Page 71 of The Doctor's Truth

The three of us are naked, tangled up in bed. Donovan is tucked in the middle, and the whale plushy has somehow made it into Jason’s arms.

They’re both deep asleep, but I’m suddenly wired.

Our clothes are scattered across the whole room. I don’t bother trying to scavenger hunt for my dress, but I do slip on a pair of panties and Jason’s jacket. It swallows me, practically dress-size on me anyway.

I climb the steps and quietly open the hatch so I can slip out. The view from the top is magnificent in the morning. I can see the horizon now. As the sun comes up, it illuminates the water, sparkling across the light swells. It’s cold up here, bitterly cold, but I don’t want to look away, so I linger.

“Mind if I join you?”

I glance over my shoulder. Donovan peeks out from the hatch, his leather jacket over his bare shoulders, pants pulled back around his hips.

I scoot. “I could use the body heat.”

He sits down on the floor beside me. He opens up his jacket, and I crawl up against him. For a minute, it’s just me, Donovan, and the sunrise.

“I know you wanted to keep things platonic,” I tell him. “I’m sorry if tonight complicated things.”

Donovan shrugs. “We could never be just friends.”

I don’t know if the we he’s referring to is Donovan and me, or Donovan and Jason. I don’t ask for clarity.

I feel his dark eyes on me. “How do you feel?”

What a loaded question. On one hand—relief. My chest is a cracked eggshell, yolk spilling out bright and yellow. I feel right here.

On the other hand—the secret I’m keeping from Jason feels like a bag of stones tied to my ankles and tossed into the deepest part of the ocean.

“It’s complicated,” I answer.

Donovan nods, as though he knows every nuance in the word complicated. And maybe he does. If there’s anyone who understands me, it’s him. “At least it’s a beautiful view for your existential crises.”

I rest my head on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

“Tell me I’m a good person. Please. Even if it’s not true. Just…I need to hear it.”

He scoffs at that. “I’m not going to tell you that.”

“But—”

“If you were an angel,” he says, his tone suddenly firm, “I wouldn’t like you so damn much.” He looks me in the eyes. “Screw good. You, Kenzi, are my favorite person. Because of everything that you are. The good, the bad, and everything in between. You’re perfect to me.”

I bite my lip. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

His breath crystalizes. Words unsaid trail between us like white ghosts in the early morning sky.

“I’m freezing,” I say, which is true. I can’t feel my toes.

“Christ. Of course.” There’s an urgency about him all of a sudden.

He gets me up, and we go back downstairs, closing the hatch behind us and sealing in the heat. I let the jacket fall to the floor and climb back into bed. I didn’t realize how cold I actually was, but now I can’t stop shivering.

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