Page 33 of My Summer Girl

“We’re not,” I disagree. “I just always wanted to make you happy.”

Her eyes widen as a glassiness overcomes them. The tears she refuses to let free brim and sit like two little puddles in her eyes. “Love isn’t real, Dulce.”

Even her words seem fake, like she doesn’t believe it herself. “It is,” I negate. “They just don’t want us to have it. We are meant to love. We’re capable of it.”

“It’s a fluke,” she doubles down, her face softening with her lies. We’ve been told for so long that we’ve ingrained it, attached to this falsehood, knowing that maybe this isn’t what was supposed to be.

“Are you telling me our siblings didn’t find their soul mates?” As if her mind travels to that exact thing, the tears finally fall, slipping down her cheeks. Understanding reflects there, but there’s also that bitterness she’s always held. It exists there, a story I don’t even know. “You can’t tell me what they have isn’t real. They are obsessed with their partners. The way they look at one another should be enough to convince you that love is very real.”

“Don’t go,” she attempts once more, not arguing my points. Her hands twist in front of her, the anxious energy she’s experiencing one I haven’t seen from her since we were kids.

“I’m always here.” Stepping closer to her, I tap her chest where her heart beats. “We’re sisters, Di. Twins. We always have us. I just know being a Cupid, if that means we can’t have love, isn’t what I want right now.”

“We always want the same things.” She maintains her belief as if she’s trying to compound our sisterhood with something as simple as my need to please.

“Not this time.”

Our gazes meet once more and I bring her close for a hug. We don’t do this. Affection isn’t something we’ve shown, even when we’re joined at the hip. Her arms are stiff at her side, not welcoming the gesture.

Without another word, I kiss her forehead and walk away, knowing I’ve just done something entirely out of the norm for me.

I chose me.

Chapter Fourteen

Raevar

Crazy – K-Ci & JoJo

After Dulce left with Vex, I disappeared. A big part of me wanted to watch them, to see their dynamic and experience the energy between them. But the moral part of me that already stalked her for days, leaving her little flowers along the way, told me this was their moment.

Vex is a beautiful creature. They’re delicate and harsh mixed in a bowl and dusted with lust. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of them as they devoured Dulce with their eyes. It’s like nothing existed in that moment but her.

There’s something about their interactions with her that I crave. Not once has someone given me that kind of attention.

When I came back this morning with Dulce’s port, I was taken to the front door.

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