Page 23 of Cold Hard Truth

A kiss I’m wandering around lost in.

The breeze binds us together. The nearby bonfire heats the already warm night. It crackles and reminds me of how much it’ll burn if I lose him.

Sage relaxes his grip, and my toes once more find the ground. I didn’t even realize I was floating. My heels hit the dirt, and our lips pull apart. He stares into my eyes and shows me all his secrets.

And no matter how much I fight it, I can’t deny him.

He holds me to him, and I’m floating. I’m weightless.

Maybe I’m falling.

So quick and sudden that it hurts when I haven’t even hit the ground yet. I’d like to think I won’t, so I hold onto that lie—I hold onto this feeling.

Destiny.

Too bad there’s no controlling how that ends.

8

Lyla

I’m straightening a pictureframe when arms wrap around me from behind.

“Shh,” Sage whispers against my neck when I shriek, covering my mouth with his hand as he pulls my body against his firm chest. “You don’t want anyone catching us.”

I spin in his grasp and wrap my arms around his neck, lifting onto my toes to kiss him. “God forbid someone finds out what you’re doing to the president’s daughter.”

He chuckles, shaking his head as he pulls my mouth to his.

It feels like we haven’t stopped kissing for a week. Every second we’re alone in a room, our lips are magnets, and I can’t stay away from him. The heat of the bonfire lit whatever was already sweltering, and now we’re at the mercy of it.

I wish we could just admit what this is—what it’s meant to be. Instead, we’re still pretending nothing is sparking. Like we aren’t about to scorch the ground with every stolen moment.

A countdown ticks in the background. One where I should have left months ago, and Sage is going to be patched in soon. I’m not sure how we can have it all and nothing at the same time. But it sits like a weight over us.

Ever since Sage became a prospect, he’s gone more often than he’s not. Prospects do most of the work around here, and he’s balancing that with the fact that Kane relies on him to do more than most of the club’s members. He’s sent on every run, and the moment he returns, Kane puts him to work.

Sometimes I wonder if my dad’s figured out what we’re up to, and if him keeping Sage busy is simply a ploy to keep us apart.

Sage lowers me back down to my feet as his gaze moves over my shoulder. His eyebrows pinch when he takes in the contents of the frame I just hung on the wall.

“Butterflies?”

I glance over my shoulder at the butterflies pinned in perfect rows inside the shadowbox.

“Ellie sent it to me for our apartment.”

“Then why is it here?”

“The club needed something nice.” I shrug.

He looks from me to the butterflies, and sometimes I wish he wasn’t always hiding behind the carefree façade he’s perfected because then I could readhim. I could see through whatever he’s thinking to know if it bothers him that every year, I leave more of a mark here.

Maybe it bothers him that even once I’m gone, he’ll never be able to rid me of these walls.

Before I can think too much about it, the front door opens and voices come from around the corner. Sage’s hand slips into mine and he tugs me down the hallway.

“What are you doing?” My eyes widen as he drags me toward the staircase.

---