Maldeamores (Lovesick) (Heightsbound #0.5) Read Online Free PDF

unruly boys and both handsome; I like how they look together. I think they’re probably up to no good.
    “How come I never heard anyone call you Lucky?” I ask my cousin. Jaylee has fallen to the ground and is doing more push-ups.
    “Just like you don’t like it when I call you Lenny,” he says and pulls out a cigarette.
    “I’m telling Titi you were smoking.”
    “No you won’t, ‘cause you love me,” Luciano says, hitting my arm.
    “I’m gonna go. It’s gonna get dark and I’m hungry,” I say, standing and dusting my butt with my hands.
    Lucky jumps up and tosses the cigarette.
    “I’ll walk you home,” he says and throws out his arm to Jaylee again. They do the same handshake but this time when they go in for the hug, Jaylee flexes his bicep and ducks his head. I can plainly hear him say to Luciano, “ Mano , you are so fucking gone.”
    Maybe they’re talking about drugs. Maybe they’re talking about me but I don’t know what it means or if it’s even a good thing.
    We walk back down Riverside Drive as the sun sets. It’s all pinks and oranges over the Hudson, bright colors competing against a darkening sky. Luciano grabs my hand and I hold his tightly. Sometimes he does this on the way to school when no one is looking. It produces a warm rush in my stomach when it happens, but when it doesn’t it produces just the opposite and I almost feel nauseous.
    We stop on almost every corner to say hi to friends. Tonight he doesn’t drop my hand and I feel like it might be because his friend, the boy from the playground, paid attention to me. I like how he talks to people, how they tease one another. I also like how even though they’re bad boys they are polite to me for the most part.
    When we say goodbye on his landing, Luciano pulls me into a hug. He doesn’t usually hug me unless there’s a good reason. I pull him in tightly and squeeze as hard as I can. He smells like Titi’s house and fabric softener and cigarette smoke, all with a strong undertone of boy smell. I thought I didn’t like boy smell, but with Luciano, I love it. I hug him hard and when we say goodbye I run up the stairs to my room, lock the door and cry.

    Now that Luciano lives in the same building, he comes over all the time. Both he and Titi have a key, and I have one to their apartment that I keep on my key chain.
    Our front door opens while I’m sitting at the dining room table doing homework. I look up, expecting to see Mami coming in with the groceries, but instead it’s Luciano and he doesn’t look good.
    His lip is swollen and bleeding—his eye took a punch too, and it’s almost closed from the pressure. He’s hurt and it startles me. I stand up and my pen rolls to the floor, but I stay silent, waiting for him to say something first.
    “I didn’t think you’d be home,” he says. His face is totally straight, lacking any emotion.
    “The library was closed for a special event. Was there a fight? Are you okay? You’re bleeding.”
    He nods and says nothing.
    “Let me get you some ice,” I say, running to the kitchen.
    I put ice in a bowl and run a clean towel under water, then grab some gauze and peroxide from the bathroom and take it all to the living room where he’s sitting.
    Kneeling down beside him, I put ice cubes in the wet towel and lift it to his face. I ask permission with my eyes and Luciano gives me a quick nod. He winces from either the cold or the pressure and I put my hand on his chest to calm him. It’s an automatic gesture.
    “Does it hurt?” I ask him.
    He shakes his head.
    His chest feels solid under his T-shirt and touching it does strange things to my body. I try to focus on the task in front of me.
    “Titi will kill you,” I say, pulling my mind away from his hard chest. “You should try to stay out of fights,” I add, resisting the urge to wrap my arms around him or crawl into his lap. Luciano is, and has always been, the only man in my life. I look to him for reassurance all the