Page 36 of Pomegranate Kiss

“Fuck,” Danny swore. “I am an ass. I forgot you couldn’t leave the state. Look, I’m not here to tell you what to do or how to handle this shit, because when I thought I’d lost Adrian, I was a fucking wreck. What I’m here to say is no matter how much you try to isolate yourself or shoulder things on your own, we’re here, we’re stubborn, and we’ll continue being obnoxious until you accept you’re not alone in this.”

Lex’s throat tightened. Adrian’s wife was becoming just as good as her husband at rallying speeches. She didn’t lift herhead from her knees because the alcohol had set in big time, but she reached her hand out. Danny slipped a hand in hers and squeezed tight. Heat welled in Lex’s eyes.

What was supposed to be a no-feelings fling with a “straight” girl had ended up savaging her beyond belief. No matter the time that stretched between them, Camilla Muhuri remained on her mind twenty-four seven. Lex had blocked her on social media, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from looking through the art book Cam left at her house, at all of the stunning paintings that captured every bit of depth she tried to hide from the world. Lex stared at the pictures until the lines blurred from the stupid water stinging her eyes.

“Look,” Lex murmured into her knees. “This is going to take time, and I’m not up for care and shares or kumbayas by the fireside with you fuckers. But if you want to sit back with a drink and talk about anything else, I guess I could deal with that.”

“You’ve got it, sis,” Danny said, the words coming as naturally as if they’d always known one another. Danny kept her hand gripped tight even as they both lapsed into silence.

Cam would be getting married.

She had always worried about what her parents would think over everything, and Lex was about a hundred percent sure they were the main reason why Cam remained so staunchly in the closet. However, she’d made her choices, and if she wanted to lie to herself for the rest of her life in some loveless marriage, well, that was none of Lex’s business.

“I’m just going to ask you one thing,” Lex said, lifting her head up at last to look at Danny. She’d tried to keep the hoarse rasp out of her voice, but she failed. “When it happens? When she marries that fucker her parents picked for her? Don’t tell me.”

Chapter Eighteen

Cam had been good on her word. She’d wasted a month trying to get to know Nazir, and all that time only reinforced what she knew from the start. He wasn’t for her. In fact, nobody sparked her attraction or even her attention in the wake of the fallout between her and Lex. She wanted to ask Danny how Lex was doing, for some scrap of information, but that would mean cracking the whole secret between them wide open.

She couldn’t go there yet.

However, she was beyond ready to get some time away from her parents. Their endless comments about Nazir and how beautiful she’d look in a sari for her wedding scraped away at her a little more every day. Every time they made mention, her anger and irritation didn’t fade but compounded. After spending time around someone she’d been able to be a hundred percent herself with, she couldn’t shove herself into the box of “good daughter” again, even if it led to what she feared. She’d always been able togo home, to visit her parents, and the idea of losing them, losing that space—fuck.

Cam stepped hard on the pedal, flooring it down route seventeen back to Charleston. She was finished entertaining her parents’ attempt at arranging her marriage, she was finished with lying to herself, and she was finished being two hours away from Alexis Dukas. She didn’t care if she needed to show up on her doorstep or pry her out of the club—she’d make sure they had the conversation she meant to have with her at Danny’s wedding, rather than the shock and run that followed.

She’d completed her first semester back in college with one more to go, and since winter break stretched ahead of her, Charleston had been her top destination. Now that she’d committed, she couldn’t turn away, but a thump-thump-thump pounded in the back of her brain with how badly she needed to be done. How badly she wanted to return to her apartment and the home she’d made in Charleston.

How she hoped and prayed Lex would talk to her this time.

The houses cropped into view along Savannah highway, a beautiful residential sprawl of red-bricked two stories and charming white ranchers. She’d cracked the window open, even with the bite in the air, because she wanted to catch the first gasp of the salt breeze mingled with magnolias. Staying at her parent’s house confirmed her sneaking suspicion that she’d been drifting for a while now, and her time apart drew her in a different direction. She’d been cruising on a highway her parents had designed, but now, she was getting off at the exit.

Instead of continuing to fight herself, the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to embrace those differences.

Cam gripped the steering wheel a little tighter as she neared the turn. Her calves clenched with her nerves. She could head home to her apartment deeper in the city instead of heading to what would probably be a rejection.

However, she regretted holding back the first time, and even though her nerves buzzed like she might take off, a single email bolstered her right now. She peeled into the development parking lot, weaving through the side streets toward Lex’s townhouse.

A few days ago, Matty Dukas had shot her a short email.

My sister’s a stubborn shit, but she hasn’t been the same since you left. I’m not going to tell you to come out of the closet if you’re not ready—not my place and frankly, not my concern. But if I were in your position and had someone like her? Someone who’s always been unashamedly herself, who was willing to fight for the people she loves? Taking those first steps out wouldn’t be half as terrifying.

His words jangled around in her brain until they felt a lot like resolve.

She pulled into a parking lot that had become so familiar. After she went to Lex’s place for the first time, she’d slept over there far too many nights to forget which house was hers. Once she tugged the keys out of the ignition, the situation slammed into her. What would she even say to Lex? She’d rehearsed about a hundred speeches, but none of them sat quite right, and the sheer proximity of the woman tended to make her lose her sense.

Beneath the humming of her nerves, her heart lurched at the idea of seeing Lex again. She’d wanted her these past few months so badly she could taste the hint of pomegranate from her lipstick that night and the spice of ginger when they’d kissed.

Cam tapped her steering wheel three times before she pushed herself up out of the seat. She needed to face this.

Cam strode down the walkway, even more nervous than she’d been her first visit to Lex’s place. The red-bricked townhouse stood out amidst the others with the black door she could guarantee Lex had painted herself. When she reached the “Gothe Hell Away” welcome mat, her fingers numbed. She lifted her fist up to knock anyway and then took a step back to wait.

If Lex was in there with another woman, she might die. Cam swallowed back bile. She’d been technically dating another guy, so she didn’t have much room to talk. Not like she’d sought out Nazir. She only got to know him as an effort to pacify her parents.

The pound of footsteps echoed from inside the house until the door creaked open.

Lex stood in the doorway and stared at her like she’d seen a ghost. Cam drank in the details, her black muscle shirt that looked so damn good against her olive skin covered in tattoos. She was barefoot, and strands of her pixie cut twisted every which way, but that tousled look made her even hotter. Lex’s pale flash of disbelief fast purpled to anger.

Lex clutched the door for dear life. “What do you want?”

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