Dark Heart, Volume 1: A Manhattan Monsters Novel by James Ella & James Ella

Author:James, Ella & James, Ella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barkley's Books
Published: 2020-09-21T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Elise

Four Months Later

“So I don’t get it…”

“Every reflection Ref of its own inverse.”

I slap my textbook shut. “Arggh. This is tedious!” Calculus. “And boring, and not intuitive. It’s like learning to speak another language.”

Luca laughs. “Because that’s what it is.”

I drop my forehead down onto my notebook, letting out a sigh that seems to echo in the closet-sized library study. “I’m perfectly satisfied with plain ole English.”

“But you can speak a few other ones too, right?”

I lift my head and then shift so I’m sitting cross-legged, facing him on our shared bench. “Some Bengali and a lot of French, which was my chosen language in middle school and ninth and tenth grade. I did Spanish in eleventh grade and this year.” I smile softly. “And now I know a little bit of your language.”

He gives me a silly grin. “Arubesh?”

I lean in closer. “L’italiano.”

“Sei pronto per stasera, la mia rosa?”

It’s a question, so I just assume that it might be about… “Tonight?”

“Anything you want to do?” He smiles softly. “Or do you trust me to come up with something?”

“I trust you. But there’s that afterparty, too, remember?”

He looks blank.

“It’s at my friend Isa’s. We can go if you want, or not if you don’t want to.”

“Do you want to?”

“Sure. It sounds fun.”

It’s April 12, which means tonight is prom. I’m officially going alone, with Dani’s driver, Fil, picking me up. I’ll meet Luca at the dance. There’s an afterparty at Isa Arnoldi’s home that’s supposed to last till 3 a.m. My parents won’t let me spend the night with Dani, not after what happened the night of Luca’s game. Like six months ago.

So Mercer will pick me up from Isa’s house at 2:50.

Luca scoots closer to me. He cups his palms over my shoulders, runs his hands slowly down my arms. His fingers encircle my wrists as he leans in closer.

“Missed you yesterday…”

“I missed you more.” Our mingling breath smells minty from the gum I brought to our calc study sesh. I brush his lips with mine…a little feather kiss. Luca can’t hold back, and pretty soon I’m on his lap with his arm locked around my back, his free hand threaded in my hair, tugging as his mouth ravishes mine.

We kiss until my lips feel bruised and swollen. Then he tucks me against his chest—the place I most love to be. I hug him hard in return.

“Is everything okay at your house?” I murmur. He missed school yesterday, and his only explanation was that he had “something to deal with.”

“Yeah,” he says now. “Better today.”

I can feel him take a long breath, though, as if he’s tired. I hug him more tightly.

“Your family’s lucky to have you, you know.”

He sucks another big breath back and leans away.

“What’s wrong?” I murmur.

He lets go of me, putting space between us.

“Nothing.” It’s a rough whisper. He gives me a strained smile.

“You don’t feel that way…like they’re lucky?”

He laughs. I know him well enough by now to hear how forced it sounds.

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