Choosing You (Gravity Hill #3)

19. Chapter 16

I t’s been three days, and Henry still hasn’t said a word to anyone, and no one knows where he is. The boys and I came back the moment we found out Henry left. Luca was pissed, rightfully so, I shot knives through his son's heart. I heard my dad and his arguing, and while Luca knows logically that this is the easiest solution, he’s pissed that Henry’s the collateral damage.

My mind isn’t where it should be. It should be on football practice, and that’s how I find my ass being thrown on the ground by one of the linemen during practice.

“Dude,” Jax is there, offering me his hand to pull me up. “Where’s your head, man?”

I don’t know how to answer him. I certainly can’t say that my boyfriend and I broke up because that happened a long time ago. I also can’t say that my best friend hates me, even though that is also true. Both of those lead to questions, and Jax is like a dog with a bone. He can’t help himself.

“I think I’m getting sick,” I lie, ripping off my helmet and heading for the showers before the coach can tell me to stop. It’s not like I’ll start for this Friday’s game now, not with the shitty practice I’m having.

The girl from the party Toby introduced us to with dark raven hair is leaning against the brick of the building. It’s moments like these that I wish I could be the old smiling version of myself and give enough of a fuck to remember someone’s name.

“Banks, right?” Pushing herself from the wall she comes to block the metal doors to the locker room.

“Yeah,” I huff, attempting to skirt around her.

She moves, sidestepping in my way. “I didn’t know you were spoken for when Pops made the arrangement.”

“What arrangement?” I study her for a second, and my eyes widen with recognition. I remember her from the party right before classes started. She’s… loud, confident, just like one of us, but I look at her again, and it hits me. This must be her , or she’d have no knowledge of any kind of contract, and no reason to talk to me.

“Fuck , you’re Charlotte,” I mumble.

“It’s Charlie and, yeah, fuck.” Crossing her arms her blue eyes seem filled with a simmering rage, something I can relate to.

“Well, I’m not,” I deadpan, hoping the pang of that statement doesn’t show, “Spoken for, I mean.”

“Oh? Tell that to the boy on my best friend's couch who refuses to move unless it’s for food.”

“You know where Henry is?” I step closer and realize I just gave Charlie what she wanted, confirmation.

Shit .

“I figured,” she laughs, “to be clear, I don’t want this marriage any more than you do.”

“Oh yeah, then what do you want? Because your family threatening mine is not a great move on the chessboard.”

She laughs, a throaty horse laugh that makes me wonder if she’s hit the smokes one to many times. “I didn’t threaten anyone, that would be my father. God love him, but he’s determined to gain a foothold in the Hemlock Empire.”

“By pimping his daughter out?” The remark is out before I can stop it, and her palm cracks across my cheek.

She steps closer, her hand gripping my bicep, nails digging in. She snarls a low warning that she’s not fucking around, “Do not think for one second that I won’t rearrange your insides if you so much as hint again that I’m a whore.”

My smile surprises both of us. “Not a whore, just the daughter of a man willing to sell her to an empire.”

“And what about you, Pretty Boy? Why are you the one they picked for this arrangement, huh?” Her brows perk up her forehead.

“I volunteered,” my smile gets wider as her smirk fades and her eyes grow.

“Why?” She steps back, taking her hand with her.

“Because you threatened someone I love,” shrugging my shoulders to avoid having to look directly at her, I nod toward the locker room. “Can I shower now?”

“Only if you promise to come have dinner with me tonight,” she proposes, “to discuss other… options.” Her eyes roam over my body, and not in the usual way I’m used to. As if she’s sizing me up, ready to knock-down-drag-out my ass if I so much as deny her this.

“Tonight?” I worry my bottom lip, trying to recall all the shit I need to get done.

“Not like you have anywhere else to be, right?”

Dropping my head, I mumble for her to wait while I get ready and head into the building. Taking the quickest rinse off I can, I dress and meet Charlie in less than ten minutes. She nods and starts toward Gator Coffee Co.

“Wait, not there.” I stop short.

“Henry isn’t working, remember? Couch or food.”

The reminder feels like an anvil on my chest. There was a point in time when I would do anything to make him feel better, to make sure he never got to that point, to that low.

“You’re pouting,” I say, plopping down beside Henry in the greenhouse. The plants, flowers, and earth smell like my mother. It’s one of my favorite places in the house, along with the memories of me and Henry stealing moments away here.

“What if Talon and Toby make fun of us?” He asks, eyes turned toward mine.

“Does their opinion matter?”

“They’re our brothers,” he whispers, “I don’t think I can handle it if they don’t accept it.”

Grabbing his hands, I lean my forehead down to his and breathe, “Look, Talon’s an ass and Toby’s been bisexual literally forever What’s so different about you and me that they wouldn’t accept us?”

He takes a deep breath, pulling in all the oxygen in the room and moves his hand up my wrist, over my shoulder to my neck. “Because we’re part of the core four. If something happens to us…”

“I can’t promise that we won’t grow apart, or fall in love with other people. Henry, we’re only sixteen.”

“I know that, and I wouldn’t hold you to a promise like that,” his eyes are locked on mine, and I want to kiss him so badly that it hurts to sit here and look at his pretty face. “I just worry–”

“You worry a lot,” I chuckle, “if you don’t want to tell them yet, we don’t have to, but I won't deny how you make me feel, Fancy. And if I want to hold your hand, I’m damn well going to, no matter who’s watching.”

His eyes slide closed, and he smiles. When his golden-flecked eyes meet mine again, he laughs and places a gentle kiss on my lips. “You’re kind of a pain,” he says.

“I know, but I just want you to be happy.” Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, we both laugh while his hand slips down, and I interlock my fingers with his.