I zoned out, sketching first the fountain and then Kelsey.
I’d never been trained in art. I mean, I’d taken a class or two in high school, but I hadn’t exactly paid attention. I’d been preoccupied with other things then and drawing still lifes of fruit hadn’t been all that appealing.
I was observant, though, and I taught myself. I’d had a lot of time for trial and error, too. I’d seen plenty of action in Afghanistan, but there’d also been a lot of sitting around waiting, doing nothing.
When I got to Kelsey’s face, I contemplated everything I knew about her: that familiar empty sadness that shone through on occasion, her admission from last night that she was tired, “bone-deep” as she’d put it. When I drew her with that in mind, overlaid with a smile, the drawing came to life.
She was frailer in the drawing than she appeared at first glance, but it worked. Her hair and dress blew in the wind, and she clutched that cup of coffee like a lifeline.
I was probably reading too much into this, projecting my memories of myself onto her, but Kelsey was more than just tired. She was sad. And I was desperate to know why.
When I looked back at her to put some finishing touches on her dress, she was gone. My eyes darted around and found her closer to the fountain, amidst a group of preteen boys.
A bigger boy was holding a book over the water, taunting a younger kid, and I watched Kelsey play him. She pretended to need directions, and then when she had the opportunity, she took the book.
She gave it to a scrawny boy in the group who looked at her like she was descended from heaven. She kissed his cheek, and the kid’s face split open in a smile. Whatever she’d done, she’d just made that kid’s world.
I was a little jealous.
And my fascination with her was raging like a wildfire.
Her good deed done, she headed for the crosswalk at the corner of the street. I went to the opposite corner and crossed to the other side of the street, thinking I might have better luck following her undetected from there.
I couldn’t help but notice that her shoulders were a little straighter and the smile on her face didn’t disappear once she’d left that boy behind. I found myself smiling in response.
I was right about her being even more brilliant when the darkness wasn’t hanging over her. It was like the sun had appeared from behind the clouds, and I couldn’t have looked away if I tried.
11
MAYBE MY MIND had always been made up, but when I followed Kelsey to some kind of rave at one of Budapest’s famed thermal baths the following night, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away from her.
She wore this intricate black swimsuit that wrapped around her body, accentuating the slim circle of her waist before it tied onto her bikini bottoms at the hip.
She was stunning.
There was a lot to look at. Plenty of beautiful, barely covered women. Roman-style columns. Colored lights. Live music. Sideshow acts like fire breathers and a trapeze artist.
Still, I only watched her.
She was there with some girl she’d met in the hostel. They’d gone out to a bar crawl together the night before, and I kept my distance. Kelsey had seemed reserved. When she went home alone, an ugly knot of tension in my chest had unwound. And if her going home alone made me relieved, the thought of her with someone else burned my blood.
So when I saw her talking to a guy in the thermal baths, I didn’t hesitate. I started making my way toward her. Her hand was on his shoulder, and even that drove me crazy.
She saw me, and then practically fell all over herself to put her back to me in the hopes that I wouldn’t see her.
She wasn’t going to get away from me that easily.
The girl from the hostel pulled her aside and then stared openly at me.
Did that mean she knew who I was? Did Kelsey say something about me?
The closer I got, the faster my blood pumped. Maybe it was her or maybe it was my secret, but the adrenaline rush was the most powerful one I’d had since I’d been discharged.
When I stood behind Kelsey, her friend was practically gleaming with excitement. I leaned down to her ear. A wisp of her hair tickled at my neck, and I said, “Nice to see you again, Kelsey.”
She turned around, and I relished seeing her off-balance. More than that, though, her closeness was electrifying.
“How are your cheeks this evening?”
She cleared her throat. “Uh . . . good.”
She just stared at me, like she couldn’t quite believe I was there. I held back a smile. Reaching an arm out to introduce myself to her friend, I made sure to lean in close to Kelsey. Our skin brushed, and she sucked in a breath.
Chuckling, I shook her friend’s hand.
“Hello, I’m Hunt. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Jenny. Likewise. ” She was pretty. She had a similar build to Kelsey’s, but with dark hair and eyes. She could have passed for a local.
“Is that short for Hunter?” Kelsey asked.
I let go of Jenny’s hand and looked down at Kelsey. I still wasn’t quite used to having those brilliant green eyes directed at me. “It’s not.”
She watched my lips long after they stopped moving, and I nearly forgot all about why I wasn’t supposed to kiss her. She made me forget a lot of things.
“So your parents just named you Hunt?”
“Not exactly.”
“God . . . Vague much?”
She was frustrated. Good. That meant I wasn’t alone.
“There you go calling me God again.”
She shot me an exasperated look, and who knew that would turn me on?
Then her guy-of-the night moved right next to her, and that cooled my reaction. What if she was more interested in him? Not that she needed to be interested in me when I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to act on it.
If this was going to work, we needed to be friends. Maybe she would travel with a friend. I only had the rest of our stay in Budapest, though, to convince her, because I couldn’t accidentally run into her in whatever city she visited next, not without arousing her suspicion.
I glanced at the guy at her elbow and then the rest of the group she was with. “I didn’t realize you were here with others.”
Lie.
“You scared of a little competition?”
I laughed in lieu of an answer and was glad when she didn’t even glance at the guy trying unsuccessfully to get her attention.
“What about your other friends?” I asked. “The ones from the other night?”
She shrugged. “We weren’t really friends. But this is Jenny.” She pulled the other girl closer. Was that nervousness that I detected? That was new.