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Anya’s voice lowers. “Have you heard anything about Olivia?”
I’d been against Gigi’s decision to tell Anya the truth about her identity. My assumption had been that it wouldn’t go well, but Anya surprised me. In fact, she took the news well enough that it makes me wonder if she suspected something the whole time.
My answer is short, but suffused with all the things we’re not going to say once Gigi is in the room. “No.”
I deliberately don’t say not yet, because that would imply that I think the situation will change. False hope isn’t what anyone needs right now. We won’t heal from any of this unless we move the fuck on.
The door catches before I close it all the way. I’m not even a little surprised when Cole strolls in, giving me a nod of acknowledgement as he passes me. Their relationship isn’t much of a secret at this point, but I pretend to be surprised to see him.
“Missed you at graduation,” he comments.
“We had better things to do, but I hope you had fun.”
He gives a laconic shrug. “Things have been too quiet. I’m mostly just glad to be done at this point.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
A good number of the students didn’t go back to St. Barts for the last few weeks of the semester. Enough people got medical extensions for burns or smoke inhalation that most classes moved fully online. I didn’t bother to ask Gigi if she wanted to go back because I already knew the answer. Felicia had surprised when she decided to stay on campus for the last few weeks of the semester. I’d only agreed to it because Anya swore up and down to keep an eye on her.
Gigi comes out of the bedroom looking better than I’ve seen her in days. The heat of the shower put some color in her face and she put on clothes from the closet instead of picking something up off the floor.
A hesitant smile touches her lips when her gaze lands on Anya. “Hey.”
Anya responds with an exaggerated scream and leaps across the room like Gigi is freshly returned from the front-lines of a war. I watch as the hesitation on Gigi’s face breaks, to be replaced with a relief that makes my heart break just a little. They haven’t seen each other in weeks. Gigi had definitely been thinking that Anya held some resentment toward her for all the secrets.
For her part, Anya acts like no time has passed at all. In her mind, maybe it hasn’t. “Did I tell you that Serena is with Nolan now?”
“Seriously?”
“I know, right? She’s going to eat him alive.”
Cole and I retreat across the room to let them talk. Gigi’s gaze drifts over me for a brief second, probably assuring herself I’m still there, before she continues her side of a conversation that gets more animated by the second.
We sit at the bar of a gourmet kitchen that hasn’t been used in weeks. Good thing every restaurant around here delivers.
“Nice place,” Cole comments as he looks around.
“Thanks. It used to belong to my father.”
“I figured.” He doesn’t offer me any condolences, which I appreciate. His voice lowers as he leans back against the wall, watching the girls to make sure they aren’t paying attention. “You heard anything about the search?”
“Not a fucking thing. I’ve been staying as far from the bullshit as I can.”
I’ve unofficially renounced my membership in Havoc House. Unofficial, because I didn’t fill out forms in triplicate or get anything notarized, or some shit. But I also haven’t responded to any of the alumni’s attempts to contact me. Every one of them could have died, and I wouldn’t have left my new apartment long enough for the funerals.
“The alumni network can do a lot for you,” Cole points out. “You really willing to let all those doors get closed?”
Unlike him, I have no desire to keep climbing a pyramid that is actively breaking into pieces under my feet. “I have a degree, my inheritance and the girl I love. What the fuck more do I need?”
“Fair enough. But what happens when you wake up one day and need something more than you have.”
I just stare at him, surer of this than I’ve ever been of anything in my life. “I won’t.”
Cole shrugs like it doesn’t matter to him either way. “Vaughn is still pretty torn up.”
“I thought he was doing better. He got out of the hospital last week.”
“Yeah, I don’t mean physically. We’re not what we used to be.”
