Maldeamores (Lovesick) (Heightsbound #0.5) by Mara White Read Free Book Online Page B

look at the moon.”
    “Alone?” I ask, thinking he’s up there with a girl.
    “Yeah, fucking alone, now get your ass out here.”
    The door is like a hatch and you have to climb up a steel ladder. Our building has no roof access, so Lucky must have messed with the alarm. I push back the hatch and stick my head out the hole. He’s sitting on his butt near the hatch, staring up at the stars.
    He’s got a hollowed-out cigar beside him and a pile of tobacco. There’s a baggie full of weed and I really don’t want to get in trouble. But the desire to be near Lucky is stronger than my good judgment. There is no barrier on our roof and you could just roll over and tumble into darkness, split your head on the pavement. Become tomorrow’s hot news story.
    I push with my arms but I can’t seem to make the distance between the last rung and the opening. I grunt a little trying and Lucky stands up, wobbles over and puts both of his hands under my armpits. With me pushing and him pulling I make it through the open hatch. It’s almost quiet up here in the dark, so far away from the street. The night sky is open and clear and perfect for stargazing, that is, if you could actually see stars in Manhattan.
    “Want to smoke?” Lucky says, lifting a half-burnt blunt.
    I shake my head and he puts it back down and shrugs.
    “Why are you up here alone?”
    “Just needed some space,” Lucky says, his words sounding wistful.
    I understand completely because his mother is just like my mother and they can get out of hand when they get all up in your business. Lucky crosses his ankles and leans back on his palms, fingers splayed against the tar. He looks up at the sky and sighs and I look up with him.
    “This is nice. I feel like we haven’t hung out in years,” I say but then feel dumb because my words sound too honest.
    Lucky nods, then he looks at me and I look down at my hands.
    “I tried, you know, staying away from you after what happened.”
    I nod. I knew it was coming, but I still wince at the pain of his words. He’s been avoiding me for almost a year because I kissed him. He must think I’m disgusting.
    “Sorry,” I whisper, tears sliding past the tipping point and over the rim. I wipe them away with my hands and wonder if I should leave.
    “Don’t be sorry, Belén. I shouldn’t have kissed you,” he says, pulling my hair away from my face. I look down and nod. I never should have come up here.
    “You’re beautiful and smart and good in every way. You’re perfect, Belén, and I shouldn’t—I was taking advantage of you.”
    “I’m not that innocent,” I say and look into his eyes. “And I wanted to kiss you.”
    “I don’t want to be the bad guy,” he says, and I don’t really know what he means. “You are the best part of my life and I want it to stay that way.”
    “You’ve never been the bad guy, Luciano. Ever. And for the record, I still want to kiss you.”
    Holy shit! I said it. It may have taken me ages but it bubbled its way to the surface.
    Lucky looks at me and the look is enough to stop the earth’s rotation.
    “I would do so many things to you if I could,” he says, leaning in and murmuring it straight into my ear. His lips brush against my earlobe and set off little points of shivering all over my body. They run up my shoulders and skim across the back of my neck. It feels like magic. Lucky has always been made out of magic for me. But right now he’s enchanted and so is this night. The shivers turn into points of heat and I can hear my own pulse beat drumming loud in my ears.
    “I want you to,” I say, surprised at myself for being so bold.
    I always say I want to save myself for marriage, that I don’t want to kiss a bunch of guys who all think they got one over on me. I don’t want to be the girl that’s talked about at school. I don’t want to end up pregnant and single-parenting like Mami and Titi. But what I do want more than anything is for Luciano to take me and use me