Page 91 of Hot Summer

“I could explain it to them off camera,” Cas insisted. “They’ve already heard about the deal through the headline, surely there’s a little flexibility—”

“There isn’t,” Chloe said firmly. “You follow these guidelines or you leave right now without saying goodbye.”

There was silence between them for a few long beats, and though Cas had half a mind to wait it out, she also just really, really wanted to get this over with.

Cas sighed. “Fine. Whatever you want.”

Everyone was in the kitchen when Cas walked outside. She could hear them whispering, their voices hushed as though worried Cas would hear them when she was back in the beach hut. At the sound of the door falling closed behind her, the kitchen fell abruptly silent, and sure enough, all eight of her roommates were standing in the kitchen, eyes trained on the floor when she rounded the corner.

“Hey, everyone.” Cas’s voice cracked in the middle of “everyone,” and she swallowed, started again. She needed to at least pretend she had some dignity. “Can we go to the fire pit, please?”

She expected some sort of reaction—confusion, maybe surprise—but the most she got was a very slight twitch of the eyebrow from Femi when their eyes met.

Ada was the last to leave the kitchen. She sat, her gaze trained on the countertop while everyone else filed out around her. The moment they were alone, Ada finally looked at her, her lips parting with an inhale, and Cas felt herself teetering on the edge, desperate for Ada to say something, anything, that would make her feel less anxious about what she was going to have to do now.

Ada pushed back her chair and walked toward the fire pit, and Cas watched her go, feet frozen to the spot.

Cas waited until Ada had nearly reached the others before following, looking and feeling like a woman walking the gangplank. There was a persistent voice in the back of her mind telling her to pick her head up, to throw her shoulders back, to show them (who them were, Cas wasn’t a hundred percent sure) that she wasn’t affected by this, but that’s what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

Maybe it was time to wear her heart on her sleeve. At least a little bit.

Everyone was sitting on the bench around the fire pit when Cas arrived, their expressions ranging from emotionless to incredibly pissed off. It wasn’t the sort of supportive crowd you wanted when you were about to be thrown to the wolves, but Cas understood. What really got her was Ada, who looked like she’d rather Cas fling herself over the hedge than say a word.

Cas swung her arms behind her back, knotting her fingers together to keep from fidgeting with them too much while she was talking. “I’ve decided that it’s time for me to go.”

There were a few slight eyebrow raises, some clear side glances, but no gasps. No shock or demands that she stay, or at least think about it.

“It’s clear, after the headline today, that I’ll just be a distraction, and I don’t want to be in the way of everyone else finding happiness here.” Cas re-knotted her fingers together. Wearing your heart on your sleeve was one thing, but her heart was about to come out of her mouth. “I can’t speak to whether the rumors are true or not, and trust me, I wish I could tell you everything.”

It was probably skirting a little too close to her NDA, but whatever. Chloe could sue her. Or edit it out.

“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes that I can’t talk about. But I’ve already found what I’m looking for here anyway. I don’t need to stay.”

Cas was pleading. Pleading with Ada to see that when she said she found what she was looking for, she meant her, not some stupid thing that her boss had sent her in for. She’d found happiness, real happiness, and with someone just a few tube stops away, someone she could have met at any of the pubs, any of the clubs, but, somehow, had just never happened to bump into until now.

It was almost making her misty eyed just thinking about it. The fate of it all.

But Ada was staring at the ground, shoulders stiff, arms crossed, and the anxiety swirling in Cas’s stomach reached new heights. This was not the expression she’d been hoping for.

“So, yeah.” Cas let her hands move from behind her back, though she almost immediately clasped them together in front of her again. “This is goodbye.”

No one moved for so long that Cas had half a mind to repeat herself. To shout, Did you hear me?! I’m leaving!

Instead, every single pair of eyes was trained on Ada, waiting to see what she’d do. Cas had already assumed that they’d all been talking about her when she’d come out into the kitchen, but it was clear, now, that some sort of game plan had been decided. Ada shook her head so imperceptibly that Cas would have missed it if she weren’t watching, and everyone noticeably exhaled before getting to their feet.

Lucy was the first one to reach Cas’s side, and though she tried for a sad expression, she didn’t look even remotely upset.

“I’m really sorry you’re going, Cas,” Lucy said. She put her hand on Cas’s forearm. “But maybe it’s for the best.”

Everyone else at least had the decency not to swipe at what was left of her dignity as they said goodbye. Reece made a half second’s worth of eye contact and muttered goodbye, Tia tried adding that she would miss her and a placating tap on the arm.

“Bye, Cas.” Despite the speed of the hug and the way that Sienna wouldn’t quite meet her eyes, there was a sadness to the words as she whispered them into Cas’s ear.

Freddie could barely make eye contact as he approached, head down, eyes trained on the decking. He gave her a hug goodbye, his hands twitching on her back once, twice, like he was thinking about squeezing her harder, but then he stepped away and walked off without saying anything else.

Femi was where it was really going to hurt.

His expression was soft as he approached her, a warm island in a sea of cold indifference. He wrapped his arms around her without a moment’s hesitation, this hug slower, more intentional. “I’m going to miss you.”

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