Chapter 2

Hearing something so horrifying laid out as the rules of a game, I couldn't help pleading with my eyes for Darrell to refuse.

But he looked away from me and agreed.

Then Melissa's face changed. She clapped a hand over her mouth and bolted for the bathroom, and Darrell followed without a second thought.

What happened that night is still sharp in my memory. If Lucius Harding hadn't happened to walk by afterward, I don't dare imagine what would have become of me.

Right then, Lucius's reply came through.

"That fast? I saw your posts. Aren't you getting married tomorrow?"

I didn't answer that. I only said it again.

"Have a helicopter ready to pick me up at this address. I can feel my heart breaking apart. You only have twelve hours left."

Once it was sent, I used the voice control to close out of the chat with Lucius.

I saw the messages Darrell had sent.

"How are you? Calmed down yet?"

"I'm almost home. I brought you a late-night snack. I'll restart your heart when I get back and we can eat together."

I didn't reply to him. The pain of the mechanical heart cracking apart stabbed through every organ inside me.

And yet my body was too numb to ease any of it. I could only endure it, raw and whole.

Until Darrell and Melissa pushed the door open, laughing and chatting.

Melissa was already used to the sight of me with the pause button pressed. She didn't bother studying me with curiosity anymore.

She just walked over to me, eyes crinkled with a smile, and pressed the restart button on my heart.

My heart began to beat again. I dragged in mouthful after mouthful of air, forcing feeling back into my limbs.

Once my body came around, I also realized there was a much bigger problem.

I pointed at Darrell in disbelief, my voice shaking as I asked,

"You told Melissa where the button for my mechanical heart is?"

Darrell was crushing lemon slices, and he answered me carelessly.

"Yeah. She was curious, so I told her. It's not a big deal."

It's not a big deal. Those words circled in my head like a curse, repeating in my mouth.

Without my noticing, tears streamed down my face.

Back when this mechanical heart was installed, the doctor told me plainly that the location of the button was a matter of life and death.

So besides my parents, the only person I told was Darrell.

The boy next door who had promised to protect me for the rest of my life.

He had said he would always protect me, that he would always keep the location of that button a secret.

But now he said it wasn't a big deal.

While I was drowning in it, Darrell came over carrying the iced lemon water he'd made.

He handed it to Melissa, who had been on her phone the whole time.

"Still haven't picked? If you ask me, the honeymoon spot we chose before was fine. It's got bungee jumping, surfing, all the extreme stuff you love best."

"You're the one who suddenly had to change it. Who knows what you were thinking."

I thought Darrell was talking to me.

I raised a hand to wipe my tears, clearing my blurred sight.

Then I cut in, confused,

"What honeymoon spot? I haven't been able to do anything thrilling since I was ten.

I don't like extreme sports. Darrell, I don't understand what you're talking about."

At that, Melissa burst out laughing and tipped herself neatly into the crook of Darrell's arm.

"Darrell, you still haven't told Davi?"

Something in my chest seized up, and I kept asking,

"Told me what?"

Darrell gave a helpless little smile and carefully took the softest wool cushion in the house to prop behind Melissa's back.

Only then did he turn and explain, lightly,

"After the wedding tomorrow, Melissa's coming on our honeymoon with us."

"She hardly ever gets time off, so I let her pick where she wanted to go."

"She likes extreme sports."

A ridiculous laugh escaped me. I shot to my feet and stared at the two of them.

"Darrell, so you do still know that tomorrow is our wedding, our honeymoon."

"Why didn't you talk it over with me instead of letting Melissa, an outsider, decide?"

Melissa watched me get worked up, a flicker of irritation in her eyes, but she still stood to soothe me.

"Davi, don't get so upset. Your heart can't handle this kind of stress, can it?"

"Darrell told me he's been protecting you since you were ten. Whatever you can't do, he won't do either."

"He's held back for so long, and it's been so hard on him. I just wanted to help him blow off some steam, so I—"