Page 24 of The Wicked

“I know—”

“No—it’s not as if I don’t want to talk about it… I do; I really fucking want to tell you everything, to tell someone—it’s just—he won’t let me. I’m not allowed to; I’ve never been allowed to.”

I was more confused but knew not to push it, so I just nodded and asked, “Is this thing—bad? Like, does it put you in any sort of danger?”

He shook his head. “No.” Then he chuckled sadly before releasing a sigh. “I think it’s the only reason we are still breathing.”

“Is it… personal?”

He squared his jaw before nodding.

“Does it answer why you somehow know every nook and cranny of this whole compound?”

He hesitated before nodding again.

“Did you punch him?” I asked.

“Several times, yes.”

I smiled sadly at him, wrapping my good arm around him in a hug. “Good,” I whispered, and he held me tighter. I buried my head in the crook of his neck, breathing him in.

He didn’t have to tell me. It was pretty obvious—either they were very close friends or… they were family.

There was only one way to confirm this, and it made me look forward to when it would be dark again.

“This won’t… complicate things, will it?… Between us?” he asked.

I chuckled, raising my head to meet his gaze, my knuckle coming to graze his cheek. “I don’t know why we’re so scared of that. I mean, I care about you, and you care about me. This crew, we care about each other, and though we have other stuff going on, it shouldn’t stop us from showing support when any of us are in need of it.”

He nodded.

I brushed his hair back. “I know how these things work, how feelings could get mixed up, how we could ruin our friendship… but I just don’t see it happening with us, do you?”

His lips curled in a smile. “No. You’re my best friend, Zahra. I don’t want to lose this too. Maybe that’s why I don’t want to blur the line. I need you.”

I leaned in to press a kiss to his lips, before brushing my thumb softly against the bottom one. “I’m here,” I whispered. “I’ll always be here for you. I might not know the right thing to say, but I can listen, and I can hold you, and you can cry if that’s what you want; I’d never tell anyone.”

“But then you’d have something to hold against me.”

I smiled. “I have to get you in line one way or another, Devil.”

His forehead rested on mine as he closed his eyes, breathed, and swallowed. “You already have me in line.”

Escaping the soldiers assigned to watch our building was the easy part. The hardest part was climbing up the stairs to the roof, where I had spotted Elio from Upper’s—unauthorized—access to the Marino security feeds.

Whoin their right mind would build a place as high as this, without an elevator or even a fucking stair railing for people who have fucking anxiety!

The moment I passed through the roof’s door, I let out a breath of relief, willing my heart to return to its normal rhythm.I stood still, peering through the darkness until I saw where Elio leaned against the bricked railing on the roof, his back to me.

He looked one with the night in his all-black attire. A black sweatshirt and pants.

The door to the rooftop closed behind me with a loud bang, but he didn’t flinch, nor did he turn to me.

Was he careless or too confident no one could hurt him in his space?

It was cold up here, and I let a shiver run through me as I walked over to stand beside him.

He still didn’t turn toward me, so I took that opportunity to study his profile. I watched as he blew thick white smoke into the air, the white streak snatched away by the wind, thinning as it danced into the dark depth of the night.