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“Well, this is pretty much the worst Christmas in the history of ever.” Selene looks at me with a bored expression, a glass of spiked eggnog in her hand. She decorated the house with a huge Christmas tree, lighted garlands, and some sort of candle that makes the whole place smell faintly like gingerbread.
“It isn’t Christmas,” I say.
“Well, it’s supposed to be our Christmas. You’re the one who had to be a pain in the ass and not come over on Christmas Day.”
I don’t give two shits about the holidays. I would have ignored the whole thing completely, but Selene insisted I come over.
I take a sip of the Scotch she bought me. It’s smooth, goes down easy. I closed down the gym for the week, which is great news. It means I can get drunk and stay that way for a while.
“What did you expect?” I ask. “Fucking Christmas carolers?”
Selene scowls. “Why are you in such a mood?”
“I’m not in a mood,” I say, although I’m not even trying to hide it from her anymore. I’m too fucking tired.
She gets up and takes her glass to the kitchen. “I don’t know why I’m drinking this. It isn’t even good. Can I have some of your Scotch?”
“Yeah, but bring it here and top me off.”
I hear the bottle clink. “Fuck, Brax, we just opened it. Did you drink this much already?”
“Stop trying to be my mother.”
She laughs. “Someone has to be.”
She brings the bottle over and pours another splash. She tips the mouth away and I hold the glass up, raising my eyebrows at her until she pours more.
“Okay,” she says, “I guess this is the kind of Christmas we’re having this year.” She takes the bottle back to the kitchen. “Have you talked to Kylie recently? What’s she doing this week?”
Just hearing her name is a knife to my gut. I try not to flinch, although Selene can’t see my face from where I’m sitting. “No, I haven’t talked to her.”
“Something is going on with her. I’m really worried.”
I sit up. “Worried? Why?”
“Well, for one, she’s hardcore avoiding me.” She sits down on the other side of the sectional. “I’ve hardly seen her. It’s so weird. I text her and she answers, but she cancels our plans every single time. I know she’s busy with her design stuff, but it seems like it’s more than that.”
“I have no idea.”
“When was the last time you guys hung out?” Selene asks.
I don’t want to think about the last time I saw her—her cold and angry face, the edge of hatred in her voice. “Fuck, Selene, I don’t know.”
“Don’t get all weird.” She pauses, taking a sip of her Scotch. When she speaks again, her voice is different. Soft. Worried. “I think the guy she was seeing messed her up. I think he did something awful to her.”
My chest clenches. “What?”
“I don’t know for sure—she hasn’t told me,” she says. “But that’s the thing. She won’t tell me anything. He wasn’t some guy she hooked up with a few times. It went on for months, as far as I can tell. But she kept the whole thing hidden, like there was something wrong. Think about it. There was something wrong. She was with someone she didn’t want us to know about. I bet she knew we wouldn’t approve of him. I think something really dark was going on, and she didn’t want us to know about it.”
I take a sip of my drink. I don’t know what to say.
“Whoever he was, he must have done something awful to her,” she says. “I think that’s why she’s avoiding me. She got hurt really bad, and she doesn’t want to tell me.”
Selene’s eyes glisten with a hint of tears. I can feel her concern, her emotions leaking into me.
“I hope she’s okay,” I say, my voice soft. “But I honestly don’t know.”
She taps her fingernails against her glass, looking at me through narrowed eyes. “What is up with you lately?”
