Meredith’s eyes widened. “But you were found barely conscious on the quad! And your burn! You were in such bad shape, they can’t seriously think you walked out of there by yourself?”
“That seems to be exactly what they think.” The burn on my leg throbbed beneath its bandages.
Meredith threw up her hands in frustration. “That’s ridiculous. Ugh! They make me so mad with their uselessness. Do they even have to do an entrance exam? Or do they just accept those plastic badges you get in the cereal box?”
I couldn’t agree more. The police in our town had never had a reputation for being particularly adept. I, more than anyone, knew that firsthand.
“They don’t suspect you, though. Right?” Owen chewed his bottom lip, gaze darting between me and the rest of the room, as if he were on the lookout for any sign of danger.
Something about it reminded me of a meerkat, the thought so amusing I almost smiled. Maybe I would have if he hadn’t been kind of annoying. He’d been smothering me with his concern ever since last weekend, and it was beginning to get a little ridiculous. It wasn’t like another fire was just going to spontaneously ignite.
I hoped.
“I don’t know,” I answered his question. The same thought had plagued me ever since I’d woken up in the hospital. The way the cops had taken my story had felt more like an interrogation than an interview. “My story hasn’t changed. Someone carried me from that building before it collapsed. His shirt had the letters SVHF. And he knew my name.”
“That’s the part that freaks me out the most,” Meredith nibbled at a fingernail distractedly. “That means you know him.”
“Or at least, he knows me.” I gazed around the room full of people I’d never met. But all of them knew me because of who my uncle was. Was it someone in this room? It had definitely been a man. I remembered the hardness of his chest. Tall and strong. Big enough to pick up my five-six frame from a dead slump on the floor and carry me out through the back of the school building. That’s where I’d been found by the firefighters who had arrived too late. Laid out on the grass, barely conscious, and gasping for breath. I’d been lucky, they’d said. A few hours on oxygen had cleared the smoke from my lungs, and my burns were superficial. They’d scar, but not badly, and should heal quickly. But I didn’t feel lucky. To the depths of my soul, I was gutted. My entire world had been ripped from my hands.
Again.
“Did you hear we’re all being moved to Edgely Academy?” Meredith asked, changing the subject. She twisted and looked in the direction of the bar. “I hope he goes there. Owen, do you know him?”
I followed her line of sight. The ‘he’ in question worked behind the makeshift bar, set up off one side of our spacious living room. My aunt had brought in our usual caterers, but if he’d worked our parties before, I hadn’t noticed. Blond hair flopped in his eye as he poured a drink of something bubbly and passed it into the waiting hands of an older woman. She flashed him a smile, her mouth full of teeth so perfect they couldn’t have been real. He grinned back at her. He was tall, and broad-shouldered, a deep tan coloring his face and hands. Handsome for sure. I could see why he’d caught Meredith’s eye.
Owen squinted at him. “Never seen him before, but Edgely is a big school.”
“He seems young but he’s working a bar,” I noted. “Gotta be at least twenty-one.”
Meredith straightened, pulling back her shoulders and sticking her tits out. “Even better.”
The man’s attention drifted in our direction, and I waited for it. For his gaze to sweep her. For hunger to flare in his eyes. Meredith was hot. There was no denying that, with her long legs, big doe eyes, and a natural D cup that suited her taller frame. I was pretty. I was vain enough to admit that. But I was girl next door in comparison to Meredith’s Hollywood.
But he barely hovered on Meredith a second before he switched to me. His eyes locked with mine, and the corner of his mouth tipped up adorably. Distracted by one of his colleagues thrusting an empty drink tray into his hands, he finally turned away.
Meredith nudged me. “You’re looking at that man like you want him to devour you.”
I grinned at her, not hating the way that smile had stirred something inside me. “Nothing like a good devouring when you’re feeling down, right?”
Meredith elbowed me, and we both giggled.
Owen groaned. “And that’s my cue to go get a drink.” He walked away, the tips of his ears reddening.
Meredith acted like Owen hadn’t even spoken. “Get over there!” she encouraged me. “Go get you some. That boy is down for it, for sure. And I sure as hell am not going to talk you out of a little distraction. You need it. Go get your pussy munched.”
I burst out laughing, attracting confused looks from the rest of the room. My aunt was one of them. Her gaze darted to Meredith, a disapproving frown flickering over her features before it smoothed back into place.
I got it. My laughter was out of place amongst the low murmur of polite conversation. Normally I was better behaved, but the champagne was going to my head.
“You’re so inappropriate,” I hissed to Meredith. “This is a wake.” But the edge of a smile told her I didn’t really mean it.
“Yeah, but I got you smiling. And as your best friend, that’s my job. But your aunt is gesturing for you to go to her, and since I’m a bad influence, I should probably go find someone else to talk to. Or make out with. I wonder if your cutie has a friend…”
I didn’t bother mentioning that one moment of mutual eye appreciation did not make the cutie mine.
I found my aunt in the crowd, and she immediately put her arm around me. I resisted the urge to lay my head on her shoulder like I had as a child. My aunt wasn’t perfect. I hated the way she had little ambition, beyond being a lady of luxury. Her life centered around her appearance.
But she was also warm and caring. She’d taken me in when I was barely five years old and had never treated me as anything other than her daughter. She’d stuck Band-Aids on my scrapes, wiped my forehead when I was sick, hugged me tight when boys preferred Meredith to me.
I put my arm around her waist and squeezed her right back. We’d get through this. Together. Somehow.
I hovered around, keeping an eye on her as the afternoon dragged, turning into evening. The house slowly emptied out, and for the first time all day, there was enough room to breathe.
“Sweetheart,” my aunt said, taking me by the elbow and tugging me into the hallway that led to the back of the house. Tension pulled her perfect eyebrows together in lines I knew she’d be horrified by if she could have seen them.
“Headache?”
She squeezed my fingers. “I’m sorry. I just need to lie down for a little while. Almost everyone has left anyway. Do you mind?”
“I’ll take care of it. Go rest.”
She leaned in, her lips brushing over my cheek then she hurried up the stairs, her long black dress billowing out behind her.
I wandered back to the main room, and for a moment, watched the staff bustling around, packing up chairs and rounding up stray wine glasses.
I wasn’t needed here. What I needed was some fresh air and time alone.