Page 39 of High Stakes and Soulmates
I pull into Casimir’s driveway, so I hang up with Joaquin and hurry up to the front door. I knock once, even though they’ve told me to let myself in without any need to knock since Casimir can hear who it is before I even reach the porch.
I push the door open, hoping this means that Ezio hasn’t run because he’s already heard me.
“What do you think?” Yorick asks as soon as I walk in. He’s got an extremely well-done outline of a hand with a middle finger pointing up that he seems ecstatic to show me.
“I didn’t know you were actually really good at art,” I say.
“Thanks. I know. I’m good at everything I put my mind to.”
“Especially lying,” Julian says.
“Fine, fine, Julian drew it for me to paint on. It’s because my last attempt at a hand was called ‘Creepy as fuck’ by Casimir.”
“I’ve seen Casimir draw a dick and I have to agree… your hand was creepier,” Julian says.
“Is Ezio here?” I ask.
Julian glances over at me. “No, he’s not with you?”
“I said something shitty to him and he left.”
“He left?” Casimir asks as Gustov prances at my feet, asking for attention. “We’re talking about Ezio, right? The guy who literally puts up with anything you do or say.”
“Casimir,” Julian warns.
But boy, does that fucking hit me. “I know I’m an asshole. I never asked to be involved with any of this. I never?—”
“Stop,” Julian says as he rushes up. “You seem to think that making yourself feel like shit is going to fix this. It’s not. You’re not a bad person. Have you been a bit closed off at times? Maybe. But all of us, Ezio included, can tell that you really care about us. To me, it reads more like you’re trying to keep us at arm’s length because of reasons you haven’t yet disclosed. And that’s okay. It’s okay to have those feelings. Can you explain what happened with Ezio?”
“A while back, before I even knew Ezio, I… received some information that he played some part in the death of my family. I was… you have to fucking understand that vampires destroyed my life. I was convinced that he was just another monster, and my mind thought that what they meant by ‘involved’ was that he was involved in the murder… not the case. I fucked up. He got really upset, said stuff about how he’s a monster no matter what he does, and I just… do you know where I can find him? I assumed he’d come here.”
“He might have gone home,” Casimir says. “Ezio would never have been involved with killing your family. He can fight and he can kill, but I can tell you that he does not handle it well. It’s been a long time since killing bothered me, but Ezio… I don’t know that he’s ever handled killing someone well. He neverchooses to do it. To my understanding, he was in the army and used to assassinate people. He hated it immensely, even though they weren’t good people. There’s no way he was involved in the death of an innocent family… especially yours.”
“Why especially mine?” I ask.
Everyone refuses to answer that question, but I do notice the way they look away from me.
“Try his house, and if we see him, I’ll let you know,” Julian says.
CHAPTER TEN
EZIO
Seriously? I just ran away like a fucking teenager?
I sigh when I flop down on my bed and decide that if I’m going to cry like a teenager, I might as well pout like one too. And take a fucking nap like one while I’m at it.
I pull my pillow over my head as I wallow in my misery before realizing that Ireallywant to go apologize to Cyrus.
He was over there grieving his family, and I had a fucking pity party because some information he got led him to the wrong conclusion? It’s not even like he came to it himself. Who knows if someone was trying to set me up.
What a shitty reaction.
I groan and rub my head before pushing myself up to my feet. I really do need to apologize. He said he misunderstood, so I can’t blame him for doing that, can I? I’m sure I’ve misunderstood shit in the past. I was just taking my own insecurities and letting myself get upset over them.
I hurry into the kitchen to find my phone so I can see if he’s gone to Casimir’s. Maybe I can meet him there?
But before I can even grab it, I hear footsteps leading up to the door. Rushing over to it, I yank it open before Cyrus can even complete his knock. He’s standing there, hand raised, looking a bit startled by the force I’ve used to open my front door.
