Page 56 of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies

“Don’t want to hang out with the hoi polloi?”

“They’re your fans,” she says, then turns on her heel and flounces into her room.

Allison shrugs her shoulders at me, and I turn back to Oliver. “I’ll see you in the morning?”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Thank you.” I kiss him on the cheek. He doesn’t pull away, and I have the satisfaction of hearing Connor’s door click shut behind me. “Good night.”

I take out my key card and open my door as quickly as possible. I don’t want to watch Oliver walk away from me.

My door shuts, and I lean against it, listening to the sounds in the hall. They’re muffled, but I can hear the other doors closing, one by one.

What a shit show.69 I’m glad Harper missed it.

But where is Harper?

I feel a frisson of unease.

I walk to the adjoining door between our rooms and open it slowly. Her room is dark, and she’s in bed, um, sleeping like the dead.

But no, I’m being silly. It’s Connor who’s the target, not Harper.

I close the door quietly and check my texts.

I’m in for the night, she wrote hours ago. Taking a pill so I can get some sleep. I’ll wake you at six.

I let out a sigh of relief. Good for her. She deserves a good night’s sleep.

So do I.

I pull off my clothes, then crawl into the big, empty bed and pull up the covers. I can already feel myself starting to slip away. I’m exhausted by the wine and the emotions I’ve stuffed down.

Did Connor just say that the person who saved him outside the Vatican was dead? I should probably look into that, but it’ll have to be tomorrow.

More important, did I almost die today?

Jesus.

A person can only take so much, and I’ve almost reached my limit.

Maybe that’s why I nearly choked to death.

“Up and at ’em!” Harper peels back the curtains to let the sunlight in.

I roll away from the light and pull the blanket up over my head. “Morning is a terrible idea. Why haven’t we fixed that yet?”

“You should’ve taken a pill.”

“You know I don’t like to do that.”

“Worked wonders for me.”

I lower the blanket. Harper’s happy and rested. She’s wearing a T-shirt and a pair of blue flowered shorts that show off her lean legs.

“I’m glad. Though you did miss quite the scene last night.”

“You and Oliver?”

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