Page 19 of The Trust
Press a kiss to the corner of his lips.
“Yeah, Vida. I am.”
Jordan
I’ve never played hookyin my life.
Always been the reliable one that’s showed up early, hustled my ass off, and went home late.
But when I pull my old Impala up to the paint splattered building and Mac sits a little straighter in his seat, I know I made the right call.
I’ll make sure Lemon gets a bonus for the idea.
“P-paintball?” Mac mumbles in awe.
The building is set back in the woods, the fall claiming most of the foliage surrounding it, and its walls are covered in layers of splattered colors.
My grin spreads when Mac plasters himself to his window like he’s seeing one of the world’s wonders up close for the first time.
“Yeah, Vida. You ever been?”
“No,” he whispers to the glass, then turns to me and snags my hand once the car is parked. “Out loud?”
I kiss his knuckles.
And even though my heart is in my throat and I’ve scanned the area fifteen times, I nod.
“You and me.”
He sucks back air like he’s breathing the chance in, but when his face splits open in a grin so wide his eyes squint, my heart studders.
Stumbles.
Trips over the sight of him turning such a beautiful thing onme.
And that when it hits me.
All those years of following him, questioning myself, seeing his light dim in a darkness I couldn’t combat …
It was nevermecovering it like I thought it’d been. Worried it would be.
No.
It was the weight of feelings he couldn’t share.
It was every smile he wanted to let out and didn’t. Every emotion he kept in. Touches gone unreciprocated. His love unmatched.
The heaviness of being on the outside while everyone else around him got what they wanted.
The burden of loving me without me knowing.
Seven years.
For seven years, Mac sat on his feelings for me. Unable to say them out loud.
How stupid I’d been.
Not anymore. Not another second.
