BooksBarbecue
Back When Villains Rise Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
  50. More Books from HMH Teen
  51. About the Author
  52. Connect with HMH on Social Media

After a moment, she was forced to confess, “I’m not . . . I’m not sure about what I feel either.”

He tilted his head, a question.

Nita flicked her eyes to his and then away. “I just . . . I have feelings, and sometimes I feel like they need an outlet, a physical form of telling you how big they are. I don’t even know if they’re actually romantic. I don’t even know what romantic feels like. All I know about relationships is what I’ve seen on television. And on TV, everything ends in a kiss.” She considered. “Or a cut to a softcore porn scene.”

He laughed at that. “Ouch. Too true.”

She looked down, suddenly feeling empty and a little dark. “I’m not really sure what people mean when they talk about love sometimes. I loved my father, but obviously not, you know, that way. And I guess I’ve just never understood how romance was different from a friendship? I mean, aside from the kissing?” She looked away. “I don’t . . . I don’t know what any of these things are supposed to be like. I don’t understand what I’m feeling,” she admitted, and then she bit her lip and whispered, “But I don’t think I’m experiencing it right.”

He frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t think my feelings match what people say they’re supposed to be.” Nita couldn’t explain it more than that. There was a disconnect between what she thought her feelings were supposed to be—big, all-consuming, rose-tinted glasses, giddy with love—and what she actually felt. Something strong and warm and fierce, but not really . . . that. She didn’t feel lust, she didn’t want to rip his clothes off. She didn’t feel like he was perfect, his flaws were all still striking and real. But she did feel warm when she was with him, content and relaxed.

He hesitated, then leaned forward and put his hand on hers. “We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

She choke-laughed. “Yeah, we are.”

They stayed like that, hands just touching, a unanimous decision to link themselves together, even though neither of them understood what kind of link it was.

Seventeen

AFTER A TIME, the shower stopped, and Fabricio came out. He had changed back into his clothes, but his hair was sopping wet and dripped all over the floor where he stepped. He froze in his tracks when he saw them sitting silently at the table. “Uh, am I interrupting something?”

Kovit lifted his head, irritation crossing his features. “Your jokes are getting old.”

Fabricio held his hands out, palms up, for peace. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”