How did I repay her? By burning down everything that mattered.
“We don’t expect you to believe how sorry we are,” Chasm tells them, tucking his hands into his blazer pockets and looking down at the table’s shiny surface. I finally break my stare with Danyella and glance his way. If I’m hurting, he must be doubly in pain. He’s known these girls since he was nine years old. They were his friends far before they were ever mine.
“Please leave,” Danyella chokes out finally, slamming the fridge door.
“I’m sorry, and I love you,” I tell her, putting my hands over my chest as she turns suddenly and then throws the seltzer as hard as she can against the far wall. It hits and dents the wall, exploding and spraying fizzy liquid everywhere.
“Get out,” she seethes, her voice low and weird and dangerous. “Just get out.”
“Little Sister.” Chasm grabs my arm and gives me a shake, dragging me toward the front door. Lumen watches us go with an inscrutable expression, her brown eyes tracking me as I pass. She blinks once, hard and intentional, and I swear, it feels like she’s trying to tell me something. I have no idea what it is, but I file the expression away for later.
As soon as we get outside, Chasm closes the door behind us, and I hear the dead bolt click into place a few seconds later.
“Jesus, that was messed up,” he breathes, but I don’t respond. I’m too shell-shocked to form any sort of reply.
I’ve just lost my only female friends in all of Whitehall. One of whom is the queen bee. And the king of the school? He’s still missing.
I might be in trouble here.
“Thank you,” I tell Chasm, looking up at him and wishing that I had more to say, more to offer.
“You’re welcome,” he replies, sighing heavily and then moving around the car to open my door for me.
I should ask him about his father’s security firm. About the woods. About …
Instead, I push all of that aside and text Justin Prior immediately.
It’s done. I told Danyella. I want to see a picture of Parrish in the bed.
The response comes almost immediately.
And you’ve added another pawn to this game. Maxx Wright. Interesting choice. You’ve managed to surprise me more than once this week. That is not something that is easily done.
I turn the phone screen off and lay my head back against the seat.
I must fall asleep without realizing it because the next thing I know, I’m waking up and we’re pulling into the Vanguard’s garage.
Crap.
Crap, crap, crap.
Chasm was supposed to take me back to Maxx so that he could bring me home. Chas isn’t supposed to be here. Tess isn’t exactly thrilled with him at the moment.
“It’s okay,” Chasm tells me, putting the car in park and turning off the engine. He glances my way as I struggle out of a thick, heavy cloud of exhaustion. “This was unavoidable.”
He climbs out of the car, and I follow after, heading into the house to find Tess in the living room. She has a bottle of wine in her right hand, her eyes dazed and staring at nothing. I’m not the only person in this house who had a hard day, that’s for sure.
She lifts her head up like she’s climbing out of a mental fog, her attention focusing immediately on Chasm. A frown flits across Tess’ pretty mouth.
“Kwang-seon.” Just that. His name and nothing else. He’s in huge trouble. “What are you doing here?” Tess turns her attention over to me. “You were supposed to come home with Maxx.”
“I was helping with the search party,” Chasm explains, holding up both hands, palms out, as if he knows how dangerous this scenario is becoming. “I offered to take Dakota home so we could talk.”
“And nobody thought to inform me about what my daughter might be doing?” Tess asks, sounding a bit hysterical. She takes another swig of the wine, staining her teeth purple for a brief moment. “A text or a phone call letting me know about the change of plans would’ve been appreciated.”
“That was my fault,” I offer, stepping forward and hoping to defuse the situation somewhat. “I fell asleep as soon as I climbed in the car. I’m just … I’m exhausted, Tess.”
There must be something in my voice that catches a bit of that strange sympathy Tess showed me last night. But just a bit.
“Every time the two of you are together, I lose my daughter.” She points at Chasm with the wine bottle. “You took her from the TV studio and disappeared; you cut class together yesterday and nearly gave me a heart attack. Now this?” She gives a harsh, strangled sort of laugh. She’s very clearly drunk and suffering right now. I can’t hold any of this against her. “Kwang-seon, I’ve known you for a long, long time now. You’re practically one of my children.”
