Page 116 of The Obedient Lie

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Still, he said it again.

“Go to class. I’m fine.”

But he wasn’t. And we both knew it.

I stepped in closer and gently reached for the hem of his shirt. He didn’t stop me.

“Lift your arms,” I whispered.

He did.

I pulled the shirt over his head and dropped it to the side, then moved to unbutton his pants. My fingers brushed the waistband, and I felt the way his breath hitched, how his hands twitched where they rested on his thighs.

He didn’t fight it.

I continued to undress him. Every movement was slow, gentle—careful, like I was handling something fragile.

Because Iwas.

When I was done, I brushed my fingers along his arm. “Can I nap with you?”

He didn’t answer. Just looked at me—exhausted, like he didn’t have the strength to say yes, but didn’t want to say no.

I walked to the control panel and tapped the blinds. The room darkened, warm and soft as the automatic shades sealed the light away.

“Please, Luca,” I whispered. “Let me stay.”

I climbed onto the bed and he reached for me immediately, pulling me into his chest. The same way Bastion had earlier.

But it wasn’t the same.

Luca’s grip was tighter. Wilder. Desperate in a way he didn’t know how to name.

I curled in, pressing my face to his chest, my fingers stroking his arm.

He didn’t say a word.

Just held me.

And then, finally—so quietly I almost missed it:

“You smell good.”

I smiled, not moving. Just kept tracing the lines of his forearm, slow and steady, grounding him.

His breathing started to slow.

And I didn’t stop touching him.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

BASTION

Something had changed with her, and I wasn’t good with emotions to understand what.

She wouldn’t look at me.

Luca was quiet. She had pulled away from him too.

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