“Mrs. Vanguard suggested you might’ve had a hard day and needed some extra rest.” She releases my shoulder and stands back up, smiling fondly, if not a little sadly, down at me. “Justin Prior will arrive in an hour to pick you up.”
Oh.
Great.
I get to spend the day with the man who’s holding my boyfriend hostage and then leveraging that against me to sleep with his two best friends. Awesome. Totally the way I’d intended on spending Memorial Day.
With a sigh, I climb out of bed, grab a lime-green sweater with the words Gamer Girl on the front—subtle, I know—and a pair of jeans. A quick rinse, a good fifteen minutes of fiddling with my wavy hair, and a dash of pink eye shadow with a bit of liner, and I’m ready to go.
My timing, as always, is impeccable, and I end up running into Maxx in the hallway.
He’s all dressed-up, too, and I find that I can’t take my eyes off of him.
He, on the other hand, just frowns at me.
“You’re really going to do this?” he asks, studying my outfit with a gleam in his eyes that either wasn’t there before last night or that he did a very, very good job of hiding. Then again, I think back on certain moments, like the one in this very hallway when Parrish, Maxx, and I were discussing Antonio’s party. Parrish and I started throwing insults at one another, and I remember that Maxx got this look of pure irritation on his face that I didn’t understand at the time.
Was he already into me then?
I can be denser than a box of rocks when it comes to love interests, I’ll give you that.
“I’m really going to do this,” I admit, nodding and tucking a loose strand of hair behind one ear. I’m wearing the tennis bracelet that Tess bought me on that same wrist, just to see if I can’t get a rise out of Justin when he sees me wearing it.
I want to see if he’s pleased—meaning that he might care about Tess more than he’s letting on. Or annoyed, in which case, he might reveal the true extent of his hatred for her. At this point, I can’t decide if he’s just trying to ruin her life or if he wants her back.
The whole Milk Carton app scenario is making me lean toward the latter.
“It makes me nervous,” X admits, letting his big body slouch against the doorjamb. For a second there, things are almost normal between us. “Seeing the girl I just slept with walk out the door with a murderer.”
And there we go.
It gets weird again.
I stare at him, and I try not to think about how damn big he was, or how I’m a tiny bit sore, or how much I liked it. Because it’s fucked-up. This is all so damn fucked-up.
Exactly the way Justin Prior likes it.
My plan today is to offer myself up in exchange for Parrish, no-holds-barred. I’ll testify against Tess, live with Justin, do whatever stupid, horrible things he has planned.
Except for kill people.
I will never do that.
If it comes down to killing someone in exchange for someone I love, I know the choice I’ll make.
I’ll take myself out first.
The thought is depressing as hell, and dark as pitch. Actually, everything about today is dark because I can’t decide what’s going to happen. Will Justin let Parrish go in exchange for me? Will he challenge me to find him still? If I do find him, will he then take me under his dark wing?
Before I can think better of it, I move forward and throw my arms around Maxx’s neck, squeezing him tight. Normally, I wouldn’t do this. I wouldn’t test fate this way. But I’m nervous, and frankly, if Justin does accept my proposal, Parrish could be home by dinner … but I’ll never be coming back here again.
“If anything happens to me, you have to find him,” I whisper, and Maxx grabs me, dragging me back into Parrish’s room and kicking the door closed. He presses me back against it, grabs my face in both hands, and kisses me with that same heavy longing from last night.
I kiss him back, like a goodbye kiss, like this is our final parting. It hurts so goddamn bad.
I wish Chasm were here, so I could say goodbye to him, too.
Just in case.
“You’re scaring me,” X growls against my mouth. “I’m not letting you do this.”
“If you don’t, then last night will have been for nothing. We’ll have betrayed Parrish and Maxine for no reason at all.” I put my hand on his chest and force him back a few steps. “I shouldn’t have kissed you.” I exhale and force a smile, acting as if I didn’t have good reason for what I just did.
