AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And I didn’t really want to admit it,” Hazel said with drunkenly imprecise enunciation, “?’cause you’d just use it against me, you know, but I really love how much you care for Basil and are making an effort to be there for him.”
“Wait a sec,” he said past a suddenly tight throat. “What do you mean, use it against you?”
“Well, you’ve got this weird competitive thing going between us, like we’re somehow vying for Basil’s love and the…I don’t know, official trophy for who’s the better parent for him, or something. And if I told you how good a father I think you are for him, it’d weaken my position, you know?”
She stopped walking midstep and swiveled to face him, almost stumbling in the process. “Oh, no.”
He raised a brow.
“I just told you, didn’t I?” She looked crestfallen.
“That’s okay, baby.” He pulled her close with his arm around her waist.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He cupped her cheek with his hand. “Because it doesn’t need to be a competition. That was a stupid ego thing from me, and it’s over now. We’re both good for Basil. Each in our own way. And I think…”
“What?”
I think we could be even greater together. As a couple.
He wanted to say it. He just needed to open his fucking mouth and say it, lay it all out there.
His lips parted, his pulse running wild. “I think we could be—”
“Hungry.”
He blinked and closed his mouth, the words sliding back down his throat to lodge in a corner of his heart.
“Gods, I’m hungry,” Hazel groaned. “We should go grab something to eat!”
Just as well. He shouldn’t be telling her his intentions to take this from a casual, secret fling to something more serious now anyway. Not when she might not even remember this conversation tomorrow.
Patience. He could bide his time. He’d learned how in the stale, moldy air of a piss-soaked dungeon cell. If he was capable of waiting twenty-six years for his chance to escape that hellhole, he could wait a few more days—weeks?—to lay his heart at Hazel’s feet.
One stop at a fast-food joint and a ton of greasy food later, they were driving home, the streetlights bathing the dark interior of the car in intermittent flashes of warm yellow. Hazel slouched in the passenger seat, her head resting against the window, her eyes closed. After their meal, her energy had crashed, the adrenaline worn off and the alcohol making her drowsy.
Tallak stared out at the road, his mind playing over all the things he’d learned tonight. He’d gotten so used to the silence that when Hazel spoke up, he almost jumped.
“You know what’s so great about you?” she slurred.
Heart clenching, he glanced at her. Her eyes were still closed, and for all intents and purposes, she could have been asleep. Her energy, though, was still a bit too active, would draw further into herself if she really slipped into sleep.
“What, love?” he asked quietly.
“You wear your darkness for everyone to see. You don’t hide it. It’s a part of you, and that’s okay. It doesn’t dim your shine.”
She was carving out a piece of his heart here, little by little.
“Me, on the other hand…” Her voice trailed off.
He shot her a sharp look.
She sighed, her eyes still closed. “Everyone thinks I don’t have shadows. That I’m all good and proper. That I always do the right thing.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s because they don’t know.”
“Don’t know what?”
“I’ve hidden it too well, you know. I created this box inside me, where I stuffed it all down, and I put up a front. No one knows how much of a liar I am. The only other person who knew is dead.”
