“You got drugged at Night Dreams? That club is one of the safest in Urbium.”
I shrug. “It seems I can find creeps anywhere.”
He chuckles, but his eyes stay hard.
“You need to make sure Hope and Fire don’t do the same thing.”
“Those two will never be alone in a club. As it is, they never go anywhere without a cousin or close friend. They know better.”
Hopefully, they do, but girls do stupid things.
“My mom is a doctor if you want some—”
“I’m fine.” And that’s only sort of a lie.
“If something changes—”
“I’ll reach out.” That’s a lie, but this all needs to be over.
A nightmare that you finally wake up from.
***
A nightmare would be good at this point. Anything would be better than staring up at the ceiling.
Maybe I need some fresh air and a distraction… a little work wouldn’t hurt. I grab my laptop and a blanket and head to my backyard.
“Knock knock neighbor.” Max pretends to knock on the wrought-iron fence twenty minutes later.
What is he doing here? “Come on in.” I gesture to the empty lounge chair next to me.
“You do know most people sleep at two in the morning.” He sits on the edge, staring at me.
“What are you doing up walking the neighborhood at this time?” I parry the question back.
“Jet lag. My system still thinks I’m on the other side of the world. What’s your excuse?”
I shrug. It’s not like I can say that I’ve gotten used to the safe feeling of having Vex next to me in two days and now my body won’t go to sleep.
“Want some company?” He lifts a laptop out of his bag.
“Sure, why not? There’s tea on the table if you want some.”
Max ignores the tea and flips open his computer.
We work in companionable silence for a long while.
Try as I might, the words on my screen are gibberish. Come tomorrow, I’m going to end up deleting them all. “I’m not broken.”
“Yes, you are.” Max doesn’t even look up from his screen, which doesn’t appear to be filled with nonsense. “You were broken before this.”
How does he know that? “Why do you say that?”
“You didn’t deny it.”
Because I can’t. I stare at the blinking cursor.
“The thing is, you won’t stay broken.”