Page 90

The bed frame creaks behind the door.

I smile and take another bite.

“She’ll make a mistake eventually,” he says.

“Maybe.”

“My sister already came looking.”

“Heather handled her.”

“Heather failed to answer the door. That won’t stop Juney.”

Heather spent hours in my apartment. Nobody came.

“Someone will be looking for you too,” Oliver says.

“Probably.”

“Who?”

“People.”

I wait for him to ask me to name them. I already have something cruel ready if he does. He doesn’t. I finish the cookie and wipe my fingers on my clothes before remembering Heather will be back soon. I inspect the fabric for crumbs.

Oliver speaks while I’m brushing them away. “Elliot.”

My hand stops. “Don’t call me that.”

“Heather isn’t here.”

I look down the empty hallway. “I know.”

The handle on Oliver’s door moves once. Locked.

“She renamed you.”

“She renamed you too.”

“I haven’t accepted it.”

I laugh. “You answered to Oliver this morning.”

“I answer when refusing would accomplish nothing.”

“Sounds like accepting it with extra words.” I pick up my soda and get to my feet. My legs have started going numb from the floor. “You want me to search for keys, Nathaniel?”

“Don’t call me that as though you’re doing me a favor.”

“I wasn’t.”

“No,” he says. “I don’t suppose you were.”

I stand there with my hand around the cold can, looking at the door Heather locked between us. Then I walk downstairs, clean my plate, and sit on the couch, waiting for Heather.

Fuck Nathaniel. Fuck Nate. Fuck Oliver most of all.

CHAPTER 24