Kiss To Forget (Blairwood University #2) - Anna B. Doe Page 0,80
grips my hand with hers. “Me too.”
Click.
The sound of the shutter going off is so soft I can barely hear it. But then there it is again. Three soft clicks fired in quick succession.
Click-click-click.
Mom hears it too, and we both glance up to find Jade looking down at the screen of her camera, a thoughtful expression on her face.
“Not interested, my ass,” Mom mutters watching Jade’s mouth tip in a smile. I choke on laughter, not used to hearing Mom cuss.
“What’s so funny?” She turns to me, her eyes narrowed.
I lift my free hand in surrender. “Not a thing.”
“Promise me you’ll take care of her.”
“Mom…” The word comes out choked, but this time there is nothing amusing about it.
“Promise me, Nixon.” The look in her eyes is almost desperate. “Don’t let her give up on her dreams just because she’s hurting.”
Her nails dig into my skin, but I can barely feel the pain.
“I promise.”
She nods and looks toward Jade. When she lifts her gaze, her cheeks flush, the camera dropping from her hands onto her chest.
“It’s not what you think!” Jade shouts so we can hear her over the howl of the wind.
Mom rolls her eyes. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s not.”
Mom just shakes her head at her. “Do you think we can stay a little longer?”
“You’re not cold?” She slowly turns her glare on me. “Fine. We can stay.”
“Let’s walk for a little bit.”
So that’s what we do. Jade joins us, and together the three of us walk on the beach as close to the ocean as we can get without getting wet from the oncoming waves.
“Let’s take a picture,” Mom suggests after a while. “The three of us.”
“But there’s nobody to take it.”
“I’m sure we can take one of those selfies you kids love these days.”
“Fine.”
Jade pulls the strap of the camera off her neck. Pressing a few buttons, she extends her hand and wraps her arm around Mom on the other side.
“Say cheese!” she shouts and clicks the shutter.
Jade turns the camera to look at the photo. “This is so bad.”
“Gimme that.” I reach for the camera. “Your arms are too short, Smalls.”
“I’ll show you who has short arms, you…”
She tries to grab the camera out of my hand; I pull it out of her reach, but not before another photo is snapped.
“Look what you did.”
“Zip it and smile.”
I extend my arm, which is way longer than Jade’s, thank you very much, as we pull in for another photo.
One click later, I check the screen and show it to them. “See? This is how it’s done.”
Our faces smiling, cheeks flushed from the wind as we hold on to each other.
“My babies,” Mom whispers, tightening her grip around us. There is no real strength in her arms, not anymore. She kisses Jade on top of her head and then does the same to me. “You two will be okay. I know it.”
“We’ll be okay,” I lie because I don’t have the heart to tell her the truth. We’re as far from okay as we can get, and I don’t see a way out of this hole. Nothing will ever be the same, especially not… I shake my head, refusing to even voice the thoughts in my head. No, nothing will be okay, but just for today, we can all pretend otherwise.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
YASMIN
What the hell are you doing, Yasmin?
It’s not the first time I’ve asked myself this exact same question, and I feel like it won’t be the last time either. But ever since I sneaked out of Nixon’s room on Wednesday morning, I haven’t been able to get his face out of my mind or erase the tone of his voice as we talked long into the night. I couldn’t forget the sadness he’s doing his best to keep safely hidden so nobody can see his suffering. But no matter how hard he tries to hide it, I can still see it. And I can’t let go. So here I am, sitting in my piece of a shit car after driving for over an hour and getting lost twice before I finally made my way here.
To Nixon’s home.
The lights are shining on the ground floor, and I can see people moving around inside the house.
Get the hell out or go away before somebody sees you, and they call the cops on you.
Sighing, I pull on my big girl panties. “It’s now or never, Yas.”
Pushing the door open, I grab my bag and get out. Slowly, I cross the distance and climb