Page 60 of Kings & Chaos

Roberto was at the other end, Neo sitting directly across from me so I had to stare at his dumb gorgeous face during Thanksgiving dinner.

I looked down at the floral maxi dress I’d chosen for Thanksgiving dinner. It was definitely more appropriate for summer on a sandy beach, but I’d tried to compensate by adding a cardigan I'd had since high school.

It wasn’t as fancy as the dress she was wearing, complete with a double strand of pearls I’d never seen before and enough bling on her hands and wrists to blind the population of a small country, but it’s not like I’d come to Thanksgiving dinner in a potato sack.

I felt the sting of disappointment, then felt like an idiot. It had been stupid to think my mom and I would have some kind of cinematic mother-daughter reunion. Just because I missed her didn’t mean she felt the same way.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I asked. “There’s no one else here anyway.”

Neo and Roberto didn’t count.

My mom frowned like the answer was obvious. "It's just so…casual.”

"I haven't exactly had time to go shopping,” I said. I’d jumped right into wedding plans with my mom when I got home from my trip, and then it had been time to go to Aventine.

My mom sniffed imperiously. "There's always time to put your best foot forward, Willa.”

I bit my tongue, embarrassed that Neo was forced to witness such a humiliating conversation about my wardrobe. Or lack thereof.

Roberto gazed with approval at my mom from across the ridiculously long dining room table. "You're certainly an expert at putting your best foot forward, Celeste.”

My mother beamed. She actually fucking glowed, like she’d never had a compliment in her life. Like the fate of humanity depended on whether or not Roberto was proud to have her on his arm.

"I think Willa looks fine," Neo said.

I coughed, almost choking on the bite of mashed potatoes I’d just put in my mouth.Finewas elaborate praise coming from Neo.

He didn't look at me, but I got the message: here at least, we were allies.

He’d be back to hating me tomorrow when we returned to Blackwell Falls, but right now, I needed all the help I could get. I felt unmoored, adrift in the house where caterers had prepared the Thanksgiving meal, where there were no children running around while football played on the TV, no extended family to tell embarrassing stories that might soften the divide between me and Neo and our parents.

Emma hadn’t been mentioned once, and it wasn’t lost on me that I hadn’t seen a single picture of Neo’s mom.

I didn’t belong here, something that had been obvious the second Neo and I stepped into the cavernous foyer and realized the house was empty.

In typical fashion, my mother and Roberto hadn't been home when Neo and I arrived from Aventine the night before. Because of course they would insist we come to Thanksgiving and then not bother showing up to greet us.

It was the first time I'd stayed in Roberto's house since my mom officially moved in — they’d had their honeymoon between the wedding and the start of Aventine’s school year, gag — and I’d found my things from home dumped unceremoniously in a guest room on the second floor that was every bit as bland as the rest of the house.

The house was huge, a faux Italianate monstrosity with three floors of tacky reproduction furniture and bad oil paintings that were supposed to pass as art stuffed into gilded frames. Somehow Roberto had managed to create an interior that was both obscenely ornate and mind-numbingly boring.

I didn’t know how my mom stood it.

Neo had gone to his room, which unfortunately connected to mine through a shared bathroom, and I’d prowled the house, picking stuff up and putting it down, waiting for my mom and Roberto to get home.

They’d both been drunk when they finally stumbled through the door, my mother giggling while Roberto pawed all over her. Neo hadn't been able to hide his expression of disgust, and I was pretty sure I’d failed in equal measure. We'd said a hasty hello and goodbye and gone our separate ways.

I’d gone to bed early, texting Mara before tossing and turning in the guest room, trying not to think about the fact that Neo was on the other side of the wall.

That I could be in his bed in less than two minutes.

That he probably wouldn’t turn me away.

“Tell me, Willa, are you enjoying the Kings’ house?" Roberto's voice shook me from my thoughts. "Are they taking good care of you?”

Was it my imagination or was there an innuendo in his voice? My face flamed as I wondered if the penchant for sharing women was some kind of game or hazing ritual that had been going on since Roberto attended Aventine.

But that didn’t feel right. Neo was a lot of things — a lot of bad, sucky things — but I had the feeling he wasn’t eager to follow in Roberto’s footsteps.

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