Page 14 of Perfect Pursuit

“Fallon’s in Seven Virtues, North Carolina? Where the fuck is that?” A simple Google search tells me the university town is located right outside Asheville, not far from the Biltmore Estate.

She left.

She’s gone.

My phone is lying next to me on the bed when it vibrates. Snatching it up immediately, I read her response.

Fallon:

I had something to say a few months ago.

Ethan:

Like your whole family moving?

Fallon:

Obviously it wasn’t that important to you. No big.

Ethan:

Fallon…

Fallon:

Don’t worry about losing my digits.

Fallon:

I can take care of myself, Uncle E.

Ethan:

I’m not your damn uncle.

Fallon:

Already figured out you’re not anyone to me, are you?

Shit. What did I do to break even the tentative bond between us?

CHAPTER SEVEN

SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA

Ever since the Grammys, Beckett Miller and DJ Kensington are in each other’s back pockets. Is this a potential collaboration or something more? I wouldn’t mind more of either of them, if you take my meaning.

—Moore You Want

Four Years Ago—February

I’m huddled in our on-campus coffee shop with my floor-mates Ruby and Layla when they mention the most notorious Seven Virtue’s watering hole, Galileo’s, needs waitresses. Ruby gushes, “I heard there’s an actual pendulum you have to navigate through to get in and out of the bar.”

Layla, much more pragmatic, drawls, “I need money for books next semester. Who cares what it looks like so long as it’s safe and pays well?”

I agree with Layla. “Besides, can you imagine the liability? One drunk tries to navigate it and it would be like a bad shot on a mini-golf course hole.” I slap my hand against the side of my head and topple sideways. “Whack!”

That sets the three of us off in giggling fits. It’s Layla who probes hesitantly about the boundaries between me and Austyn, “Couldn’t you ask Kensington for money?”

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