Page 17 of Wicked Dreams

“No.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Okay, that was a snappy answer. So, you’ve obviously thought about it.”

I lift one shoulder. Mom’s been MIA for years, and I’ve known exactly where Dad is… until he gets released. And then I’m assuming he’ll be in the wind, too. It’s not exactly an easy subject. When I was younger, he refused to let me visit him. And then I stopped trying. The message was obvious: he didn’t want me anywhere near him.

Abandoned by not one buttwoparents.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” I tell her. “Sorry.”

Her expression is sympathetic for a fleeting moment. Her gaze moves over my shoulder, the sympathy quickly shifting to wariness. “Incoming.”

It might be my imagination, but I swear the temperature in the room drops by ten degrees.

I twist in my seat, following her line of sight to the escalator. Four gorgeous boys lean on the railings, in various poses, on the way down. Liam, Eli, and Theo are joking around… but Caleb’s already found me.

Somehow.

His dark hair is wild. His black sweatshirt has the Emery-Rose Elite emblem on the front in gold, and his jeans are doing almost too much work clinging to his legs and ass. He seems, by all accounts, the picture of relaxed and confident.

His eyes tell a different story. They bore into mine, and I’m surprised at how much it hurts. The vitriol is apparent from here. It was apparent close up, too, but this is different. He’s projecting it across to me, and there’s some question in there, too.

A silent, how dare you show your face here?

A question I cannot answer.

I turn back around, focusing on my food, and hold my breath. Earlier, I just wanted to be invisible. But I’m not sure how to accomplish that when I seem to already have a target painted on my back. I wait for him to approach and make some threat. To feel his fingers on the back of my neck or sliding into my hair.

Am I so depraved that I can already picture it?

After a long moment of absolutely nothing happening, not even a hitched breath from Riley, I glance back.

I zero in on Caleb again. They’ve moved away from the elevator and to a table across the food court. His attention is focused on a seated, pretty blonde girl. He lifts her out of her seat and steals it, then lowers her onto his lap.

My heart spasms.

More than just knowing he wants another girl on his lap—here comes another wave of familiarity. Recognition.

I face Riley, my mouth drying. “Is that?—”

“Savannah Dunley.” Riley sounds pained. Maybe because Eli glares at her, and Caleb now completely ignores my existence.

“She and I?—”

“Used to be friends? I guess that was one of the rumors that was true.” She gives me a half-smile, shoving a bite of food in her mouth.

I’m confused.

“Her and Caleb?”

“They used to date.” She covers her mouth with her hand as she chews. “It was a quick thing. Kind of unmonumental, if you ask me.”

That’s so great. They used to date, but it wasunmonumental?What the hell does that mean? Especially when he has her perched on his lap right now.

“I haven’t seen her since I’ve been back.” I make a face. “I kind of thought she must’ve transferred or something.”

“I heard she was gone last week.” Riley shrugs. “Her family goes on random trips. She’ll probably be back on Monday spinning stories of swimming with dolphins or having a private tour of the Taj Mahal.”

“That’s…” I wrinkle my nose. “Lavish.”

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