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“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
“I’m not. It’s one of the best things she did. Maybe the best.”
“It resulted in you.” I leaned in, and then stopped a millimeter away. She closed the distance.
It was a slow kiss. I savored her mouth, concentrating on it and nothing else. I wanted us to live our lives in seconds instead of hours, because no one knew how many we had left.
“There are too many people in this house,” she murmured against my lips.
“So let’s get a plan together and get rid of them.”
She pulled away. “Do you have ideas?”
My gaze traveled the length of her body. “So many.”
I got an eye roll, but she didn’t mean it. “About the rips?”
“I think so.” I stood up and held out my hand. “Your mom is out there somewhere, and I’d rather we find her than vice versa.”
She put her feet on the ground and let me help her up. Once she was standing, I turned around. “Piggyback?”
“Piggyback?”
“Yeah. I don’t want your toes to get cold.”
She put her arms around my neck and jumped. When her legs went around my waist, I wrapped my hands around her feet and started for the house.
“Dune?”
Her breath was warm on the back of my neck. “Yeah?”
“I’m falling in love with you.”
I didn’t miss a step. “Good. Because I’m already there.”
Chapter 23
Hallie
After Dune’s breathing was deep and even, I slipped out of bed. I was too nervous to read, and listening to music only made me want to dance, which wasn’t conducive to other people’s sleeping patterns. I was supposed to contact my mother the next morning and ask her to meet us at Poe and Dune’s apartment, where Poe would pull her into a veil.
Poe had disappeared after agreeing to the plan. I’d tried to talk to him, to make sure he knew that whether he helped or not was his choice, and that he shouldn’t feel pressured. He’d just shaken his head and walked away, carrying blame on his back like fully stacked free weights.
I stared out the window at my studio, my usual solace in times of stress, and grabbed my toe shoes. I slipped downstairs and outside in less than a minute. I’d just passed the courtyard when the bottom dropped out.
The wrought iron gate made a clanging sound, and I stopped dead.
“Hallie! Get down!”
Carl, head of security, had followed me out of the house. I remained frozen as he lurched toward me. The sound of a silenced gunshot echoed three times, and he clutched his chest and hit the ground.
Memories broke free from my subconscious. Benny’s blue eyes, wide open and empty. The devastating feeling that it was my fault.
The blood.
It covered the pavers now, just as it had covered the gray stones outside Jackson Square. The difference was that Carl still had light in his warm brown eyes, and he was talking to me. I dropped to the ground beside him.
“Run. Your dad will never … forgive …”
