Ivy smirked. “Kyle might be sleeping with the fishes. Or he would be, if I didn’t have to run off before I got caught.”
“Ivy, that’s so dangerous.”
“Nobody saw me. He’s gonna be breathing through a tube for a while, though.”
“I take it you heard what happened, huh?” I asked.
“Yeah. Thanks for fixing Opal’s blanket. It means everything to her,” Ivy said, putting an arm around me. Ivy’s skin was cool and smooth.
I huddled closer to him. “Opal’s life was so sad.”
“Everyone here has a sad story, precious. Some are just sadder than others,” Ivy said.
“You were going to help Opal hide a body.”
“Nothing I haven’t done before.”
“Ancestors, Ivy!”
“My dad was in the Italian mob. Half of them are vampires anyway, but you’d never know it. I told you my life wasn’t all roses.”
“Were you in the mob, too?”
“Not really. I helped them out with a few jobs, but who I was prevented them from accepting me.”
“Because you’re nonbinary.”
“Yeah. They were looking for tough guys, and that wasn’t me. I was too feminine for them to want to keep me around for long. I bounced back and forth between Chicago and Hawaii a lot. Mom didn’t want me, and my dad didn’t bother to know if I was dead or alive most days.” Ivy wiped the rest of my tears away. “I’m guessing your folks don’t know about what happened to you, either. Mine never found out. Or cared to ask.”
I hadn’t told him, but Ivy knew anyway. We just had that kind of connection. I looked up and asked, “You too, huh?”
Ivy gave a frown. “I got myself into a couple of bad places I couldn’t escape once I was in 'em.”
“Oh, no. That’s terrible.”
“My clients weren’t the best people. I went home with a few guys I had no business being around but… I gotta eat, you know?”
I gave a heavy sigh and leaned against Ivy’s chest. “Life sucks, Ivy.”
“Only if you’re a vampire.”
I cracked a smile at his lame joke. “How many people do you think are at the Institute who don’t deserve to be here?”
“Honestly? Most,” Ivy said. “I was paying attention in Juvenile Justice— weird, right, because I never do— and Professor Jobe was saying that most prisoners end up behind bars because they didn’t have enough resources or support back home. We had this group discussion, and almost everyone in class said if they had a stable home, or a better education, or good parents, they wouldn’t have ended up here. I mean, some people belong in here— people like Mad Dog, and Naya. They come out of the womb bad. But most of us… maybe if things were different, we would’ve had a chance.”
“I had the best upbringing I could’ve had, and I still turned out wrong,” I said glumly, thinking of my parents.
“Maybe you’re one of the bad ones,” Ivy teased with a coy wink.
I scoffed. “Probably.”
“I think a lot of us got dealt a bad hand. Then once we got started down the wrong path, we just… couldn’t figure out how to get off.”
I rubbed my eyes. I couldn’t figure out how to fix my life anymore. “I don’t know what to do, Ivy. I keep making the same mistakes.”
“Happens to all of us,” he insisted.
“Not like this. I’m just too emotional. I don’t know if there’s anything good left inside of me,” I confessed. “I’m too much for Charlie to handle. That’s why he keeps avoiding me. I destroy everything I touch, and I chase away everyone who gets too close. This proves it. I’m… I’m unloveable.”
