Page 28 of Wicked Dreams (Fallen Royals 1)

“Is there a but in there? You’re supposed to be my trusty advisor.”

She snorts. “Yeah, well, you’re not giving me too much help with Eli.”

“You didn’t say what exactly happened…”

The line goes quiet for a moment. I wonder if I’ve pushed my new friend too far. I haven’t seen her since lunch, and before that, the weekend.

“I mentioned that he flirted,” she mumbles. “He said I drive him crazy.”

My eyes widen. “Whoa.”

“Yeah.”

“How do you…”

“Drive him crazy?” She laughs. “Probably stems from freshman year. We were on a debate team, and I was the only one who would correct him.”

“That’s not what I was expecting,” I admit. “I thought it’d be something more… heinous.”

Like what you did, Margo?

“Um, you haven’t checked Instagram by any chance…?”

I sit up. “What? Why?”

Riley groans. “No, Margo, don’t—”

I put her on speaker and open the app. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

She stays silent, so I type in Caleb’s name. Once his profile loads, my breath catches. He posted, ten minutes ago, a picture of him and Savannah. She’s kissing his cheek, and he has a wide smile. There’s no caption.

“So moody,” I manage to say. “When he was just in my room?”

Riley sighs. “You sound upset.”

“No,” I say. “No, this is just psychological warfare.”

“Right.”

“So… I need to fight back.”

She pauses while I scroll through the rest of his profile. It’s from another life: action shots of him playing lacrosse, photos with his friends, one of him in the middle of a backflip off the bow of a boat. That isn’t the Caleb Asher I know.

The one I’ve come to understand is dark and insufferable. He glares more than he smiles. His touch is brutal, his words are harsh…

“How are you going to fight back?” Riley asks.

“I need…” I search through my memories, picking out pieces like starlight in the darkness. “Something will put him off-balance.”

“Okay,” she says. “But… I don’t think I can be involved in that kind of war, Margo. Because that’s what it would turn into, you know.”

I laugh, the wheels in my mind spinning. What would rattle Mr. Perfect? “I’ll let you go. But just warning you: we’re not done discussing you and Eli Black.”

“Yeah, yeah. Good luck with your scheming.”

“Night, Riley.”

8

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