Page 294 of The Lies We Play

Liv moves first.

She reaches across me and touches Halston’s wrist, so both their hands are on me now.

“Never,” she says.

“Never,” Halston confirms.

I want to believe them.

The problem is that Mom has a belief about the word never.

‘You never say never,’ she used to tell us, ‘because life hears it and takes it as a challenge.’

I don’t tell them I am afraid the word is too beautiful to survive.

I don’t tell them that once something is said with enough certainty, some part of me begins counting down to the universe proving us wrong.

Liv’s temple rests against my shoulder.

I close my eyes.

I still hate it.

I still understand it.

And maybe that is love, too.

Not agreeing because it doesn’t hurt.

Staying while it does.

But even though the marriage license will have two names. The vow will have three.

That is the only way I’ll survive signing as a witness.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Halston

Now . . .

Aren brings me in through the players’ entrance.

I have a press pass.

I'm not sure how he got it, and I don't ask, because I am learning that questions have levels. Some questions help you understand a situation. Some questions make a dangerous person explain his methods while you are walking through a building full of cameras.

I choose silence.

The corridor beneath the arena is lit too bright, all concrete, rubber flooring, and walls that carry sound farther than they should. Somewhere ahead of us, a door opens and closes. A burst of laughter cuts through the hall, then disappears. There is the smell of ice beneath everything. Cold water. Metal. Sweat. Tape. The chemical bite of cleaning products.

Aren walks half a step ahead of me, never too far. He has already made me put on a Night Hawks cap. Glasses too. I usually wear contacts, but today he asked me not to. The request sounded simple until I understood what he meant: Let me make your face less searchable.

He stops at a door in a corridor I would not have been able to find on my own.

“You don’t have much time, sir,” he says. “I’ll be back to pick you up. Keep the cap on and avoid the cameras.”

“Thank you, Aren.” I tap the bill of my cap and adjust the glasses.