I think about the last couple of months. Then I decide I might need to do a search on Levi, just like he did on me. “You’re right. Name your price, because now I really want to know these lessons you’ve been forced to learn.”
He pauses. “You’ve got a test on Friday. You pass with a C, I’ll tell you.”
“Are you serious?”
“Carissa, it’s only a C.”
“But—”
He interrupts. “I’ll make sure you pass.”
“This isn’t fair.”
“Nothing is fair. You’re in Virginia, living with Louise, instead of at home in Arizona. If anyone knows life isn’t fair, it’s you, right?”
I close my eyes when they sting. At least he didn’t mention the shit my dad has stirred up making headlines all across the country.
He’s more right than he knows. Life isn’t fair.
“What’s your address?”
My heart catches and my eyes fly open. “Why?”
“Just give me your address. You can trust me.”
“I don’t trust people who tell me to trust them. My father is a politician, so I know this to be a fact.”
“But I’m your tutor.” All of a sudden, his voice is smoother than before and dips an additional octave. “You’re trusting me to teach you things you don’t know. You won’t regret giving me your address.”
I sigh and tell him the truth. “I don’t even know Louise’s address.”
“Share your location with me.”
“What? Are you deranged?”
“Not at all, which is why you can share your location with me.”
All of a sudden, I’m not tired anymore. “You must take me for the stupid chick in a horror movie.”
“I know you’re not stupid. I saw your expression at your father’s last fundraiser. You were thoroughly irritated to be there. If that doesn’t say smart, I don’t know what does.”
I groan. “Please don’t talk about that. I got raked over the coals by the media, my dad’s campaign manager, and my mom for not being a team player.”
“You looked miserable.”
“I was miserable,” I tell him the truth. “But Cade was more miserable, and I was worried about him.”
“Cade?” he asks.
“My brother. My twin.”
“You’re a twin. I didn’t learn that from skimming headlines,” he admits.
“You’re not a good skimmer.”
“I’m not. I prefer to take my time and be thorough in everything I do.” He lets that thought hang between us before getting back to the creepy topic at hand. “Carissa, I swear to you … on my lucky lacrosse stick, that I will not show up at Louise’s door uninvited. Not that I don’t feel like I can’t handle her—I’m good with old people, but that’s beside the point. I might be an asshole some days, but I’m never a creep. There’s a big difference.”
There is a huge difference. And Levi might come across standoffish, but I don’t think he’s a creep. And I’ve never seen him be an asshole.
I bite my lip, but don’t say a word. Instead, I pull my phone away from my face and tap on my screen.
Then, I wait.
I hear him move before a smiling voice comes across the line. A satisfied one. “Carissa Collins, you will not be sorry.”
“Just for your information, I’m going to write a note and leave it somewhere you’ll never be able to find that I just shared my location with Levi Hollingsworth. If I end up dead, you’re the first person they’ll look for.”
“You just made it my life’s mission to make sure no one unalives you. That and make sure you pass chem. Grab a nap, then get after it. I’ll see you tomorrow in the library.”
I finally ask the question that has been circling my brain like a merry-go-round. “Are you this nice to everyone you tutor?”
“Fuck no.” He doesn’t elaborate.
“Oh.”
“Study. I’ll see you tomorrow after school.”
I roll to my back and stare at the ceiling again. “Tomorrow.”
He doesn’t say goodbye, and the line goes dead.
I should get up, open my backpack, and catch up from being absent today. And I should really open my chem book.
But we were in the emergency room all night. I never left Cade’s side and barely got any sleep.
I’ll just close my eyes for a few minutes…
“Carissa!”
I drag my eyes open. It’s dark outside. I have no idea how long I was out.
“Carissa, get down here!”
Damn, Louise. Why is she yelling?
My bedroom door flies open, but it’s not my grandmother. Cade storms in. “Why is she yelling at you?”
I roll to my ass and stand as I grab my phone. It’s still early. I think I only passed out for thirty minutes. “I don’t know, but it’s almost time for your breathing treatment.”
Cade turns toward my open door, and each word gets louder than the previous. “I’ll do it if she quits yelling!”
I go to the top of the grand stairway that looks down to the entry. My grandparents owned this estate before my mother was born. It sits on over one hundred acres. No wonder Chuck works here full-time. There’s enough work for two of him.
Louise is standing there holding up a huge sack with handles. She looks as angry as Cade is over her yelling.
Louise demands, “Did you order this?”
I frown. “No, I … wait.”
I run down the stairs as fast as I can. When I get to her, I tear the bag out of her hand and peek inside. There’s a drink carrier with three cups—two hot and one cold. Just so they aren’t lonely, and the sender from heaven doesn’t skimp, pastries and cake pops fill the rest of the huge bag.
I feel the first smile spread over my face in a long time that isn’t fake.
“Did you order this?” Louise repeats. “Because if you refuse to eat the dinner I’ve provided, you’re not touching this.”
I ignore her and rip off the note.
Carissa,
Study fuel. See you tomorrow.
LH
Wow.
I reach in, grab a fudge cake pop, and stuff the whole thing in my mouth. It’s more fudge than cake. And because it’s the first thing that’s given me any happiness since before Christmas when life turned on its head, I look at my grandmother and do my best to smile when I yank the stick out of my mouth and start to chew.
Louise gasps. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I level my eyes on the woman I’ve never seen happy about anything in my entire short life. Maybe she needs a cake pop.
But there’s no way I’m sharing these with her.
I take my buffet in a bag and turn for the stairs. “I’m going to study.”
“You’re not taking that up there! I told you both there will be no food in the bedrooms.”
I ignore her and start up the stairs. Cade is waiting for me on the landing, staring down at me with eyes bigger than the cake balls I plan to eat for dinner.
“Carissa!” My name bounces off the marble floors and hits the dome, stained-glass ceiling. “Come back here!”