197 Chapter 197

There was another silence, where I assumed Gus and Roman looked at each in a verbal chicken game, loser breaks the silence, but I didn't want to look up to see. I didn't want to be here in the first place. Not in this heat. Not in this position. Not in these wet, sea briny clothes. I would much rather be far away beneath my grandma's swamp cooler, sipping cold lemonade and reading something wonderful.

Especially since I had just spotted Derrick cresting the hill down to the beach, a foreboding frown on his chiseled face.

"I can't believe it," said Roman.

"Because I'm younger or just because I'm a mind magician?" Gus asked.

"I saw the way she looked at you those years ago. You were her child. I saw her just days ago when she told me she wasn't ready to be in a relationship at all, she was still terrified. How could a child reassure such ingrain fear?"