Page 90 of Hide and Seek
“Say it.” Another step. “Say my name.”
My lips part as I try to get the word out, but it’s frozen in my throat.
The fear of being right is almost as strong as the fear of being wrong. If I call him by the wrong name, I could lose this, and that scares me more than it should.
20
JAX
“Say my name, Myles,”I repeat.
He wets his bottom lip with his tongue and shakes his head again.
I step closer so I’m almost out of the shadows. “Say my name.”
His throat works as he swallows hard, then those pink lips part again. “Jax.”
A strange feeling washes over me at the mix of hope and hesitation in his whispered word, and awareness prickles under my skin at hearing him say my name for the first time. Dark possession tightens my chest as he blinks at me with wide, innocent eyes.
I slowly step out of the shadows and push my hood back.
His eyes widen, and two spots of color appear on his cheekbones as our gazes lock.
“You…you can’t be,” he whispers, still staring at me like he’s expecting me to disappear at any second.
“I can’t be…?” I press when his throat bobs with another hard swallow.
“You.”
“I can’t be me?” I raise one eyebrow at him in what I hope is a teasing look.
He’s so frazzled right now I half expect him to run screaming from his room.
“No,” he says, some of his shock melting away. “You’re Jax Hawthorne,” he adds incredulously. “You’re not just Silvercrest royalty. You’re also a Rebel and literally the hottest human I’ve ever seen.”
I smile at how sincere he looks. “Wow, I sound pretty awesome.”
He folds his lips into a tight line and shoots me an unimpressed look. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. Explain it to me.”
He rolls his eyes. “I mean that when it comes to the hierarchy of life here, you’re in the one percent, and I’m in the bottom ninety-five.”
“You don’t think you’re up in the one percent?”
His laugh is loud and unrestrained, and he finally relaxes as he pushes his damp hair off his forehead. “Not in any universe. You’re a ten. I’m a solid three who can sometimes pass for a four,” he says in a rush. “You have a million friends, you and your cousins are campus royalty, and you’re aRebel.” He shakes his head. “I’m a first gen who has two online friends, none in my real life, and I believe in socialism and wealth redistribution and landback movements. We might live in the same world, but we’re worlds apart.”
“Do you really believe that?”
He shoots me a confused look. “I mean, yeah. It’s all fact.”
“None of it is fact.” I step closer to him.
His breath catches, then he opens his mouth like he’s going to argue with me.
I press my lips against his and cut him off.
He gasps against the kiss but doesn’t pull away as I slot our mouths together. It takes a few seconds for him to respond, but when he does, his kiss is soft and hesitant, and that makes the moment so much sweeter as I kiss him with as much tenderness as I can.
