Page 95 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“Wyatt,” she said. “Now!”
He didn’t hesitate. “Everyone grab on to me!” he cried, and Dani stepped backward, her free hand circling his wrist, while Katya and Oliver, catching on quickly, seized him by either arm.
Dani savored the wild, ramshackle horror in Silva’s eyes in the instant before the world telescoped around them and Wyatt’s portal sucked the group into its vortex, taking them away from the gala, away from this nightmare, and away from the woman they never should have trusted.
Thirty-Four
Dani wifted down the hallway, trailing rainwater behind her on the tile. She raised the bouquet of winter flowers she was holding to her face and sniffed. The florist had helped her pick them out, purple hellebore sprinkled with snapdragons and witch hazel. “Do you think they’ll like them?”
“Ofcoursethey’ll like them,” Kass said. He was beside her, his attractiveness somehow undimmed by the university clinic’s unflattering lighting. “Oliver will like anything you bring, because it’s from you.”
He took her free hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a kiss against her knuckles. A shower of sparkles sang through her body at the touch, accompanied by a chorus of disbelief. It had only been six days since the gala, and she still wasn’t used to her new reality: that Kass had forgiven her, but not only that, he was also her boyfriend now. It would take a while for her to stop pinching herself.
“The real question,” Kass said, “is willshelikeme?”
Before Dani could answer, McKenna’s voice floated out from the next room on their right. “Dani? Is that you, babe?”
Dani gave Kass’s hand a reassuring squeeze as McKenna appeared in the doorway, stopping short when she beheld Kass at Dani’s side.
“So,” she said, and Dani could hear a hundred different notes contained in that single syllable. “You’ve finally decided to grace us with your presence.” While McKenna and Kass had technically met the night of the gala, the chaos hadn’t allowed for proper introductions, and then Kass had been busy with his family’sfallout in the days since. As such, Kass was still nervous about McKenna’s first real impression of him in his new capacity as Dani’s boyfriend.
“Sorry it’s taken so long,” he said as McKenna shifted her weight to one leg, crossed her arms, and conducted a leisurely survey of Kass, her eyes seeming to pierce deeper than the surface. “Things have been hectic, to say the least—but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that.” He stood still, clinging to Dani’s hand for dear life as they waited for McKenna to answer.
Finally McKenna dropped her arms and stood up straight. “Well,” she said, “better late than never. You’re cute, coffee boy. But you know if you hurt her, you have me to answer to.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Kass said seriously.
“Lovely to have that settled.” McKenna gave him her most dazzling smile, then turned back to face the room. “But come, I know you’re not herejustto worship at my feet.”
She beckoned them to follow her, and they stepped through the doorway to see Oliver sitting propped up in their hospital bed, eating a pudding cup. Today was the first time they were allowed visitors, having spent the majority of the week being poked and scanned and treated by the specialists brought in after the revelations that had been publicized last Friday night. Whatever treatment they’d been given, it was working; Dani couldn’t believe how different they looked from the person she’d seen before. It was like the Oliver she’d gotten to know over the last month had been trapped in black and white, and this version was full Technicolor.
“Are those for me?” Oliver asked, zeroing in on the bouquet. They set down the pudding and held out their hands. Dani crossed the room to give the bunch to them, grinning at how much pleasure they seemed to get out of breathing in its fragrance. “These are stunning, thank you. Snapdragons are so underrated. Hi, Kass.”
“Hey, Oliver,” Kass said. “How are you feeling?”
“I feelamazing,” Oliver said. “I got four hours of uninterrupted, dreamless sleep last night, and holy Amaterasu, you really should never take that shit for granted.”
“I’m so happy,” Dani said. McKenna had taken a seat in the only available chair in the room, so she arranged herself carefully on the edge of Oliver’s bed, Kass standing behind her.
“So happy they’re finally taking you seriously.”
“Ha,” Oliver said. “Well, they kind of had to, after everything that went down on Friday.”
They were all quiet for a moment. After the confrontation with Silva, Wyatt had ported them to a little grove behind the university’s library, where they’d been temporarily safe from prying eyes. Dani had used the shell to tell McKenna where to meet them, and McKenna had arrived shortly thereafter on her summoned stag, who bounded away into the night once she dismounted. The group had taken an hour to process what had just happened and figure out what to do next. Kass finally convinced them to go to the authorities and explain everything, with his help. They turned themselves in and spent two nights in campus jail, being questioned by the police and government agents and university officials alike.
While they didn’t exactly end up free and clear, they weren’t getting expelled, either. In a stroke of genius, Wyatt threatened the school with legal action for not doing due diligence by hiring someone who wasn’t really a professor—he’d been right about her falsifying information on her resume, aided and abetted by her employer. The press had taken to that story like a duck to water, painting the students as vulnerable, impressionable young naïfs taken advantage of by a manipulative corporate spy: Beatrice Silva of Somnio Corp, who’d tried to run from the gala but didn’t make it far before being taken into custody. Katya and Wyatt had volunteered for interviews and had been plastered all over the news ever since.
Even so, the studentswereon probation for the rest of theacademic year—except for Kass, since his involvement had been much less extensive. They weren’t allowed to leave campus except for work or approved family visits, were restricted from participating in extracurriculars, and would be subject to regular review of their grades and attendance. That last bit wasn’t anything new to Dani, of course, who still had to report to the board on Monday to defend her scholarship.
And those were just the consequences from Fox’s Leap. They’d also faced judgment from the local court for participating in illegal activities. Fortunately, they’d gotten off with what Dani considered an extremely generous sentence of community service, albeit one that would probably take them the rest of their university careers to finish. It would give her significantly less time to do homework, but it was a lot better than going to prison.
“What do you think will happen to Silva?” McKenna asked. The woman was still detained by the authorities, and the final word on her fate had yet to be announced.
“Some amount of jail time, I’d expect,” Kass said. “I’m sure Somnio will move some money around and lighten whatever sentence she gets, though.”
The same would be true for his family and OneiroLabs. Kass had stayed faithful to the ultimatum he’d issued his father and told the press everything they’d learned about the product. It was, naturally, the biggest story in the news right now, and a massive scandal for OneiroLabs, which was currently under investigation and forced to shut down operations for the foreseeable future. Snippets of the recordings they’d taken of the trial participants’ dreams were starting to leak to the press, many of them as disturbing as Oliver had described. Dr. Rodriguez and Lukas Sr. weren’t in jail, but they were definitely being questioned, which meant there hadn’t been time for Kass’s dad to punish him.
“Whatever comes, comes,” Kass had said when Dani had askedhim if he was worried about what would follow. “You’ve shown me what determination can do. I’ll make it work no matter what my dad decides. If I can’t stay in school, maybe I’ll hang a shingle as a woodworker and see what happens.”
