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“We didn’t see him?” I cock an eyebrow.
“I think we were… otherwise occupied.”
Ah. So Eli knows about us, then. I push my plate away. Suddenly, I’m not hungry. I scramble across the floor to find my clothes and pull my phone from my jacket. No messages from Eli or Noah. Nothing. Weird. Usually, Eli messages me several times a night with pictures of his cat.
“You okay? You look a little freaked out.” Gabriel leans across and swipes a syrup-drenched pancake from my plate. “You’re not having regrets?”
“That’s it exactly. I deeply regret not jumping your bones the first day at Stonehurst.” I hold up the phone. “I’m just thinking about Eli. Why would he come here when he said he needed to sleep?”
Gabriel snorts. “You may be a blonde, Mac, but playing dumb doesn’t suit you.”
“That’s fair.” I stare at the screen, my finger poised over the call button. With a growl, I toss the phone on the bed. Fuck Eli. And fuck his adorable kitty. He doesn’t get to make me feel guilty about the best night of my life.
Gabriel makes off with my second pancake. “So… you want to do something today? We could drive down the coast? I know this great private beach where we could skinny dip.”
“Tempting, but I think I need to go home.” Now my mind’s on Eli, I can’t stop thinking about him. I didn’t want him to find out like this, but that ship has sailed so now I need damage control because Eli Hart is smart enough to unravel my stolen life. Too much is at stake, and even though Antony’s assured me about Brutus, I can’t risk Eli doing something stupid that will destroy our whole plan. I need to talk to him.
It’s weird, because even though I know it’s pointless and I owe him nothing, I want to try to explain.
Gabe pays for a cab to take me back to Malloy Manor. Even though I’m desperate to crawl into bed, I hold Queen Boudica in my arms to steady my nerves and call Eli.
He doesn’t answer.
He ignores twenty-two other calls from me over the weekend, and an entire stream of nonsensical texts I frantically type out at 3AM Saturday night go unanswered. By Sunday lunchtime he’s either turned his phone off or it’s gone on strike, because it sends me straight to voicemail. I even call Noah, but he won’t answer, either.
I left my uniform at Gabriel’s from Friday night, so I take a cab there before school on Monday so I can change, and we can walk in together. The first thing I notice as we enter the central courtyard is that Alec’s car is gone from the fountain, and so is he. For the first time, I walk down the corridor and I don’t feel his snake eyes slithering over my body. I overhear two students talking about his father sending him to military school, and I burst into genuine laughter. Alec’s asshole will be ragged after a week as the army slut.
The second thing I notice is that Eli and Noah aren’t here, either. I ask Chad, and he says neither of them was at track practice in the morning. My stomach twists. I know why Eli isn’t at school, but Noah?
What’s up with that?
Mackenzie
Gabriel wants to hang out after cheerleading practice, but I tell him I have too much studying to do. It’s not a lie. What I want to do is find Eli and see if he’s okay, but I have an essay due for Ms. Drysdale’s class that I’ve put off to the absolute last minute and I need to pass this time.
So I walk home alone as the sun streaks pink flames across the sky, relishing the chance to be with my own thoughts for a while. I nod to Tiberius in his car on the corner, and check behind me for anyone watching before I duck into the woods to approach the maintenance shed. Queen Boudica meets me at the top of the stairs, her tiny body rumbling with pleasure at my return. It’s nice to be wanted.
I take Queen Boudica through to my bedroom and drop a handful of cat treats on the rug while I flick through my playlist. The latest Octavia’s Ruin album blasts through the speakers, filling my head and my heart with Gabriel’s bewitching voice.
I’m pulling off my Stonehurst uniform when I get this itching feeling crawling along my skin, like I’m being watched.
Eli’s here.
I guess we’re having that talk now.
I retreat into the bathroom, pull on a pair of designer jeans and a pink racer-back tank. I peer out my window, which is on the same side of the house as the ballroom, overlooking the pool. I can’t see him anywhere. Then I notice a light at the front gate.
Hmmmm.
I walk through the house to a dusty sitting room at the front I never use and peer out the window. Sure enough, someone’s out there with a flashlight.
Fuck. Why isn’t Tiberius all over this?
Fear twists in my gut as the figure shimmies up the gate like he’s a fucking chimpanzee after the best bananas in the jungle. Joke’s on him because I don’t have bananas, but I do have a brand new knife from Antony. I withdraw it from my pocket and slink into the shadows at the edge of the window, watching the intruder as he vaults over the wall and lands on top of an impressive cactus. He curses as he shakes his leg, which is now stuck with hundreds of spines.
I start as I recognize him.
Not Eli.
