Page 29 of What’s Left of Us

When can I pick it up?

Atlas’s text comes through, labeled under the name I gave him so many years ago: The Traitor.

Whenever you want. I’d give you my address, but somehow you already have it.

“I don’t know.” Hayden lays on our couch, all the throw pillows scattered across our rug. She’s got a tennis ball—from where, I have no idea—and she’s throwing it up at the ceiling, deftly catching it when it comes back down. “This feels like a bad idea. What if you go over there and he seduces you?”

I roll my eyes. I’m sitting on the counter, eating a bag of dill pickle chips and reading Atlas’s text for the sixth time.

“I’m serious,” she says. “It’s been a few years since you guys were close. Maybe you’ve forgotten the power of those green eyes. You might end up naked before you’ve made it through his door.”

“I’ve already talked to him like three times, and I’ve yet to take my clothes off.” I lay my phone on the counter and tip the bag of chips up, pouring the crumbs into my mouth. Chewing, I continue. “You’ll just have to trust me. There is zero lingering attraction for that man.”

Hayden makes a small, disbelieving sound.

“Look, I know I haven’t told you what all went down between me and Atlas, but it was bad.”

“Actually, you’ve told me almost nothing about what happened. All I know is that you guys were best friends, started hooking up in middle school, and then he pissed you off so bad you immediately went no-contact.”

“We weren’t⁠—”

“Did he cheat on you?”

“I already told you he didn’t.”

“Did he show his friends your nudes?”

“What? No.”

“Did he break up with you for no reason and then sleep with the mean girl who once told you your breath smells?” When I only glare in response, Hayden spreads her arms. “Well, I don’t know, Vi! You’ve given me nothing to work with, and I’m struggling to see what could’ve been so bad. You could just, I don’t know, tell me?”

“It’s not…it was about Nat, okay? It’s part of why she disappeared.”

“Oh my god. Did he sleep with your sister?”

I wad up the empty chip bag and attempt to throw it at Hayden. The wrapper is far too light though, so it falls pathetically at my feet.

“I was just asking!” Hayden giggles.

“I’m not worried he’s going to try to seduce me, and I’m even less worried it would work if he did. I’m only worried that he’s going to hold this over me. That he’ll dangle whatever-it-is that he has over my head but never actually give it to me.”

“You think he’d do that?” she asks, and despite barely knowing him, she sounds skeptical.

“Only one way to find out.” I hop off the counter and tuck my phone into my pocket. “Are you up for an adventure?”

Chapter 12

now

“Damn. You didn’t mention he was rich.” Hayden cranes her neck to look up at Atlas’s apartment. It’s on the nicer side of Aberlena, far from the crappy place she and I share. Rather than peeling yellow siding and dying grass, Atlas’s building looks new. Shiny. The yard is not only green, but neatly trimmed with purple and yellow flowers beneath each of its trees.

I shift the car into park, but remain seated. Breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. I wonder what he has of Nat’s. Is it something I’d even care to have?

Of course.

“Relax. I’m joking.” Hayden removes her seatbelt and opens the door, only to stop. My hands remain on the wheel, all color gone from my knuckles.

I’d done something similar when I came here the first time, but it feels much more embarrassing with an audience. From my peripheral, I can see Hayden’s concerned face. Her mouth is doing that thing where it’s trying but failing to form a word.