“When I askedOliverhere about your little incident, Niko, he didn’t seem to know anything about it. You haven’t told your boytoy what you did?”
Fire rips through my chest.
“Get thefuckaway from Oliver,” I repeat.
No.
Fuck, no.
It’s not that I’ve been keeping a secret from Oliver.
But there is something that happened, just before Ibroke things off with Callum. Something that weighs heavy on my heart, pulling at it like a pendulum when I let myself think about it.
“Oliver doesn’t even know thatI’mthe one who saved your life.”
Ollie is frowning. “What does he mean by that, Niko?”
“Callum,” I say. “You need to leave.”
He’s wearing one of his usual suits, but he approaches and I see the shirt he has on underneath it. It’s a shirt with a shimmering gold dragonfly printed on the front of it that I lost a long time ago, and he must have swiped it from me back when we were dating.
Can’t believe I ever associated with this person at all.
“Been waiting out here,” he says. “Didn’t expect your new toy to be out here, too.”
“He isn’t mytoy.He’s my boyfriend.”
He glares at me. “Lovely.”
“Why are you waiting out here?”
“Because you need a Crimson ID to get into that party, Niko.”
“I know you need an ID for the formal. I’m asking why the fuck you’re on this campus to begin with, Callum.”
“I knew the E would hit. Knew you’d get sick of that party and come to find me. I’m already here, Niko. I’m here foryou. I was here for you when you did something very stupid, and I’m here now.”
It feels like someone is opening up a dark, locked box I had stuffed away.
Stuffed down in my own psyche.
Somewhere far from this life.
The rocky cliff.
The waterfall below.
Blood, spilling from the back of my head, painting thewater in a small pool of deep red, before I lost consciousness.
Callum sounds insane, and he is.
But that dark little story is something I’m going to have to explain to Oliver now.
“The E hit a long time ago. It doesn’t make me feel a single thing about you.”
He steps toward me slowly, one hand reaching toward his pocket. First it looks like he’s just putting his hand there, but then it becomes obvious he’s reaching for something.
“Niko, Niko,” he says.