Hey.
I very nearly drop my phone down a storm drain as I see her name flash across my screen. I hadn’t been expecting to hear from her just yet. Before I can reply, another message comes in.
Imani
Meet me here in 10 mins?
A third message pops up; this one is a pin with a location about five minutes around the corner.
I don’t hesitate.
Asher
I’ll be there.
‘We’re heading to an afterparty in Soho,’ Teddy says, as he waves down his driver, snapping my attention back to reality. ‘You in?’
Even if Imani hadn’t just messaged me, my answer would be the same. ‘I’ll pass.’
Teddy gives me a dramatic faux pout. ‘And here I was thinking you’d actually become fun for once. You sure you don’t want to join us?’ He’s got an arm draped around Penelope’s shoulders, and I have no doubt at all that the two of them will spend precisely five minutes at this afterparty before deciding it’s time to head back to Teddy’s place for more private activities.
‘No thanks. You guys have fun, though.’
Teddy looks like he wants to argue, but then his car pulls up and it’s like he suddenly remembers he has a pretty girl on his arm and having his younger brother follow him around all evening would be a bit of a mood killer. Especially when said pretty girl very clearly wants to gossip about me to Teddy but is thankfully polite enough to hold off while I’m still in the vicinity. Hasn’t stopped her from staring though.
He shrugs, opens the car door and gestures for Penelopeto get in. She gives me one last curious, lingering look over her shoulder then disappears into the car.
Teddy doesn’t follow her immediately; instead he pulls me in for a quick, one-armed hug. ‘Forget about this Imani business for tonight, okay? We’ll figure it out and work out a way to spin it with Dad tomorrow.’
‘I’m fine,’ I say firmly. ‘Everything is fine. Honestly, I’m good.’
Teddy doesn’t look like he believes me, but then Penelope sticks her head back out the window and whines, ‘Are we going soon?’
Teddy gives me another shrug, though this one is coupled with a devilish grin and I immediately know any remnant of concern about me has faded from his mind. ‘You sure?’
‘I’m sure.’ I shove him towards the car. ‘Go. Have fun. I’ll call a car for myself.’
He doesn’t need telling a third time. I watch as Teddy climbs in and mutters for his driver to head off. I don’t move until their car has turned the corner and disappeared from view. Once it has, I take off in the opposite direction, glancing at my phone every now and then to make sure I’m heading in the right direction to the location in the pin Imani sent.
The pin leads me to a dark, dimly lit side street. At the end of the street, I see an idling sleek, black car, but there’s no immediate sign of Imani. I frown and glance at my phone.
No new messages and it’s been about fifteen minutes since her last one. Surely she hasn’t left?
Asher
I’m here.
I’m expecting my phone to light up with a message, but instead I hear a loud honk from the car at the end of the street. I squint into the darkness and can just about make out a head poking out of the backseat window and then—
‘Asher!’ Imani whisper-shouts. ‘Over here! Hurry, before someone sees you!’
There’s no reason for anyone in our social circle to be hanging around a dark side street at this hour, but I do as she says and half jog down the street over to the waiting car. As soon as I’m close enough, the door slides open, and for the second time this month, a hand roughly yanks me inside a car.
‘Took you long enough,’ Imani says, shuffling a little to the side so I can right myself and close the door behind me. ‘We were starting to worry you weren’t going to show up.’
‘We?’
‘Hey.’
