Page 35

I looked down at the numbers again as the memory returned. Old boards, dull rental skates, and two teenage guys who knew how to fight better than they knew how to trust anyone. Cade had arrived in gear that cost more than everything I owned. I’d assumed he was another rich kid playing at hunger because he liked how winning felt.

Then he kept coming back.

“I didn’t know the address,” I said.

“You knew how to get there.”

“That was enough.”

“Apparently the internet needed more.”

My mouth moved despite the pressure gathering behind my ribs.

Cade nodded toward the tie bar. “You were there before Kimball Falls, the Fury, Bliss, and all this shit. It seemed like the right place to start.”

“It’s a good gift.”

“I know. I paid a ridiculous amount to have six numbers scratched into silver.”

“Sounds like you.”

“Fuck you.”

I closed the box and held out my hand. Cade caught it, pulled me into a quick half embrace, and struck my back once.

“Thanks for standing with me,” he said.

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

He released me before Briggs could start crying harder.

I slid the box into my pocket. “If any of you mention this outside the room, I’ll deny it.”

Briggs wiped beneath both eyes. “I’m telling Bliss everything.”

“She already knows,” Cade said.

“Then I’m adding details.”

The library door opened hard enough to strike the stop behind it.

Charm hurried through with Bliss’s wedding dress concealed inside a garment bag draped over one arm and a leather portfolio tucked beneath the other. She was speaking over her shoulder to Aura, who followed several steps behind with a castle employee carrying a padded dress form.

“Tell them I need the longer table moved beneath the windows,” Charm said. “The light is better there, and if anyone brings another arrangement into this room, I’m throwing the flowers into the hall.”

“You’ll make Bliss cry,” Aura warned.

“Bliss has cried eleven times since breakfast.”

“Twelve. She saw the cake.”

Charm turned forward too quickly and caught the toe of one heel against the edge of the rug.

Her body pitched, the garment bag sliding down her arm as Briggs moved automatically to catch it. Charm recovered before he reached her, tightening her grip on the portfolio and lifting the dress safely away from the floor.

“I’m fine,” she said, breathless as she looked back at Aura. “Nobody tells Bliss I almost murdered her dress.”

“I’m telling her immediately,” Aura replied.