Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 162567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162567 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Sulli laughs into a heartfelt smile. “…wow.” She breathes a strong breath. “I’ve never heard that song before.”
“It’s an oldie, mixed in with Banks Roscoe Moretti original lyrics.” I almost tell her why I thought of the song, but that might not help get her mind right.
Sulli has this overwhelmed smile now. “Fuck, that was the most 10 Things I Hate About You romantic moment of my life.”
I end up smiling too. “Never seen that movie.”
“Heath Ledger sings to Julia Stiles…pretty fucking dramatically and in the best, cutest way. But this…this was better.”
“That was the first time I’ve ever sung to a girl.”
“Really fucking really?”
“Really fucking really.” I skim her up and down. “I guess I won’t make it the last time.”
“As long as it’s to me.”
“Only to you, mermaid. And maybe Akara.”
“Definitely Akara.” She rotates a little. “Speaking of the asshole.”
“Ha ha,” Akara says dryly, a smile cresting as he approaches. He waves the phone. “Your dad called, Banks.”
I try not to tense. She’s safe here. “What about?”
“We were just going over positions of the temps before the heats. Everything looks good.”
Sulli relaxes.
I nod a couple times. Trusting that everyone will do their jobs tonight. But I’m keeping my head on a swivel.
Sulli makes more room on the bench. “Take a seat, Kits.”
Akara lowers down on the other side of our girlfriend, phone still in his hand. And then Sulli’s swim coach nears. “Can I have a minute with Sullivan?”
She answers first, “Yeah, sure.” Sulli stands and shuffles away, slipping us a pleading look that says, don’t go anywhere.
Despite Akara leaving for some phone calls, he’s stuck around her detail a lot more ever since the gun incident. I love when he’s with us, so no way in hell am I complaining about the change.
We watch the coach give her tips.
“What were you guys talking about?” Akara wonders.
Sudden guilt creeps in. We’ve been sharing a close-to-equal amount of time with Sulli lately. Christ, usually we’re all three together. Somehow I’ve managed to have multiple moments alone with Sulli. More than he’s experienced recently. And I feel fucking bad.
“She was trying to get her mind right and block out intrusive thoughts,” I explain. “So I sang to her.” Why the hell am I nervous to tell him this?
Akara makes a face at me. Half amused, half confusion. “You can’t sing.”
“I didn’t say it was any good.”
Akara laughs. “What song?”
“‘Song to the Siren.’ Tim Buckley.”
He contemplates this, maybe thinking about the lyrics, and his lips slowly rise.
“You know it?” I wonder.
“Yeah.” He smiles more. “That’s a good one.” He lets out a laugh at another thought.
“What?”
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, man.” He catches my gaze. “You claim you know nothing about relationships and romance, but you’ve consistently swept Sulli off her feet since we’ve been together. You’re good at this whole romance thing.”
He’s full of it. “You fling a piece of her own hair at her and she bursts like a shooting comet. Once in a blue moon, I have some bastardly charm.”
“You are so fudging wrong, Banks. You know how impossible it is not to love you?” He focuses back on Sulli. “Now, me, on the other hand—it takes work to love me.” He acts like it’s a joke. But I can tell he thinks there’s truth beneath the words.
“Please,” I say under my breath. “It took less than five-minutes for the two of us to become friends, Nine. That’s not work.” Akara has always been an easy ally. To a lot of people. But he’s vulnerable with very few. “You know Sulli has loved you for years.”
Akara breathes this in as he scans the ready room. “Sometimes I worry that Sulli thinks our back-and-forth is too innocent, too…playful—but that’s just always what we’ve done.”
Is he saying what I think he’s saying? “You think I’m better at being romantic than you?”
“Yeah,” he says seriously. Looking insecure. Akara fuckin’ Kitsuwon—the confident flirt is insecure about being romantic. Something he does effortlessly with Sulli on a daily, hourly basis. When he doesn’t even fucking realize he’s doing it!
I can’t help it.
I laugh.
He shoots me a glare. “Sorry I shared.”
“I’m not.” I catch his gaze before I have to scan our surroundings. “Akara, you literally took her on a sleigh ride at the Winter Fest.”
His brows scrunch in agonized thought. “That was planned. Being romantic shouldn’t be strategic like some op for security. It should be spontaneous and unprompted. My dad was so much better at that than I am…”
My gaze softens. “Now you’re not giving yourself enough credit.” I fix the wire to my mic. “She loves how you are with her, but something tells me I’m not the one you need to hear that from.” I squeeze his shoulder and stand up as Sulli approaches.
Akara rises with me, especially as Sulli seems perturbed. He asks, “What’s wrong, Sul?”