Page 93 of The Last Promise You Made

“Who?”

“Don’t be dense,” Sadie said, pinching me through my suit jacket, and I rubbed at it with a grunt. “It’s like how Maddox looks at McK and Mama looks at Daddy. You look at Gia like she’s the piece you’ve been missing.”

Her words echoed my thoughts, and it continued to twist those emotions and desire that had been building inside me for over a week.

“She isn’t staying, Sads. She’ll be here until they can find a way to stop the cartel from coming after Addy, and then she’ll go back to her real life.” But hadn’t Gia told me the life she’d been living felt fake? A movie that was drawing to a close and that would leave her empty afterward? Maybe I could offer her something that would fill us both. I shook my head. It wasn’t possible. It was a lust-induced dream. Maybe that was all I really needed—to sleep with her and discharge this built-up energy so it would release us both from its grip. So I could let her go without regrets clinging to me.

Then, why did that idea hurt me more than any thoughts of Ravyn’s absence did these days?

“Let me guess, you’ve made no attempts to ask her to stay?” Sadie asked with a raised brow.

“We’re not an item, Sassypants. She’s not my girlfriend. We haven’t even slept together.”

“But you’ve kissed. You’ve kissed and felt the world tilt, right?”

“What would you know about making the world tilt?” I started then waved a hand. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. This is where Addy needs to be planted so she can grow. She’s already come out of her shell in just a handful of days here. She needs the stability this life can give her. One she never got with Ravyn. One that following an undercover analyst around the globe wouldn’t give her, and I’m not going to beg Gia to give up her life for us. Asking someone to give up everything is a surefire way for them to resent you in ten years.”

“Chicken,” she tossed back.

“Being realistic isn’t the same as being chicken.” But it wasn’t the first time in the last week my baby sister had called me a coward, and it rankled some.

“If you don’t let her know how you feel, if you don’t tell her and show her how important she is, she’ll leave because she doesn’t think she matters to you. You don’t have to beg, but telling her you’d like her to stay, that you’d like to make something work, at least gives her options, allows her to choose which life she’ll live instead of just going back to the only life she knows.”

How had my baby sister gotten to be the smartest one out of all of us? Maybe being shot, thinking you might not make it, changed your chemical makeup somehow. Maybe it gave you a hint of something that existed beyond this world and a wisdom that came with it.

Deep down inside me, I knew she was right.

I had to talk to Gia. I had to at least put out the offer. Had to extend my hand rather than hide it away. I had to have the courage to risk my heart even if it was risking Addy’s too. Maybe we both needed Gia to complete us.

“I gotta go,” I said, fishing in my suit pocket for my keys. I glanced over to where Mama and Dad were surrounded by townsfolk. If I tried to say goodbye, I’d be there an hour at least before I could extricate myself. I didn’t feel like I had an hour. I had a desperate need to tell Gia what I felt before the courage left me, before I let reality eke away at the fairy tale.

Sadie snickered. “I’ll say your goodbyes for you. Just go.”

I wrapped my arm around her neck, pulled her into me, and kissed the top of her head.

“Don’t tell the others, but you’ll always be my favorite.”

“I’m everyone’s favorite,” she teased back.

I huffed out a laugh, let her go, and took two strides away before turning back. “Sadie?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t forget you have options too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now, shoo.”

And I did because every fiber of my being was pulling me home to the two females who were waiting for me.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Gia

AIN’T GONNA DROWN

Performed by Elle King

Addy and I were at the kitchen counter, eating sandwiches, while I started down the rabbit hole of Jaime Laredo’s life. I’d been itching to do it all morning but had spent my time with Addy and her schoolwork instead. I’d just brought up his tax return when a call from Rory pulled me from it. The excitement in her voice immediately lifted my hopes.

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