Page 57 of Until We Fall

“Wanna jump in?” In the living room, Carter holds up a controller, his face lit in a smile, his eyes sparkling. He’s sunburned from our trip, his nose pink. A dark purple IFU shirt pulls tight across his chest as he leans back on the couch, spreading his legs.

I glance around. “Um, sure. Is anyone else here?”

D’s coat was on the hook, but he said he was going to be late today.

Carter grins tightly. “Uhhhh… no?”

Noises come from upstairs. Bumps rattle the ceiling light fixture.

Carter winces. “Well, maybe? But why don’t you come sit for a few minutes? Take a load off, dude. I’ve been playing for a while.” He reaches for a second controller and holds it up.

I squint at him. “The Xbox isn’t on.”

“Oh.” He presses the central button on his controller to turn on the console. “There we go. What do you want to play?”

More thumps come from upstairs.

I shuffle a step backward, my wool socks picking up static. I know Theo isn’t here. Ithasto be D up there. “What’s happening?”

Carter shakes his head. “Nothing, dude.”

I swallow and glance at the stairs, my pulse increasing. “Something with D?”

Oh god. So much hits me at once.He regrets it.

I don’t know how I go from bumps on the ceiling and Carter acting strangely to ‘D regrets it’, but I do.

And it just keeps spiraling from there. Maybe he regrets telling me he loves me. He regrets saying he wants to come to New York. He’s got someone else up there. Someone tall and gorgeous and perfect, and everyone else knows about it. Or he’s decided he needs to pack up all his stuff and move out, and?—

No. Dorian would never do that to me.

He wouldn’t.

He loves me.

“Rory,” Carter cuts into my anxiety. He nods toward the stairs. “Just go up, dude. He’s waiting for you.”

Heat gathers behind my eyes.

Carter tosses the controller aside. “He said he wanted me to keep you from going up for a few minutes, but I’m obviously doing a shit job. So you should just go up, and—” he winks at me “—see what he’s done for you.”

My mouth falls open, all the air expelling from my lungs. I blink at the stairs. The top landing isn’t visible from where I’m standing.

“Okay,” I say to Carter. I take a breath, calming my thoughts, and grip the strap of my backpack, my feet swimming in my socks as I climb.

All the doors are closed except for mine, which is at the far end of the hallway, next to D’s room.

I adjust my backpack on my shoulder and slowly walk to my doorway.

When I get there, I come to a stop. My heart lodges in my throat, a breath shooting out.

My room is covered in flowers.

Vases sit on my desk, and my side table, and my window ledge. Plumeria and hibiscus and dahlias and lilies. Wide palm fronds and Xate, which D showed me on the walk up to the bungee platform.

It’s like stepping into another world.

Dorian’s standing next to my desk. He glances up, my lamp the only light in the room. “Carter was supposed to keep you.”

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