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Without saying a word, I slide off the barstool and move toward the entry hall.
The first thing I see is Mum’s back. As usual, she’s wearing a dress that looks like it’s been painted onto her body. Her hair is immaculate, and I can only imagine that her face matches. She’s always the image of perfection. A cover-up for the broken, ugly woman hiding beneath the surface.
A suited man stands on the other side of her, and while I can’t see his face, I more than recognise his voice. Although, I can’t actually make out the words he’s murmuring to her.
“Where’s Iris?” I ask, making my presence known as I march deeper into the room as the two of them quickly put a little more space between them.
“Oh, Nico,” Mum breathes fakely, smoothing a steady hand down the front of her dress. “It’s so good to see you. I didn’t know you were here.”
“No, you do seem to be somewhat distracted,” I say, my gaze holding Christos, Jerome’s father.
“I’m just helping Christos organise something for Iris’s birthday in a few weeks,” Mum tries to explain.
“Sure you were,” I mutter, looking between the two of them.
To be fair to him, Christos has the decency to look a little embarrassed. Mum, on the other hand, is as cold and closed off as I’ve become used to.
“Right well, I only stopped by to see Jocelyn. But I’d be careful if I were you,” I say, keeping my gaze trained on Christos. “The grass isn’t always greener.”
Spinning on my heels, I march back toward the kitchen.
Surprisingly, Jocelyn isn’t watching from the shadows.
“Is he here often?” I hiss, blowing through the room like a storm.
“No,” she says honestly. “He and Iris are only ever here as a couple.”
“Well, something is going on there.”
Her lips part to say something, but I quickly cut her off.
“Thank you for these,” I say, grabbing the container of white chocolate and raspberry cookies she’s baked—Brianna’s favourite, apparently—and taking off toward the door. “I’ll see you soon. The job offer stands, as always.”
Without waiting for a response, I march around the house and to my car.
Christos’s car is parked next to mine, making me question my confidence of something going on between them.
There’s no way he’d have missed my car. Surely, he wouldn’t have come inside if there was something untoward going on.
Shaking my head, I fall into my driver’s seat and put my car into reverse.
The sun has almost set, the heat of the day finally ebbing away. Not that Bri and I experienced much of it, seeing as we’ve spent almost all our waking hours today rolling around in my bed.
With my head spinning with thoughts of Brianna along with Mum and Christos, I aimlessly drive around town.
I should go home. It’s late and I have revision to do ready for tomorrow, but the thought of going home and walking into my flat without her doesn’t sit right with me.
It hardly surprises me when I eventually end up driving down her street. My eyes scan the building as I approach, searching out her windows.
I pull into a space on the side of the road and keep watching, waiting for some kind of sign that she’s awake. That she’s okay.
I haven’t heard from her, but equally, I haven’t messaged her either.
The song playing quietly through my speakers changes more than a few times as I sit here, waiting for a shadow to fill the window, but it never does.
“Come on, babe. Just show me you’re there and that you’re safe.”
Her phone GPS says she is, and I have no reason to believe anything else. But still, something has me killing my engine and pushing my door open.
With the keys she gave me earlier in my clutches, I unlock the main front door and jog up the stairs.
I shouldn’t do it, I know that. She gave me this key for emergencies, and this is hardly one of those. But my need for her knows no bounds, and I stop overthinking my decision as I push the key into her lock and swing the door open.
Everything is tidy, her sweet scent filling the air. But it’s cold in a way I can’t explain. I walk deeper into the flat, searching for her. But before I find her, a note on the kitchen counter catches my eye.
Her phone is pinning it to the dark wood, and when I look down at it, my world falls out from beneath me.
Nico,
I’m sorry.
