“I'd rather go with Spencer, but thanks anyway.” Tobias heads for the door and lets himself out while Spencer groans and grumbles under his breath about lack of sleep. On his way out, he comes over and blesses me with a kiss to the forehead before leaving.
Micah's crestfallen face on the other hand, that haunts me well into my dreams. In it, he's looking at the dead body of his brother on the shrine’s stone altar, instead of the stranger that Spence and I saw.
It feels like a warning to me, and I don't like that.
I don't want to lose one of my crew, not now or ever.
And I really, really don't want to choose.
The next morning, I wake up in a puddle of drool with my hair stuck to my face, just like Anna in fucking Frozen. Unlike Anna in fucking Frozen, I have Micah McCarthy grinning at me and taking pictures with his phone.
“If any of those end up on social media, I swear, I will destroy you.”
“Already posted to Insta,” he says with a dark grin as I reach out to swat him.
“Boner wizard,” I mumble in the most insulting way possible, pushing myself up into a sitting position and finding the rest of the room empty. The boys have rolled up their futons, folded their blankets, and stored their pillows in the closet. “Where is everybody? Did Mark ever come back last night?”
“Yup,” he says, tucking his phone away and leaning back. His red-orange hair falls into his face as he studies me with moss green eyes. It isn't lost on me that the reason he's fighting with his brother is because of me. Because he wanted to do something romantic for me. I bite my lower lip against a rush of guilt. “But Spence and Toby bailed when he and Selena started fu—”
“Okay, okay, enough. I don't need to rinse my ears out with bleach this early in the morning.” I stand up on shaky legs and yawn, trying to forget that I actually screwed both McCarthy twins on a Disneyland ride. As if I have a right to be prudish. “So, Mark came back, and not with Aster?”
“Yup. But who knows what he was up to before then? He told Selena he was hanging with the guys, but when Spencer and Tobias left, they checked all their rooms and it seemed like everyone else was fast asleep and had been for a while. Could be wrong though.” He shrugs his shoulders, and his yukata slides down just enough that I can see the rose tattoo on his shoulder. “Everyone else is at breakfast. Jason Lambert is missing, and your dad is starting to freak.”
“Any sign of Mr. Dave?” I ask, and Micah shakes his head. “Mr. Murphy?”
“He's acting like nothing's wrong,” he says, exhaling and reaching up to run his fingers through his hair. His eyes track my movements as I pad over to my bag and heft it up by the handle. I'm in desperate need of a shower, some toothpaste, and a fresh set of bindings for my breasts.
I also know I can't go to the bathroom without an escort. Hell, none of us should be going anywhere without an escort. The last thing I want is for my nightmare from last night to come true.
“Hey, I was thinking …” Micah starts, pulling his wax-covered lighter from his pocket and flicking the wheel absently. His eyes, though, they stay locked on mine. “You deserve to know about Amber.”
“I don't want to do anything that might put more distance between you and Tobias,” I blurt, and Micah smiles, standing up and reaching out to open the door for me. We both take a moment to scan the hallway for knife-wielding psychos, but there's not a soul to be seen, just the distant laughter from the dining room.
“I asked him if I could tell you, and he said it was okay, so long as I told you the truth.” Micah walks me down the hall and into one of the bathrooms. This place is set up a bit like a hostel. There are only a few shared bathrooms, but they're spacious and clean, with both a chain lock and a deadbolt on the inside.
Instead of waiting outside for me after checking around for any lurkers, Micah closes the door and locks it, making my breath catch.
“You can wait outside, you know,” I whisper, and he grins at me, making my heart race.
“I'd rather wait in here.” He takes a step forward and leans down like he's planning on kissing me. Unfortunately for him, I have the worst morning breath, so I backpedal and end up plastered against the glass door of the shower. Micah just chuckles and takes a seat on the bench near the door, kicking off his shoes and resting his feet against the pebbled floor. He pauses for just a moment and glances up at me. “I mean, provided you're cool with it?”
“I'm cool with it—as long as you get naked first,” I say, and Micah grins at me. It's one of those cocksure little grins of his, and it gives me chills all over. Did I just invite a dude to get naked in a communal bathroom, surrounded by classmates, and with my dad prowling the halls?
Yes, yep, I totally did, and I'm not ashamed of it.
He stands up again and reaches for the tie on his robe, cocking a brow in my direction.
“You sure you don't want to talk about Amber first?”
“Talk about a girl you dated before me? Not really. Do it after or I might kick you out of here instead.” I step back into the shower and then just sorta freeze there. I'd intended on stripping and being all sexy and shit, but now that Micah's starting to strip off his own yukata, I find myself frozen in fear. Micah pauses, noticing my discomfort, and comes over to stand in front of me. When he puts his hands on my shoulders, I relax a little.
“I don't want to pressure you,” he says, gently sweeping hair back from my face. “I'll step outside and—”
“No,” I say, because I can tell he's misinterpreting my emotions. I'm not afraid of him, I'm just afraid I'll make an ass out of myself. “Don't go. I'm just … I don't want to mess this up.”
“Mess what up?” Micah asks. I gesture randomly between us.
“You, Tobias, me, the Student Council, any of it.” I look up at him and he sighs heavily, putting his arms around me and pulling me in for a hug that I wasn't expecting. Slowly, I lift my arms and hug him back. It feels good, to just hug somebody. As well as we've all been taking the shit that's been thrown at us, it isn't easy to see a dead body, or have nobody believe you when you talk about it. I feel distant from my mom, my dad, but at least I have the Student Council.
“You are not screwing anything up, Chuck Carson,” Micah says with a little laugh. There's a nervous warble to it that I've never heard before. I'm used to him being the confident, cocky one. Slowly, I pull back and look up into his face. There's a confession resting there that I know I need to hear. Instead of pressing for it though, I just wait. Sometimes people need to come to you in their own time. “It was me that screwed things up with Tobias. He's never gotten over the Amber thing.”
Micah takes a step back, and I realize that we're not going to have sex, not right now. He needs to talk. I move over to the sink, brush my teeth while he chuckles at me, and then slap him in the chest.
“Stop that. I'm super self-conscious of my breath, okay? Nobody wants to kiss a morning mouth or a coffee mouth or—” Micah steps forward and eloquently sweeps one arm around my waist, cupping the back of my head with his other hand. He cuts me off midsentence with a kiss that I can feel down to my toes. They curl against the pebbled floor as I grab onto the front of his robe and bunch the fabric up in quaking fingers. He tastes like peppermint and cherries.