Page 230 of Sorrow & Strangers

“You too.”

Max slowly releases me, and there’s a faint spark of green in his eyes before they darken. I don’t pull away as he leans in, my gaze flicking to his mouth. My lips part a little, and as I sway toward him, my phone buzzes against the counter. I clear my throat and step back. Max looks away, and as he passes me to go back to the living room, he brushes his hand over mine.

I grab my phone and look at the message.

Unknown

Friends over?

I bite my lower lip. I should have told Max about my celibacy. Why didn’t I tell him? Is my heart racing in my chest at the stranger’s message? Did I want to kiss Max? Or did I want some evidence that I didn’t belong to the stranger?

With every second we’re apart, I feel the panic sinking in. I miss him more and more with every breath. I crave him, but when I was with Max for that moment, the safety of distance was present again. The difference between how I feel about Max and how I feel about the stranger is so glaringly obvious.

Summer

Just Max to see Rafe.

It’s not a lie, but it still makes me feel uneasy.

Unknown

Hm.

His reply makes my heart stop for a moment. Is this just jealousy from me seeing Max for the first time since All Souls?

Summer

What?

Unknown

Nothing.

His reply is sharp, and I feel the lie in it. I push my phone into the waistband of my skirt and go back through with my new pitcher of margaritas.

I drop onto the couch next to Max, and he takes a deep drink of his beer. “So, how was All Souls?”

“It was really good,” I say, though it feels like a cruel understatement. “How was the Samhain party?”

“Oh!” Max says, more expressive than I’ve ever seen him. “I have gossip.”

I lift an eyebrow, and Alice finally looks up from her phone at the hint of some juicy gossip for her to weaponize.

“There was a huge brawl,” Max says. “The headmaster was furious and shut the whole thing down. The power coming from him was crazy. I heard he had to expel a bunch of incubi.”

“Holy shit, really?”

Max nods and pulls out his phone. He opens EverydayEmrys, which now has more updates than it has all year. There are multiple photos from different angles of the headmaster handling the situation at the party. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him look so angry. Or so delicious.

“Yikes,” Alice says, rubbernecking over Max’s shoulder to look.

“He was expelling and suspending people left and right,” Max says.

“Well, you made it out unscathed.”

Max snorts. “I wasn’t involved. Only heard about the fallout.” It doesn’t really surprise me. I’ve always suspected that Max is here on some kind of scholarship, and he’s smart enough not to risk that.

I pull my legs up and sit back, sipping my drink as I watch Max and Alice scroll through the photos and comments of the party. Max takes a swig of his beer and casually drapes his arm along the back of the sofa behind me. Rafe gets caught up in the game on TV, and Alice’s attention goes back to her phone.