I push open the bathroom door as it slowly closes behind her, and once I’m inside the bathroom, I flick the lock behind me and stand in front of the door with my arms crossed, waiting her out.
She takes her sweet time, splashing water over her face to remove the last of her makeup, before running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to flatten the bed-head look she’s sporting.
“Eh, wanna tell me what’s going on?” I eventually snark, when it becomes pretty obvious she’s not going to bring it up on her own.
“Nope. Not really.”
I roll my eyes. The girl that’s always asking inappropriate questions about my sex life, and can never seem to shut up, suddenly has nothing to say? Ironic.
“Did you have sex with Wilder last night?” Her cheeks turn crimson. So that’s a yes, then. “In my brother’s bedroom?” My brows tug together in confusion. “Where is Hawk?”
If it’s possible, her cheeks redden even more so. You could fry an egg on them at this point.
“Oh. My. God.” My mouth drops open in shock. “You didn’t.” She looks at me through the mirror above the sink, and the guilt is written all over her face. “Emilia, please tell me you didn’t sleep with my brother last night.”
Her lips press together, and her eyes take on a pleading look.
“Oh my god, you did.” I run my palm down my face. “You slept with my brother. And Wilder.”
“It was an accident,” she rushes out, spinning to face me.
“What, you just slipped and fell on their dicks?”
She grimaces. “Well, no, not exactly.”
“What does this mean? Do you like like them? I thought you hated Hawk?”
“I do…hate him,” she’s quick to assure me, which only confuses me further, although, I guess I don’t have a leg to stand on. I was attracted to the guys even though I hated them. Hell, I slept with Cam and made out with Mason, even though they were actively trying to ruin my life.
She groans, running her hand over her face as she sinks to the floor. I sit down opposite her, resting my back against the door.
“It doesn’t mean anything. I still hate him. I just had too much to drink last night, and…I don’t know.” She groans again.
There’s a long moment of silence while I try to process everything, and I watch silently as Emilia beats herself up.
“It would be okay, you know…if you did like him, or Wilder...or both of them.”
Emilia slowly looks up from the spot on the floor she was staring at, her eyebrows raised in surprise. “It would be? You’d be okay if I wanted to go out with your brother?”
I shrug a shoulder. “I mean, yeah. Why not? He’d be lucky to get a girl like you. God forbid he go out with one of the Pac skanks.” I wrinkle my nose in disgust at that notion.
She chuckles weakly. There’s a knock at the door before she can say anything more, and Wilder speaks, just as I’m about to tell him to go piss outside, “There’s coffee at the door.”
Huh, that’s actually quite thoughtful of him. Once I have heard his footsteps fade away as he disappears back down the hall, I flick the lock and crack the door, peering out to check the hall is empty. Snatching up the mugs, I quickly close the door and lock it again, passing a mug to Emilia before reclaiming my spot on the floor.
As soon as I’m comfortable, she shakes her head, picking up the conversation again. “It’s not like that anyway. I don’t like your brother that way. He infuriates me. Even just being around him has my blood pressure spiking.”
“And yet, you slept with him.”
She scowls. “I told you, it meant nothing. It was a drunken mistake. The scholarship kids don’t talk to me, and I don’t know whether it’s because I’m a scholarship student, or because I hang out with you guys now, but no one else in the school will talk to me. Pass it off as being horny and having limited options.”
Having unfortunately just taken a sip of my coffee, I snort, and have to quickly swipe at my nose, catching a few dribbles of coffee that went up the wrong pipe. Coughing, I take another few gulps, this time managing to get the coffee into my system.
“And what about Wilder?”
She frowns into her mug. “If it’s possible, I’m even more confused about him. I mean, he was your fiancé, and I guess we were kinda friends before you, you know...disappeared. I don’t know why, but when you were gone, he took it upon himself to check in with me and keep me company. He’d listen to me rant about the guys and freak out over you...he was actually, sweet, almost.” She must see the completely flabbergasted look on my face as she says, “I know, I know. I can’t believe I’m using Wilder and sweet in the same sentence.”
She’s silent for a moment before continuing, “Then he went and beat up Deke, and I was furious with him. I still am. I didn’t ask him to do that, nor did I need him to. I can fight my own battles; I don’t need him stomping in here like a neanderthal and pissing all over what isn’t his.”
I snort at her analogy and we lapse into silence as I watch her glower at a spot in the floor, thinking something over.
“I’ve, uh, actually, been invited to go on tour with Death on a Matchstick this summer,” she says hesitantly.
My mouth drops open. “No way, seriously? I didn’t even know you kept in touch with them.”
She shrugs casually. “They’ve sent me a few emails. Well, Axel and Jared have.”
“I can’t believe you’re only telling me this now,” I gape, faking outrage.
“I wasn’t going to go, but…” she trails off with another shrug. “Now I think I should. I’ve done nothing but study and live in the small bubble that is Pacific Prep for the last four years, and I’m about to go to college and do the same thing. I think…I think I want to just enjoy life for a bit.”
I nod, understanding what she’s saying. “You should. It would be good for you, besides, they’re hot as fuck. No sane person would turn down a chance to spend the summer with a rock band.”
She chuckles. “Right? I must have been crazy to question it.”
Another moment of silence lapses as we both sip on our coffees. “So, you’re not angry at me?” I can hear the nervousness in her voice, and without a second’s thought, I put my mug on the floor and crawl over to her. I wrap my arms around her in a tight hug.
“Never!”
The two of us sit on the bathroom floor, drinking our coffee and chatting about the amazing summer Emilia’s about to embark on, until there’s a hard thud against the door and Hawk’s gruff voice interrupts our chit chat. “Hadley, Jesus Christ, you can’t occupy the bathroom all morning. Some of us need to fucking shower.”
Emilia and I just burst out laughing, leaving him to huff for another half hour before we finally emerge.
Once we’ve gotten ourselves showered and dressed, we catch the bus into town—much to the agitation of Hawk and the guys, who wanted to drive us—to pick out dresses for the dance.
I have the new bank card Barton left for me, burning a hole in my pocket, even though I’m still reluctant to spend any of it. I haven’t even dared to look at how much is in the account. I’m fairly certain, no matter what the amount is, I’m going to be shell shocked, so I’m better to just not know.