Page 68 of Inferno

She walked away, giving the two of them a moment to say goodbye to each other. To her credit, Bristol had barely argued when Romeo and Samantha stated their case. With thingsheating up, and the arsonist growing bolder, neither of them wanted Bristol around. Not because her deafness made her more vulnerable, though it did. It just wasn’t about that—it was about the fact they cared about her.

Samantha would have made the case whether her sister was a hearing person, or not, and with Romeo backing her up, Bristol hadn’t had good reason to turn down a trip to stay with their parents in Phoenix for a few days.

Just until they found this guy.

She checked her phone, but there were no new messages. Julio must still be sleeping. They’d planned to meet at the morning briefing, but Samantha wanted to head to the prison and see if they could talk to Richard Sylvana, since they were over on this side of town anyway.

Samantha quit resisting temptation and glanced over at her sister and her partner. Arms wrapped around each other. Lips locked.

She turned away, rolling her eyes. It had only been days.Days!Geez, Romeo moved fast.

“Jesse!”

Samantha glanced over again at Romeo’s call. Her sister, red cheeks and a flushed face, waved at her. Samantha signedlove youand waved goodbye. Her sister did the same and headed for the security line.

Romeo gave her a single glance, then headed for Samantha. “She’ll be good, right? By herself?”

She eyed her partner. “She’s flown plenty of times by herself. She’ll be fine.”

Romeo didn’t seem convinced.

“Let’s go.” She told him her idea about swinging by the prison and talking to Sylvana.

“About this custard kid thing?”

She’d briefed him when he woke up. On the couch in her apartment, where he’d spent the night. Making sure they were safe. Julio had filled her in via text late last night. They’d seen each other briefly at the hospital. It hadn’t made sense to leave together when Romeo needed to take her and Bristol to their place, and he lived in the other direction. Greyson had given him a ride.

She and Julio had chatted over text for a while. Easier than talking aloud on the phone when she had more smoke inhalation to add to what she already had, and a million scrapes and bruises from being blown up.

Again.

With their conversation rolling through her mind, she felt like she’d need a million hours to process it all. She’d asked Bristol what she thought about Julio insisting she needed to figure things out on her own. That she needed to let go of the hurt and pain she’d been carrying, which her sister thought she’d hung on to because she needed to nurse the pain to keep from getting hurt again.

If she was damaged, she had an excuse to keep her broken heart to herself.

Bristol had told her to give the pain to God. To let Him take it away, rather than continue to allow it to hold her captive. But she’d also said that giving it up would leave a void, which she needed to then fill with hope and peace she could only find in God.

Her sister was turning into a minister. Samantha hoped Romeo was ready for that in his life—and that his presence in her sister’s world didn’t mean her sister lost some of the vibrant faith she had.

In the end it was no surprise her sister had agreed with Julio, wanting her to make peace with God first. On her own. Sheneeded faith not interconnected with her romantic relationship. She had to be solid on her own. For herself.

Bristol had always been number one in the Julio fan club. Okay, maybe number two. Now, she’d hung her star on someone else.

Speaking of…

Samantha slid into the car and buckled her seatbelt. When Romeo did the same, she said, “So that was pretty intense between you two.”

She had no idea if it was their first kiss or not, but she watched the way Romeo reacted. The pull of a smile on his lips. The almost-shy way he said, “Bristol is amazing.” He turned to her. “Guess I’m learning sign language. My mom already started, and Catalina—that’s my sister, the one that’s an SRO at the high school—she said she would, too.”

“You already told your family about Bristol?”

He nodded, realizing what he’d indicated telling her that. “Yeah…Sorry. I know you didn’t want me to meet her.” He winced. “I can’t help how I feel. She’s amazing, and I guess it was the same for her. Like lightning.”

Love at first sight.

“But if you think I should break it off,” he continued, “’cause you think I’m not good enough for her—which I can be, Iwillbe—I guess I can accept that.”

And ruin what her sister had?

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