the lights stood directly behind him, and my fingers itched to run through his hair—the halo created from the ambience made him seem angelic. Softer somehow, though I knew it was only a trick of the light, the same way the darkness tricks the eye into believing that a panther has hypnotic, glowing eyes. Still. How many times in life does the opportunity to run your hands through an avenging angel’s hair arise?
He had taken his beanie off and stuck it in his back pocket after we left the confines of the party. His hair was jet black and cut shorter around the sides, a slicked back strip from forehead to neck. An undercut, it was called. It made him seem stylish. No; I shook my head. That description didn’t seem to fit him. He was too much of a rogue to go along with a fashion trend.
Really, that small fact was beside the point. My fingers itched to touch his hair because it seemed so soft and voluminous. He had hair and lashes any woman would kill to have.
He grinned at me, breaking the trance, and the breath caught in my throat. The moment to act had come and gone.
Not removing his eyes from mine, he dug in his pocket and removed a red sucker. After removing the wrapper with his teeth so he wouldn’t need a free hand, he handed it to me.
I ran my tongue over the candy, keeping it close to my lips, enjoying the flavor. My mother was the equivalent of a teetotaler when it came to manufactured sweets, even homemade ones.
Absence also makes the stomach grow fonder.
Once the entire sucker entered my mouth, I took a few sucks and then crushed the hard part with my teeth, wanting the chocolate in the middle.
Brando stilled for a moment and then began to laugh so hard that he shook with the rhythm of it. A shiver stole over me; he had a wonderful laugh, deep at first, until it became raspy. Addicting. I hadn’t spent much time with him, but something told me that the sound was rare, and once shared, something to remember.
“What?” Despite my mood, I grinned.
“You were hungry.”
“No!” I flung the stick behind my head. Litterbug, a voice inside of my head chanted, but I ignored it. I was still chewing the chocolate center and enjoying it. “The hard part just seemed like a waste of time. The center is what I was after.”
“You got it. In record time too.” He laughed some more.
“The prize is in the center. I don’t know how you do it. Keep one for as long as you do. Especially since you’re someone who loses interest—” I stopped myself from finishing the sentence.
That’s why he didn’t go with Elliott to the party. That’s why he had lived. He had told me he had lost interest in going.
“Depends on what it is,” he whispered. “That’s what I told you.”
His presence was like a balm to the hurt, but at the same time, the bruise to my skin. “You remember that night?”
“I’ll never forget it.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I whispered, swallowing the last of the sweet flavor. Only bitterness remained. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”
“I’m not.” The conviction in his voice matched the hardness of his eyes. If there was one thing about Brando Fausti that would bring me to my death, I knew it would be those damn eyes. Deliciously almond shaped, they were dark, and so intense that one look from him and my heart raced, the breath left my lungs, and my stomach plummeted.
Moth meet flame, I thought.
Our eyes locked and held and I refused to budge. A whistle sounded in the distance, the ground shook with its intensity, and finally, a mammoth train came barreling by, causing my grip to tighten on Brando’s hand, though I refused to look away first. He pulled me to him, my face against his chest once more, wrapping both arms around my body.
I wasn’t afraid of trains. Not any more, or any less.
After the beast had plowed through, he let go and took a step back. “Let’s keep walking.”
He kept me close as we walked side by side. My boots crunched with every step I took.
“Those shoes look uncomfortable.” He used his chin to motion to my boots.
Goosebumps rose on my skin at how easily he could read my thoughts. I had been thinking about how comfortable these shoes were compared to others I had worn