Page 57 of For Three Seconds

I looked at him, realizing he was getting hard underneath me.

“You just made the pain all worth it.”

When I went to jump up, I was so nervous that I touched his ribs again, and he winced.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he groaned as he got up.

“Will you be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Will you?” He looked at me with longing and hope.

“I’m okay,” I said. When I didn’t notice his Camaro, I asked, “How did you get here?”

“Drew dropped me off. Isaac is taking me home.” That’s when he pointed at where Isaac was parked.

“Doesn’t he have a life?”

“Not until next year,” Gavin said nonchalantly.

“That’s not nice.”

“Scar, I promise he has it better than most,” he said.

I believed him because Isaac turned to wave at me with a smile on his face. When we were in the middle of both cars, I was sad to see him go.

“Umm, I should go,” I said, feeling shy all of a sudden.

“Scar.” Gavin’s face lost what little playfulness he had.

“Yeah?”

“Shit’s about to get complicated with football. Promise me you’ll bear with me?” He seemed to hold his breath as if that cost him to say it.

You want me, Scar, and that scares you.

“Gav,” I answered instead. When he nodded, I kept going. “I’m working some things out, but…but I’d like it if you had patience with me too.”

He let out a relieved breath and gave me a small smile.

“Now run away, Scar, while I still let you.”

I smiled at him, and his smile dropped completely, which made me wonder if I did something wrong.

“Swear to God, Scar, I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you smile.”

I bit my lip to keep from smiling more because I felt so unlike myself at this moment, but it didn’t scare me. I didn’t know what we were doing, but there was also no one I trusted more than Gavin.

Twenty

The progressI had made at therapy and with Gavin seemed to have helped me on a much deeper level than I would have thought possible. On Monday, I woke up with more energy; the thought of getting up didn’t seem like a chore, but something I was starting to look forward to.

The days were getting a little bit chillier, but not by much, and I was feeling better than I had in a long time. I went to the back of my closet where I had a dress I had liked but never felt good enough to wear. It was a long-sleeve gray cotton dress that came up to my mid-thigh, and I paired it with white tennis shoes. I looked in my dresser mirror, added some mousse and tousled my hair a bit, and applied some gloss on my lips. It was the most dressed up I had gotten on my own without Audrey or Delia doing my makeup. I couldn’t remember when the last time was that I’d tried to do more for myself.

It felt good.

I grabbed my bag and walked out where Delia and Kenia were in the kitchen. I hadn’t spent time with Kenny since I’d found out about her sleeping with Gavin.

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