Page 87 of The Hallows Queen

After we stopat a gas station, Logan drives us out to Carson’s secret beach spot in my Maserati, and we find a secluded area on the sand to sit down.

We stare out at the ocean for a few minutes, listening to the waves crash against the shore and smoke cigarettes, then Logan turns to me and sighs. “Do you wanna talk now?”

I find her gaze through the brightness, then take a breath. “I think I’m in withdrawal.”

“From what?” she asks, her brows furrowing slightly.

“Xans,” I admit, pulling my knees up so I can rest my cheek on them as I look at her. “Oxy, coke, probably some other shit too.”

She sighs, flicking her cigarette out onto the sand, and there’s no judgement in her tone when she speaks again. “Jesus,Hayden… How?”

I shake my head. “I just wanted to feel okay. I wanted to feel fucking better. But now I had to stop taking them all, and I can’t fucking breathe, Lo. I can’t fucking handle it.”

She slides her fingers over the top of mine. “Why’d you have to stop?”

I chew my lip, thinking of what to say, but my mind is too busy, moving too quickly to think of a lie, so I just spit the truth at her. “Penelope wanted me to.”

“Who’s Penelope?” she questions, quirking a brow at me.

“My girlfriend.” I sigh, turning my head so my forehead is flat on my knee, and I don’t have to look at her face when she realizes I’ve been hiding an entire part of my life from her.

“Yourgirlfriend?!” she spits, eyes widening. “Since when do you have a girlfriend?!”

I turn an inch, looking at her from the corner of my eye. “A few months, I don’t know.”

She slaps me on the back of the head. “Hayden James Monroe, why didn’t you tell me? Carson? Does Levi know? Who is she? Where did you meet her?”

“Calm yourself,” I say, chuckling. “It’s complicated, okay?”

She looks out at the water, hanging her arms over the tops of her knees as she digs her toes into the warm sand. “I feel like we don’t even know you anymore, Hayden. I guess it makes sense now why you haven’t been around as much lately.”

Scooting closer to her, I wrap a hand around hers. “I’msorry, Lo. I really am. I want you to know everything, but it’s so fucking complicated, I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start anywhere. Tell me anything. I’m supposed to be your best friend.”

I breathe deep, going over the words in my head for a moment before I start talking. “It’s Miss Leyton.”

Her head snaps to the side so she can look at me. “I’m sorry?”

I nod. “I met her before school started.”

She barks a single laugh. “Wait, you aren’t kidding?”

I shake my head, my lips twisting up at the sides.

“Oh, Jesus.” She laughs, her head falling down as her shoulders shake. When she calms herself down, she sits up straight again and tucks her hair behind her ears. “So you didn’t know she worked at LHS when you met?”

“I mean…” I cringe. “Technically, no. I found out after the first time we hooked up.”

“And then what, you guys decided this whole thing was cool or something?”

“Since we’re being honest with each other,” I say. “I pretended I wasn’t in high school for the first couple weeks. She found out on the first day of school.”

Logan snorts. “You’re a dick.”

I shrug. “I couldn’t help it. Love does crazy things to you.”

“Love?!” She gapes. “Wait, hold on. Hayden Monroe – my manwhore, doom-and-gloom, dick of a best friend is inlove?!”

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