head bows toward the stain, wanting to drive it away with sheer willpower alone. I couldn’t do anything for Salvy and the fear of not being able to do anything for Gia feels just as suffocating—if not more.

Hovered over Gia’s abdomen, the broken skin on one of my knuckles produces a couple more drops of blood, my shaking hands causing them to fall onto the fabric below. As I watch the small pool of blood—my blood—grow bigger, I finally allow some of my normal warmth to seep back in while straightening my spine again.

Gia’s eyes are already open and fixed on mine.

“What hurts?”

So soft I barely catch it, she whimpers, “My heart,” but then shakes her head to close her eyes, severing the connection.

“What happened to your heart?”

A smirk pulling at her lips, she mouths the word, “You.”

“Yo, G, you okay? You took a gnarly spill.”

I shoot the kid a look that says no fucking shit before helping Gia up to sitting.

While cradling an arm close to her chest, Gia tells everybody gathered, “I’m all right.”

I’m tempted to scoop her up in my arms right here, but doubt she’d let me. Plus, the motherfucker beside us is sitting up too now, glaring at both me and Gia, so I have that to deal with as well. I get the hatred thrown my way, I leveled the guy, but what the fuck is his problem with Gia? He ran into her.

“Hey, fuck you, Mitch,” she says as she gets to her feet, and my gaze passes between the two. She knows him?

“Fuck you, G. You don’t even belong here. This park’s for dicks, not chicks with strap-ons, so do us all a favor and kick fucking rocks already.” Mitch spits out a mixture of blood and saliva, and I pull Gia out of its path on instinct.

Is he fucking kidding me?

Once again, Gia’s being judged and labeled based off her appearance alone. No wonder she doesn’t like labels, everybody’s already put their own on her without even bothering to get to know her.

And that’s bullshit that she can’t skate here. It’s not that Gia’s good at skateboarding for a woman, she’s fucking good, period.

I competed against women that had been snowboarding since they were two years old. And I don’t mean for fun either. We’re talking their families moved across the country just so they could train full-time—while they were probably still in diapers. Those girls were geared up, same as the men, flying down slopes like they were born for it—shit, maybe they were—and discounting them because of their gender was a mistake I never even considered making.

Mitch is just another dumbfuck spewing the same toxic waste the world is already full of. Before today, it’d been days, if not longer, since I’d moved more than just my eyelids, but now I feel like the rest of my body is finally awake again, ready to fucking go. A few rounds with Mitch would be nothing.

“Strap-on? Dude, my balls are bigger than yours. Your vert ramp showed me that.” Gia grabs her crotch to emphasize her point, earning a nice little “ooh” from the crowd until her hand slides into mine, then I swear a silence falls over the entire skate park. Even when she brings my right hand up to her mouth, kissing the busted knuckles, nobody makes so much as a sound. It’s the first time all night I’ve been able to block everyone else out, pretending it’s just us—her and me.

Murmurs pick up though as Gia drops our hands, leaving behind a streak of brilliant red blood on her lips. She smiles, and despite the heavy coating of what-the-fuck settling around us, I smile back. And because I must be crazy too, I kiss her, full on the lips, not even bothered by the taste of my own blood. Actually, it’s kinda hot.

She breaks the kiss to spit back at Mitch, the red-tinged wad landing an inch away from his old-school Vans, and tells him, “Your insecurity really did a number on your reality to make you think you’re better than you actually are. Ask anyone here, you’re a shit skater and an even shittier person. My skills outmatch yours in every. Single. Aspect.” She grabs her crotch again, getting the same reaction from everybody as before. “So the next time I ride here, because I will be back, make sure to stay the fuck out of my way.” With her thumb, she pushes the remaining smear of blood into her mouth, even licking the tip with her tongue, and that is hot as fuck. No kinda about it.

Mitch’s bruising face screws up in disgust, but Gia’s tugging me away before I can add my own two cents. As much as I’d love to teach him a lesson, I feel like Gia already did.

After retrieving her board, we head for my truck and a few hands pat Gia on the back, which I see her wince through even though she tries like hell to hide it.

Using both hands, I carefully help her into the passenger seat, then buckle her in before going over to the driver’s side.

With my beefy engine masking all the outside noise, I ask, “What was all that about?” not wanting to sound ungrateful but also needing to know. “The kiss? The blood?”

Her soft laugh falls over me like a trance. “Sometimes you gotta out-crazy the crazy.”

I let out a low chuckle myself.

“At least now, maybe he’ll think twice before fucking with me again,” she says more seriously, and I hope to God she’s right. I don’t know what I’d do if he did. I don’t even know if I’d be around to find out.

Gia rolls her head to look over at me. “So?”