Akara expels a rougher breath, his hand aggressively pushing back his black hair.
I nod to him. “What are you thinking?”
“This is going to kill him,” Akara whispers, mostly to me.
Yeah.
“Maybe we don’t tell him?” I ask.
Sulli hears and says, “Yeah, we shouldn’t fucking involve him more.”
Akara nods stiffly, then pulls Derrick aside. “Can we talk for a sec, Derrick.”
“Sure thing.” Twigs crunch under their boots as they walk further away and chat quietly. Sorting out the logistics, while Sulli and I inspect the forest-green muddy Jeep a little closer.
I yank off branches, and Sulli checks the inside again. The windshield wipers are missing. Easy fix. She’ll be good to go soon enough. Just need to find all the right parts.
Coming back out, Sulli skims her fingers over the dirty window, leaving streaks. “I know I should be fucking devastated that she’s just a bunch of metal, but I’m so fucking relieved.”
I slip her a smile. “We’ll bring her back better than ever.”
“Risen up from the dead,” Sulli smiles at that thought. “Like a fucking phoenix.” I stare at her for a long moment, watching Sulli clean the twigs off the tires. I’m stunned by her resilience—her strength of pursuit and ability to keep on going.
She’s been dragged down a lot just this year, but she’s always had some sort of grit.
My chest rises, lungs filling with the same loving feeling that draws my lips upward. Once we’re done clearing the car of tree branches, we lean against the shut hood, our eyes on the creek below the cliff.
We listen to the world around us. The sounds of rushing water and a hawk squawking in the distance. Our easy breaths that drift into the September air.
I peek over at Sulli. “You remember the day we first met?” I lift a shoulder. “Guess it’d be more like the first day we met when I was off-duty, alone. We’d probably run into each other before then, but never really talked much.”
“The day you were off-duty…” She thinks, then bites her lip, starting to smile. “Fuck, that day—you were in the townhouse garage.”
She remembers.
I can’t take my eyes off her, shocked she remembers. Didn’t think she would. “Yeah, I was in the garage.”
Sulli stares out at the open sky, smiling more at the memory. “You know, when I moved into the townhouse with Moffy, Jane, and Luna—I hadn’t really thought too hard about how I’d be living next door to our bodyguards. Not until that day—it hit me.”
“That’s why you remember?”
“Yeah.” She tries to hold my gaze but glances away shyly. “Fuck, you were under Jane’s blue Beetle when I walked into the garage. All I saw were your legs, and I kept glancing from your legs to my parked Jeep, to your legs, to my Jeep.” She pats the hood next to her. “But I didn’t want to open the car door and scare you. So I called out your name. You didn’t hear me.”
“And then you kicked my ankle.”
“I kicked your ankle,” she laughs, nodding. “You rolled out from under the Beetle. AirPods were in your ears, and I shouted way too fucking loudly, ‘I’m Sulli! I’m about to go! I didn’t want to fucking scare you!’ And you…” She stares faraway. “You had this shadow of a smile just looking at me—the kind you always have that just utterly fucking melts me.” Her eyes flit to me, back to the sky. “You were really hot, scorching levels—and like instantly, I knew I was in trouble, but I just figured you probably wouldn’t be attracted to me.”
I laugh.
“What?” She’s smiling. “Banks, I literally shouted at you like a fucking dummy, then I tried to shake your hand, which was covered in oil. So I elbowed you.” She winces with a face-palm. “And then Kits came inside, and you two were so buddy-buddy. Teasing me, and I realized how much your friendship attracted me to you guys. But I was so fucking ugh.” She cringes. “I’ve replayed my awkwardness like a fucking million times.”
“You weren’t awkward.”
“Really?”
“You know that smile that I gave you?”
“Yeah?”
“That was an I’m into this smokeshow smile.”
“Really?” Her lips part. “Seriously?”
I nod repeatedly. “I still had my AirPods in, but I could hear you shouting over the music.” I smile a faraway, loving smile, remembering then and now. Emotion pricking my eyes, and I take out my AirPods from my pocket. I fit one into her ear, one into my ear. And I find the song on my phone. “This is what was playing that day.”
She listens.
And her head whips to me as soon as the music starts. He green, green eyes welling and diving deep into my gaze. “Banks.”
“Swim to me,” I breathe. “Oh my heart.”
Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley. What I sang poorly to Sulli at the Olympics.
“I…” Words catch in her throat.
I nod, seeing how much this means to her, and I wrap an arm around Sulli. I tuck her to my side, and she leans her weight into me.
We listen to the song, and she whispers, “I really fucking love you, Banks.”
“I love you too, mermaid.”
When we hear the crunch of twigs and the sound of a car peeling away, Akara walks over and pauses. “Am I interrupting—?”
“Come here.” I stand up and put the AirPod in his ear. “Remember that time I was working on the Beetle and you came down into the garage? I was listening to this song.” I nod towards Sulli. “And apparently, she had the hots for us and our friendship.”
Sulli raises her hands. “Fucking guilty.” She points to me. “But Banks had the hots for me.”
“Yeah, I know,” Akara says like it was obvious. ‘Cause it was.
Sulli blows back. “What?”
“Akara was into you too,” I remind her. “He was just in denial and resisting.”
“And you were resisting because you were a good friend and I was an ass,” Akara declares.
“A lovable cock-blocking ass.” I bob my head, arms loosely crossed, and Akara listens to the music with a growing smile. We’re all smiling at each other—loving how our path weaved and connected.
The three of us together.
Once the song finishes, we all end up in a huddle on the cliffside, and I pocket the AirPods. “Everything squared away?”
Akara nods. “He’s not going to file the police report. A tow truck is headed here.” A stillness swims around us, but it’s broken sharply by the sound of a car.
“Who’s here?” Sulli asks.
I have no clue, but by the lack of confusion coming from Akara, I’d say he knows.
63
AKARA KITSUWON
I texted Price on our way to the Poconos.
I decided to involve him like Ryke wanted, but I didn’t think he’d come out here. Not until he called and said he was a few minutes away. And that he wanted to talk.
Sure.
Okay.
Whatever that means.