Page 50 of All Hallows Trick

“Right. Come get me, we need to talk about this in person.” She was already moving, a whirlwind in her room as she threw things into a bag. “I’m staying there tonight and you’re telling meeverything.”

I opened my mouth to protest.

“Everything,” she insisted, and ended the call.

Shaking my head, smiling, I left to find someone to take me to Ford to pick up my best friend.

Honey snorted,watching as Virgil cast us dirty looks as he walked through the kitchen to the fridge. He’d had a sour look on his face for the last hour, and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or duck my head as my cheeks inflamed. Apparently, he’d been on his way upstairs when Tor very forcefully halted him because Madde and I were, uh, busy. Virgil was now scandalised by thethought of his little sister having sex. I was scandalised that my big brotherknewI was having sex. Honey was thrilled.

“Something bothering you, Virgil?” she asked, scooping more ice cream from the pint we were sharing.

“The entire conversation you were having before I walked into the room,” he replied sulkily, grabbing a beer and making a beeline for the door.

“It’s a communal area,” she pointed out, her amusement making her eyes sparkle, hiding any anxiety I’d glimpsed earlier on the phone. “It’s notourfault you eavesdropped.”

Virgil’s eyes narrowed. I scanned his face for any true anger but only found discomfort and fond irritation. He shot me a narrow-eyed look. “Close the door in future.”

My face burned, but that didn’t stop me laughing when Honey snickered.

“Here,” she said, pushing the ice cream towards me. “Eat this and tell me everything. The last time I was here, you weren’t even together. How did you go from that to Madness and you fucking like rabbits.”

“We weren’t fucking like rabbits,” I said with an eye roll. At her expectant look, I groaned and added, “But we did end up on the floor. And against the wall.”

“I knew it!” She beamed. “Iknewthere was tension between you.”

I scooped up more ice cream, unable to keep the smile off my face. “He’s…” My darkness. But that would be hard to explain without telling her I’d killed someone. “He understands me.”

She waggled her eyebrows.“Deeplyunderstands you…?”

I covered my face with my hands, still smiling. “Honey!”

She stayed silent, using it as a weapon.

“Yes,” I admitted in a whisper. “Very deeply.”

“Ha!” she crowed in victory, nudging my shoulder. “Don’t be shy. How deep are we talking?”

I dropped my hands with smirk. “I didn’t stop to find a tape measure. We were in the heat of the moment.”

She pointed her spoon at me. “Definitelyin heatif you went from the floor to the wall.”

“And then to a different wall,” I added, giggling at the look on her face.

“Andthena different wall?” she asked with glee.

“No, just the two. Well, I suppose westartedagainst the wall, so…”

“Three walls!”

I laughed, feeling a welcome release of the dark cloud that had followed me around since this morning. All my stress could wait until tomorrow; right now, I was spending time with my best friend and forgetting about all my worries.

Although my bladder was determined to ruin that. Probably because of the prosecco bottle we’d put away before we got out the ice cream.

“Ugh, I need to pee.”

“Cat!” Honey gasped. “You’re supposed to sayI need to use the ladies’ room.Or as my grandmama says: thelavatory.”

“Oh, apologies, ma’am. Please excuse me, I must use the lavatory most urgently.” I dropped a curtsey.

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