Page 101 of Luciano

She kissed like she meant to leave marks. Bruises. Memories. Like she was distracting me.

She pulled away first, lips swollen, pupils blown wide. Her breathing was ragged, her chest rising fast beneath the smear of synthetic blood on her shirt.

“Stop overthinking?” she whispered against my mouth. Then slid down my body onto her feet.

I stared at her. Heart hammering. Mind blank.

Breath caught somewhere between want and worship.

“You’re right,” I agreed.

She gave me a smile that made me feel weak.

I was overthinking.

Chapter 46

Luciano

Ava wanted a night off from everything.

She chose an amusement park. I had never been to one. It was chaos—screaming children, blaring music, the smell of fried sugar and meat. It was a battlefield of overstimulation.

Ava was thriving.

She practically bounced ahead of me in jean shorts and a crop top. I trailed behind, hands in my pockets, calculating escape routes and measuring the structural integrity of the roller coaster in the distance.

“This place is absurd,” I muttered as she handed me a cone of cotton candy.

She didn’t even look at me when she said, “Just shut up and eat the pink cloud.”

I frowned at it.

She raised a brow. “You’ve never had cotton candy?”

“I know what it is,” I said flatly. “It’s sugar. Colored air. It serves no purpose. Has no nutrients.”

“Just try it, robot.”

I tore off a piece. It dissolved on my tongue—sweet and immediate. Pointless. Soft. Warm somehow. I hated how much I didn’t hate it.

“See?” she said, triumphant. “You like it.”

“I tolerate it.”

“You like it.”

“I’m tolerating it very thoroughly.”

She laughed—loud.

“You enjoyed it. And you’re enjoying being here. I saw you almost smile on the roller coaster.”

I shook my head. “Enjoyment is subjective.”

“God, you’re such a grouch. You need to channel your inner child,” she said, linking her arm through mine. “He’s in there somewhere. Probably hiding behind your encyclopedic knowledge of where to stab people.”

We kept walking. I let her drag me to a balloon-popping game I knew was rigged and still managed to win her a sad-looking purple bear. She hugged it like it was made of gold.

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