of my favorite games, to see what sort of weapons I can get into Prescott.”
“Please, for the love of god, yes. I get the feeling that I’m going to need a weapon in those halls sometime soon. Things are about to amp up, aren’t they?” I nod at her words, but I hope she can see that I’m not afraid.
We will pull out of this victorious; I’m sure of it.
“Well, then, let’s get you cleaned up, and get started. The sneaking around, and the knife shit, I think you’ll be able to get no problem. The dancing … might devolve into more sex. I’m not sure that I can properly teach you without succumbing to every dark, dirty thing I want to do to you.”
“Get stuffed, Cal,” Bernie starts, but when she tries to get up, I grab her and drag her back down to the floor for another round.
If she’s too sore to practice after this, I won’t be able to blame her.
Not one bit.
When Bernadette and I come out of the dance studio, we find Oscar waiting for us.
“You’re here alone?” I ask him, my duffel bag slung over my shoulder, my body aching in all its broken places. The day I lost my dance career, I also lost the chance at a life without pain. Everything on me hurts, all the time. I have metal pins in my bones; I have parts that didn’t quite heal right. And I don’t just mean my heart. That healed in a very twisted, very strange sort of way.
Yes, but Bernie loves you the way you are. If it took losing everything to have her, then you’ll have gained a lot, Cal.
“I don’t need an escort,” Oscar quips, flaunting the rules of Havoc like he always does. He thinks he’s invincible. Well, he will until one day he just … isn’t. That’s how I discovered my mortality: by losing my invincibility. I smile, because it seems to freak people out when I do that. Maybe they can sense that I’m always just this close to losing it?
“Why are you here?” Bernie bites out, her hair still a bit tangled, her face still a bit flushed. She glances my way, and I can feel my smile turning into something darker, but with more meaning. She lights me up inside in a way that I can’t explain. I suppose that some things require no explanation; they just are. That’s Bernadette to me. I have always loved her, but it seems pretty self-explanatory as to why I do.
She’s strong. She’s got conviction. She acts like she doesn’t care when she cares a whole hell of a lot.
Also, she’s mine now, just like I’ve always wanted.
I look back at Oscar and find his gray eyes narrowed. He can tell we just fucked; I know he can.
“Yeah, we just had sex for the first time. And guess what?” she asks, tilting her head slightly to one side. “Callum didn’t get up and run away.”
I bark out a laugh and they both jump slightly. Pretty impressive, I must say, to get a reaction out of Oscar at all. Either I really am a bigger monster than him, or else Bernadette has thrown him so far off his game that he’s making mistakes.
“How lovely for the pair of you; I’ll start planning your future commitment ceremony.” Oscar turns back to me with a sharp frown etched into his face. I think he should tell Bernadette the truth, about being a virgin and what-the-fuck-ever. I mean, if what Hael said is really true. He neither confirmed nor denied it.
My body itches with the need to move, but I’ve had plenty of practice at sitting still, too. All those nights on Bernie’s roof, my fingers pressed to her window, my heart in my throat. Today, we’ve made it official. Today, I’ve cemented the fact that I’m most definitely the character that has to die. I’d do it happily, too, sacrifice myself to keep her safe.
It’d be an honor.
I chuckle and Oscar’s frown gets even deeper.
“We need to get clothes, for the winter formal,” he says, like the very idea of attending the dance or the afterparty makes him want to throw his body off of a cliff. “I can’t wait until we graduate, and this nonsense is behind us.”
“Oh, come on,” I say with a grin, tossing an arm around Bernie’s shoulders and bringing her close so I can smell her sweet hair. Peaches and leather, that’s her signature scent.