Page 120 of Lies Like Love

Lifting up on her toes, she plants her lips on mine, and like every time since the first time I tasted her, her kiss seals my fate.

She pulls back and walks away, glancing a final time over her shoulder before climbing into the car. Red hair whipping around her with the wind. An expression too similar to the one she wore at her mother’s funeral.

A reminder of the first time I saw her crying over her father’s grave. And I can’t help but wonder if it’s a bad omen that our beginning and end are marked with death.

Back then we were two kids covered in the blood of our families. Not yet old enough to understand the depth of what we were wading in. But now, as the car drives away and rips my heart down the center, I send half of it with her.

It takes everything in me to walk into the shop instead of hopping in my car to follow her. I’d love nothing more than to be at her side, but I promised her this. A final farewell until I seal her to my soul for eternity.

Luckily, piercings keep me busy for the next hour, but before I know it, I’m hiding in the office, staring at my phone every other minute wondering when I’m going to hear from her.

Crew finally makes his way into the shop around noon, walking in with bloodshot eyes and his knuckles split open.

“What’s wrong with you?”

He drops onto the couch in the office, shaking his head. Those cushions might as well have his body imprinted on them because he sleeps here more than he does at home.

“Nothing.”

“You look like shit.”

He tosses his arm over his eyes. “Rude.”

“What do you want me to say? Good morning?”

Crew shrugs but doesn’t uncover his face because he doesn’t actually care. He’s spiraling lately, and I’m not sure what’s causing it. It’s rare Crew talks about anything more than tattoos, women, fighting, or drinking. Defense mechanisms he uses to bury shit he hides so well.

Not even Sage, with his all-seeing eyes, has been able to figure him out.

Much less me, who hasn’t been paying attention to anyone since Fel walked back in my life.

“Where’s your chick?” Crew asks, his face still covered.

Of all the days, he has to give a shit today when I’d rather be distracted.

“Busy.”

“Away from here? Finally got smart and left your ass, huh?”

Sage stops in the doorway. “Dude, you’re fucking asking for it. Idiot put a ring on her finger.”

That gets Crew’s attention. He throws his legs over the couch to sit up with his eyes wide in shock.

“Tell me you fucking didn’t?”

I don’t bother responding because he won’t understand. Proven by the laugh that explodes out of him.

“He’s lost it, right?” Sage crosses his arms over his chest.

Both eye me like I ate a bullet, but I don’t give a shit. They can think what they want.

I light a joint and inhale a long drag, waiting for it to settle the panic running a race in my bloodstream. It’s rare for me to feel out of control, and that’s all Fel does. Chaos, fixation. The urge to overanalyze, so I don’t miss anything.

“It’s been a couple of weeks since you’ve been to a fight man, you gonna go tonight?” Sage tips his chin up at me, and I realize I’ve been zoning out.

“Maybe.”

“He means no.” Crew leans back and chuckles.

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