Page 43 of The Masks We Break

A smile blooms across my face, thankful that not only does he accommodate me without chastising me, he must also be able to read my discomfort.

Ricky grabs a couple of bottles, gripping them between his knuckles while continuing to hold my hand. When he leads me up the long staircase, we go toward the rear of the house, slipping out an open sliding glass door. Sure enough, the number of people on the patio is significantly less, and the few that are there are entertaining themselves with an odd wood drinking game.

He gestures to a few chairs at the corner, and I nod, following him to sit.

The patio is large with a nice black iron gate surrounding all its sides. It allows you to see the entire backyard and the beautiful pool illuminated by its underwater lights. It’s a perfect shade of blue and reminds me of Amora’s eyes.

I wonder how that date is going.

The whole week, I’ve been fighting the pesky feeling in my gut that something is going to go wrong, but with no real reasoning, I’ve swallowed it down every time it tried to escape my mouth.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Ricky tilts a lemonade toward me, pulling me from my thoughts.

I take it and pop the top. “What’s that?”

“I know your dad, like, owns the academy, but didn’t you say he’s also a surgeon?”

Taking a sip of the sweet liquid, I nod. “Yeah. Kind of a weird story there.”

His eyebrows raise. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. It was already a private school called Emerald Falls Academy I think. It was small, but had a reputation for its advanced academic programs. My mom had a genuine love and connection with education and wanted to expand its potential. When she approached my dad with the idea to buy it, he saw it as building another branch on the Solace name legacy and bought it that same year.”

I take a breath, trying my best to ignore the itch in my throat, and the fog that tries to creep through at the mention of my mother’s dreams. Dreams she never saw to complete fruition because ofme.

“My dad hired a ton of people to get it worked out, but mostly my mother oversaw everything. Worked on it for ten years before she went back to work part time at the hospital with my dad.”

But then she wound up pregnant. Then she was robbed of her life.

The invasive thought comes from nowhere, stabbing into my heart like a skewer and yanking it into my stomach. I clutch at my chest, attempting to take controlled deep breaths.

I’m not sure why this year it’s gotten so much harder to cope, but it’s becoming a problem, and I refuse to have another freaking panic attack at a party where I only know one guy.

Ricky doesn’t seem to notice the discomfort this time and leans back. “That’s awesome. So basically you could fail and stil—”

“Ay, you’re cheating, asshole!” A squeal grabs our attention. The friends on the other side of the balcony are up in arms about something. They continue to yell, even resorting to pushing one another, stepping dangerously close to the low gate.

“Take it downstairs.” Ricky’s booming command jolts me upright in my seat.

The group, with the addition of the others that were close by shuffle inside, mumbling their grievances, leaving us alone.

Music booms from downstairs and I assume with the growing number of people appearing in the backyard, they’ve propped open the back door.

Ricky turns back to me, sighing, and I notice a surprising amount of liquor coating his breath, I hadn’t before. Perhaps because of the open alcohol all around us.

“Now, where were we?”

“I thought you didn’t drink?” The words rush out before I can stop them.

His faint eyebrows press together. “Sometimes. Is that a problem?”

I open my mouth to call him out, but then I close it and shake my head. There’s an odd aura floating around him I can’t place, and suddenly the need to leave sweeps across with a breeze, sending goose bumps along my arms.

My fingers tingle at my side, a temptation to make sure my phone hasn’t died yet.

Ricky waves a hand, his voice taking on a hint of impatience. “So back to what I was saying. I wonder if you could do me a favor? Maybe one I could repay you for later.”

A sick dread drops into my stomach and I have no idea what he’s even going to say yet. Perhaps the feeling in my gut this week hasn’t been about Amora...

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