She looked at him. “Believe what?”

“That we’re here. At the beginning of the week, I thought you’d poison me. I wanted you so bad, but I didn’t think you’d want me.”

“I always wanted you, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was what happened.”

“But that’s behind us.”

“Yeah, and I hope it stays there,” she said, but something must have flickered in her eyes because his brows pulled together.

“What’s wrong?”

She shrugged. “Nothing.”

“No, something is wrong.”

She hadn’t even realized she was thinking about it until she spoke. “My parents kicked Skylar out. Apparently, she doesn’t want to get help.”

Looking away, he nodded. “Well, there is no helping her if she doesn’t want to help herself.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Oh, well, don’t worry about that. We are moving forward, together.”

“Together.”

He was holding back, though, and she didn’t like the way he changed the subject so fast. Instead of calling him on it, she gazed into his eyes. They were so dark, not their usual light caramel. His heart was in his eyes, and it was beautiful to witness. She knew he was hers. All hers. “You make me happy, Mekena. Truly.”

Smiling, she leaned her nose to his. “I feel the same way.”

His eyes turned frisky, full of mischief. “Even when I do this?”

He scrunched up his face, and she heard it before the room was filled with the most revolting smell. Relaxing his face, Markus just grinned, looking proud as Mekena glared. “Markus!”

“Chicken! It’s the chicken!”

Laughing, he covered her body with his as she tried to push him away. But really, she didn’t want him to go far.

Farts and all.

“So you have no clue what’s going to happen?”

Mekena looked up at the ceiling as she stood in the offices for the Assassins. Her meeting with Elli Adler wasn’t for a few more minutes, but she needed a pep talk. Markus was at practice and then he had an appointment with the team’s therapist, so she couldn’t call him. That left her best friend, who sounded as if she was in the middle of World War III. But Mekena needed her. She wasn’t feeling as confident as she had the day before when she was in bed with Markus and he was promising her the world.

The anxiety was eating her alive.

“No, I mean, I think I got the job, or she’s made it seem like I got the job. But what if I get in there and I don’t have it? What if she just assumes I’m gonna take it and gives me a shitty salary?”

Ashlyn screamed and then there was a crash. “I swear this kid has Jace’s temper,” Avery muttered and then cleared her throat. “Well, I mean, you’re going to take it no matter what, right? Like, you want to be with Markus, in Nashville?”

“I know. But what if I do take it, and then he gets sent back to the Ninjas?”

Avery made a sound of distress. “Yeah, this is a mess that neither of you really planned out, I think.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, especially when Libby’s words still weighed on her heart. When it was just Markus and her, things were easy, she threw caution to the wind and was ready. But now, out in the real word, she needed to know what was going to happen. She needed the certainty and she hated that. Where was the carefree Mekena? Why was she so scared?

Closing her eyes, she tried to get it together as she reminded herself, “Well, we did talk about it. We said we’d be together no matter what.”

“How sweet,” Avery teased with a laugh. “I’m just kidding. That’s good. So you both know this might not be easy, that there is no certainty.”

Mekena nodded, trying to feel confident in what they had promised each other, in what she knew to be true. But still, she wasn’t. “I’m scared, Avery. I’m scared that I threw myself into this and it won’t work.”

Avery laughed. “Mekena, that’s love. It’s like a game of craps. In the end, what do you want?”

“I want him. I want us.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The world. Everything. And my sister is on my mind a lot, and it’s driving me crazy.”

Avery made a sound of disgust. “Why are you worrying about her?”

“I don’t know. I want to hate her, I do, but I’m worried. Libby said that Mom and Dad kicked her out because she wouldn’t get help. Which is great, and I hope it woke Skylar up. But when I brought it up, Markus shut it down, and I’m worried it’s giving him flashbacks or something. He says he’s over it, he’s moving on. But what if he isn’t? What if it will always be something we can’t talk about…and it’s my family. I mean, I want to have them in my life—not Skylar, but at least my parents—and I don’t think I can because she’ll always be an issue for us. I called my mom to check on her, and she kept me on the phone for an hour, talking about Skylar. She’s a mess, and I feel for her, but I hate my sister.”

“Which is understandable, Mekena, and your mom should take it easy. She knows what happened.”

“I know, and I tried to tell her that. She tried, but it’s so hard. It’s such a shitty situation. And then there’s his family. I hate them, yet he wants them back in his life. It’s logical, they’re his family. They were just so horrible to me. I’ve never in my life been called white trash until I met them. Nothing like feeling like you aren’t good enough for a guy until his parents tell you. Ugh! There is just so much that is freaking me out at this very second, and all I want is to be back in that bed with him with nothing else to worry about.”

As Avery cleared her throat, Mekena swore she could see Avery roll her eyes. “Why are you doing this to yourself? You have a meeting in minutes, and you’ve got yourself so fucked up.”

“I’m freaking out, Avery. I am.”

“I hear that. But, Mekena, what do you want? Do you want to be with Markus?”

“I do,” she said immediately, feeling it with everything inside of her. “And when it’s just us, I know that, he knows that, and everything else doesn’t matter. Not our families, not the distance that could plague us, or anything else. We don’t care. We want to be together, so we’re going to be together. But then I get away from him, and I start to worry.”