Page 132 of False God

THEO:You want me to steal it from Chloe’s phone?

THEO:Have you talked to Lili since you left France?

THEO:Is everything all right?

ME:Do you know what a question is, Hughes?

THEO:212-535-1012

ME:Thanks.

THEO:Don’t cock up again!

Bloody embarrassing.

“If you wanted my number, you should have askedmefor it before you snuck out in the middle of the night.”

I wince, rubbing the back of my neck. “There was an?—”

“‘Urgent business matter.’ Yeah. Got it.”

Even without the air quotes she uses, I’d have gotten her doubt, thanks to the heavy emphasis she places on the excuse.

“I didn’t want to leave, Lili,” I say softly.

“Well, we were both going to. Right?”

Rightis a rhetorical question. We both know the answer. I knew how different our lives looked when this thing between us started. I just never expected it to matter this much.

“Lili!” A teenage girl skips toward us. “Your grandmother is looking for you. She wants to introduce you to some friends, andpleasedon’t make me go back in there without you because she sort of scares me.” She shoots Lili a pleading smile, then glances at me. “Hi! I’m Wren.”

“I’m Charlie,” I tell her.

Wren gasps dramatically. “The duke? My mom and Aunt Scarlett were just talking?—”

“Where’s Gigi?” Lili asks quickly.

“This way,” Wren replies.

Lili glances at me. “Have a safe trip home, Charlie.”

Then, she heads inside.

A chill creeps across my skin that has nothing to do with the blast of air-conditioning as she and Wren enter the building through the nearest door.

A sense of loss. It feels like watching a boat sail away that I really, really wanted to be aboard.

I walk past the statue of Apollo and continue to the railing. We’re only up one story, so there’s not much of a view. A small, walled garden juts off from the hotel’s lobby. Around and above, towering skyscrapers. I feel like I’m standing in front of Kensington Consolidated’s headquarters again, dwarfed by their staggering height.

I prefer looking around and seeing stone walls. Grassy hills. Rugged moors. Wooden gates. That scenery will always be home to me. Even busy London feels different to this, where it seems the entire city could collapse around you like a tower of blocks.

“Lot quieter out here, isn’t it?”

I glance to the left, my spine straightening and my stomach tumbling as Crew Kensington approaches me.

We met—very briefly—at the Red, White, and Blue party his mother-in-law threw.

“Warmer too,” I reply. The heavy layers of my suit have trapped a lot of humidity inside.

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