Page 126 of Fang Fiction

Hamish [1:26 PM]: Is there gonna be brisket???

Sylvie [1:27 PM]: No, we do lamb for passover.

Hamish [1:27 PM]: Ugh, fine. I’ll still come.

Tess [1:27 PM]: Hi!! Thursday is great! I’m not sure if Joni and Octavia will be in town, but Callum and I are in!

Nantale [1:37 PM]: Thank you for the invitation. I would be pleased to join you, and I will bring the blood of a virgin for all to enjoy.

Hamish [1:38 PM]: Okay see NOW it’s a party

Tumblr post from user FeuderTruther, posted May 14

This is gonna sound crazy, but I think Callum Yoo is living in Greenwich Village?! I feel like I see him everywhere (but never during the day??). I mean maybe it’s just some random hot Korean guy, but I swear, he looks EXACTLY like the old photos we used to post of Callum and Octavia. (And bad news, he also has a super cute girlfriend, this auburn-haired chick, they’re like obsessed with each other, UGGHHH!!!) But anyway, is he off the Isle?! Does this have to do with Lirio’s new book?!? Wtf is happening!!!!!!

It was a quiet Tuesday night in Greenwich Village. Tess had just finished grading her last papers of the school year a few hours before, and the entire summer was spread before her like a fabulous invitation. Joni and Octavia were off in Paris for a little shopping holiday, but they’d be back in a few days. The two weren’t officially together, but they certainly seemed to be enjoying their cycle of bickering, sex, and lavish vacations. Callum wanted to do something extravagant to celebrate Tess finishing her semester, but she was too tired for a Michelin-starred tasting menu or an impromptu night at the opera, so they settled on drinks at a wine bar close to Callum’s new townhouse. (Well, his very old townhouse, which was dark and creaky and reminded Tess a great deal of his rooms on the Isle.) The bar always had an assortment of bottles open, and Tess loved that they would give you lots of tastes before you chose a glass. She and Callum were sitting at the bar, tipsy on glasses of fizzy rosés and funky chilled reds.

“Come on,” he needled her. “Just one?”

“We did one last night,” Tess protested coyly.

“But it’s so fun when we do it together.” He grinned, then leaned in close to murmur in her ear. “And afterward, I have a really good surprise for you at home.”

“Oh, yeah?” She laughed. “What kind of surprise?”

“You’ll find out when I give it to you, won’t you?” Callum winked. “So what do you say—just one?”

“Fine.” Tess sighed happily. “A quick one.”

A few minutes later, they were strolling through the meatpacking district, eyeing the club-goers and bridge-and-tunnel oglers and finance bros who dropped a grand on bottle service in the middle of the week.

“No, no. Not him, no.” Callum was getting antsy—Tess threaded her fingers through his. “Ah. There.”

Callum nodded toward a man in a dark suit lurking outside a club entrance. He was handsome and pale, with sharply angled features and a hungry look about him—and talking to a girl in her early twenties who was drunk enough that she teetered on her platform heels.

“Ohh.” Tess nodded. “Absolutely.”

“Go get him, love,” Callum whispered, giving Tess’s ass a friendly squeeze as she set off toward the man.

“Ohmigod, girl, what are you doing out here?” Tess put on her own drunken affect as she approached the girl. “Everyone’s looking for you!”

“What?” The girl look confused. “Who are you?”

“I’m Zoe’s friend,” Tess said, as if that explained everything.

“Excuse me,” the man broke in. “We’re in the middle of a conversation.”

But Tess just ignored him—kept her focus on the girl. “Just go inside, okay? Everyone’s really worried.”

“Cool.” The girl nodded and did as Tess said, ambling back toward the club’s entrance.

“What was that about?” The man gave Tess a frustrated scowl. “We were just talking.”

“Now you can talk to me.” Tess smiled viciously, dropping her drunken act.

“And me,” Callum said as he appeared beside her.

The man turned and snarled at Callum, baring his fangs—but his expression changed completely when he recognized Callum’s face.