Crazy Eights (Stacked Deck #8) - Emilia Finn Page 0,22

know she controls all that shit. It also means, even with all her technology and power, she can’t find us on her own.” He purses his lips. “That’s kinda cool in itself. I feel like we should pat ourselves on the back.”

“Will!”

“He’s not looking to get us arrested, Bubbles. He just wants his girlfriend back.”

“I said no. What we had is gone, and I’m not leaving you here to rot just so I can live it up on someone else’s money. That’s not how this is going down.”

“Return yourself, claim your five hundred thousand, then you won’t be living on anyone’s money but yours.”

I turn to him and growl. “Go. Away.”

I want to cry. I want privacy. I want a minute alone to grieve the boy I fell in love with, the man who refuses to set me free. I want to go back in time and undo what we did.

I don’t want to regret the time I spent with Jamie, but if I knew then how much it would hurt now…

Damn. I probably still would have done it.

“Please go away, Will.” I bring a hand up to swipe beneath my nose. “Please leave me alone for a little bit. I’m exhausted.”

“Bubbles…” He steps into my room despite my plea, and crouches down beside my bed. “I love you,” he begins. Such simple words, packed full of truth. “You are literally the only person on this planet I love. And I swear, I’m doing what I can to get us out of this mess.” He takes my hand and squeezes. “You’re so intent on not leaving me that you’re making my mess your mess. I’m searching for him. For Nate. I’m searching for the bullshit witness. I’m trying really hard to clear my name just so I can clear yours. But you could make my life easier if I wasn’t so worried about you being in the line of fire.”

“If I leave you, you won’t work so hard to exonerate yourself. You’ll hide, and I’ll lose you.”

“I’ll be around.” He reaches up and chucks my chin. “But I swear, my life would be a hell of a lot easier if I wasn’t always so worried about you. Every time I walk out that front door, I worry this is the time someone will follow me back. Every time my eyes meet anyone else’s – even the chick from the deli down the street – I worry that this is the time I’ll be recognized and turned in. If you weren’t here, then I could move more freely. I could think of you dancing with Sophia, teaching little kids in safety.”

“I teach kids here! I’m safe.”

We absolutely do not tell Will about Victoria, Zeus’, or Evan McGrady. That would be a bad tactical move on my part.

“You work all damn night in the ghetto, Bubbles. You go to people’s homes for private dance tutoring. They keep you out till all hours like they don’t care that they’re eating into your sleep time.”

“Some students have busy lives,” I pad my lies with another. “Some have regular day jobs, so they can’t train until the evenings. It’s reasonable.”

“Seven o’clock is reasonable. Even eight. Not nine, or ten, or eleven. There’s no need for you to be tutoring at midnight.”

“I have a lot of students. That’s how we pay the bills.” Partial truth. “I have a session at seven, but then I have to schedule someone else in at eight. And someone else at nine. I have to get through them all, or we don’t have money to pay the rent.”

“You shouldn’t be paying our rent!”

“Oh please. I’m twenty-three years old. I’m an adult, which makes us equals now. You carried me all our lives, Will. You did good, but now it’s time to share the load. Now please leave.” I scoot back on my bed and rest against the wall. “I want to be alone. I want to cry for a minute, and then I’m gonna shake off Jamie Kincaid, and get back to work.”

“Work, being…?”

“Finding Nate Hardy, finding whoever wants to get you into trouble, and then maybe finding me a date. Because we both know I need to move on from my ex.”

“Bubbles…”

“I might have a lead on something.”

I think of Evan’s offer. Of his contacts, his ability to smooth things out for me.

But then I think of the personal cost for such access to his world.

A part of me acknowledges that, for Will’s freedom, it may not be too high