Page 54 of Lightning Angel

“Tristan,” she called him on a sigh, her eyes pained.

“Alexa,” he called her back. He shifted in his seat, moving aside and pulling her up from the floor to sit with him. He held her hands firmly in his. “I really appreciate you trying to justify me—please, let me say this,” he added as she opened her mouth to protest. “I appreciate you and your words, I do. Ireallydo. A tiny part of me even sparked to hope at your words, that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t my fault after all. But there are other parts of me, the rest of me that is drowning with guilt, and that tiny spark doesn’t seem enough. I deeply appreciate you, Alexa, you have no idea how much, but my guilt is just too strong.”

Alexa’s heart softened and clenched at the same time. Even though she hadn’t been in a situation as he was, she understood what he meant. Such a hard feeling, the burden he had been carrying on his own from his childhood, was difficult to make disappear. It would take time, a lot of time, and Alexa decided that she wasn’t going to give up on him.

He didn’t deserve to be in this misery.

“We’ll take it slowly, then.”

“We?” he asked, almost breathlessly.

She gave him a soft smile. “I’m not going to leave you alone in this, Tristan. I believe in your innocence, Iknowyou’re innocent, and I’m going to fight until the last hold of guilt is lost on you. You carried this weight all your life, all on your own; from what you said, I’m assuming you haven’t toldanyoneabout it. I’m not going to leave you alone in this, not anymore.”

The smile that softened his face, small but heartfelt enough to light up his tormented eyes, did strange things to Alexa’s heart.

Then, she realized it. She was the only one he had shared this part of him with. An immense warmth washed over her heart and she found herself asking, “You haven’t told this to anyone but me, have you?”

“No,” he said simply.

“Why did you tell me something you’ve never told your dad or your other family members?” she whispered.

His smile broadened slightly, his voice tender as he spoke. “Because I knew you were the right person to share it with. Now I’m proven right.”

Alexa didn’t understand what that meant. Before she could mull over it, another question crossed her mind. “How were you at my dad’s funeral and I didn’t see you?”

Tristan’s smile turned apologetic. “Because I was invisible.”

Alexa gave him a disapproving look. “You are beginning to make me dislike that ability of yours. How could you have stayed invisible from me all these months? We should’ve met earlier!”

“You had a boyfriend then. I didn’t know you’d appreciate another boy’s company, or that your boyfriend would approve,” he admitted honestly. “I didn’t want to interfere in your relationship.”

“I’ll forgive you for that if you promise to never be invisible in my life again.”

“Unless I have a reason to, I won’t,” Tristan said with a grin. “You’ve brought me out of my shell, Alexa, and I don’t ever want to go back into it.”

Alexa smiled in spite of her obliviousness as to how she had pulled him out of his shell. “And what reason are you hinting at that you think you might need to be invisible in my life?”

“Depends. We never know what the future has in store for us.”

“Okay…?” Alexa drew out uncertainly. “So, yesterday at the bridge, you shifted to the midair and back. That’s how you saved me, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, and you weren’t trying to dive,” Tristan countered, meeting her eyes with a firm look.

Alexa burst out laughing. “Yes, I told you that already.”

“It’s not a laughing matter, Alexa.”

“Me trying to kill myself, no. But the two of us trying to deceive each other with our stubborn declarations,yes.” She glanced at him in between her laugh and nudged him in the ribs, causing him to crack a smile. “I owe you.”

Tristan’s smile dropped at her sudden words. “If you keep saying that, I might actually ask something from you.” It was hard to tell whether he was being serious or not. His facial expression betrayed nothing.

Alexa blinked, her curiosity peaking. “I’m curious. What would you ask?”

“Something you can bear, I swear.”

“And that might be…?”

“You know you’re actually tempting me now, right?”