Page 53 of Red Flag, Green Light

“How do you live being both deathly afraid of people, yet also unable to help yourself from seeing the absolute best in them?”

“Don’t be stupid. It’s not about seeing the best in people. It’s about seeing the truth. I’m an editor. I work on books for a living. I dive into condensed versions of reality, and I pull the truth forward. People aren’t good. That’s just a fact. But even in all thebad, so many will do a kind thing. Even the worst people will sometimes surprise you.”

A light turns red, so I take my chances looking at the most beautiful woman I have ever known. “If that’s the case, what’s there to be afraid of?”

She wraps herself in a tighter hug and frees a breath as her eyes close. “Because. It goes both ways. I prefer predictable. People aren’t.”

Yet, somehow,I’mthe safe one? When I have—on multiple occasions—set something on fire on a whim, I’m safe?

Her head cocks back against the seat. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. ‘I’m not predictable. I set things on fire without warning sometimes. There’s no wayI’msafe.’”

Creepily accurate. I love this woman.

Before I can come up for air, she continues, “You’re safe because you’re so blatant about who you are. There’s a starkhonesty to you that I appreciate.”

The way thatmanipulationis my middle name…

“You’re safe because you’re unpredictable. I don’t have to try and play oracle. I get to be me, because who even knows what the right answer is with you?”

Finding it harder to both breathe and swallow, I say, “So it’s not because you like my brother?”

“Jupiter has the same edge to him. You’re both kind people, but the rules make more sense with you, probably because we’ve actually spent time together.”

The…rules…? Jove dropped a tree on a building a week ago. I walked right into Ceres’s house when we first officially met. “You mean it’s easier with us because there aren’t rules?”

“Yep.” A subtle peace swells around her. “I don’t have to keep track with people like you. You’re logical enough to fully understand that you’re unhinged, which means I don’t have to worry about myself. Nothing I am is going to be worse than what you consider perfectly acceptable. It’s freeing. Like being alone. But with someone else. Which…” she begins, peering at me, “…is why it hurt a little when you abandoned me these past two weeks.”

My mouth opens, but I can’t find the right words. “I’m sorry. I thought…” She put away her spare key because I was bothering her. I thought she wanted space. I thought…

“You thought wrong.” She tucks her face against her legs. “Do better.”

My heart tightens in my chest, and I don’t know if there’s anything I can say right now that would matter, not when I can barely form thoughts in my own skull.

All that matters is that we’re going home, together.

And she wants me around.

All of me. Just the way I am. Because just the way I am allows her to be just the way she is.

Looking ahead, I take a deep breath and watch as the light turns green.

Chapter Sixteen

Well, that escalated quickly.

Ceres

Sara: I’m just sayingwhat ifhomeboy stops watching his neighbor on security cameras to gather information about how to not make a fool of himself in front of her like a desperate little mouse, andwhat ifhe stops obsessing over pushups to make his shoulders an adequate size (very funny; you will need to delete this before you publish; the humor is off genre), andwhat ifhe starts kissing her senseless instead?

Rouge: You want him to break into her house, push her into her couch, and demand she pay attention to him?

Twisting in my chair, I stare at Mars, who broke into my house, flopped onto my couch, and started playing on his phone some—oh—odd few hours ago. He marched on in, held up a lock pick kit, and said he’d coordinated things with Dream Cycles, so I could start on my next task.

He said:You’re just lucky Tristan doesn’t hate me as much as some others. Anyway.

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