Page 211 of Face Off

“They’ll know I’m angry.”

“You are angry.”

“I yelled at Bliss and Aura.”

“They survived.”

“They’ll think I hate them.”

“No, they won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they know better, but I’ll tell them you don’t.”

She searches my face. “You would do that?”

I nod. “Let me be your friend tonight.”

The word settles between us. Friend is safer than what I want and smaller than what she came here determined to earn. We both know it. It’s still the only promise I trust myself to make while her world reorganizes itself around another betrayal.

“Only tonight?” she asks.

I press my thumb against her bottom lip before the question can become heavier. “Don’t push it, mami.”

Charm kisses the pad of my thumb. “I’m not fighting fair.”

“I remember.”

I look toward the suitcase. “Unpack.”

“Bossy.”

“You were leaving.”

“I was considering it.”

“You were folding underwear with violence.”

“It deserved it.”

I close the suitcase before she can argue and carry it to the luggage stand. When I lift it, the cream paper with my name written across the front nearly slips onto the floor. Charm snatches it first and slides it beneath her journal.

I look at the pages. She places both hands over them, and neither of us says a word.

Charm washes her face and rebuilds enough of her makeup to return downstairs without answering questions. She replaces the pin in her hair, smooths the yellow tank over her waist, and stands in front of the mirror studying herself while I wait near the window with the small bottle of mezcal I retrieved from my room.

Her gaze finds mine through the reflection. “Are you sure you want to go back down there?”

“I’m sure I don’t want to spend the next six hours watching you abuse luggage.”

“That suitcase started it.”

“I saw the entire fight. It never had a chance.”

She turns and approaches me, stopping close enough to smooth both hands over the front of my shirt. “We’re leaving everything upstairs?”

“For tonight.”