After getting dressed, I found Theo in the adjoining room, bent over behind the couch. He turned his head at my footfalls. His profile was breathtaking—then I saw the item in his hand.
“You do still have her diary.”
He shoved it back in a black bag. I tried not to be hurt he was still hiding it from me. I chewed my lip as an awkward silence stretched.
“You really don’t want to look for her?” I asked.
Theo stood to his full height, folding his arms, taking in my pale blue cropped tank top with a plunging vee, my tight skirt that barely hit my thighs. “Where are you going?”
“You didn’t answer my…” I trailed off with a sigh and shrugged. “Off the island.”
He arched a brow. “You don’t get invited to that.”
Ouch.
“Well, tonight I was.” I mashed my lips so he couldn’t see the pain, but it was futile. His eyes softened, seeing through me. I raised my middle finger, showing my dangling T2, trying to change the subject.
“I’m bringing my dog. Nothing to worry about.”
He didn’t argue when I opened my window. I could’ve taken the door… but I liked having him catch me; it was like before everything went to shit. Theo went first and held both his arms out for me, hoisting me down from the window. My chest slid against his, and he held me in place long after I was safely down.
“Sure you want to go out?” he asked, low. My eyes were locked on his soft lips, dusky pink in the dark. The Mediterranean night air was warm, and his lips were so, so close.
There was still so much debris between us. The longer we went without addressing it, the harder it would be to dig ourselves out, but the emotion surging behind his luminous eyes brought me back to the simpler nights. The nights when he caught me from my window, when we both fell to the night dark grass and tried to keep our laughter hidden from roaming Crowne Hall guards. There were times when I thought he would kiss me. When he stared at my lips the way he did now.
I lifted my eyes, meeting his burning ones.
In the distance, a bird squawked and I used the distraction to separate.
I won’t lie, I was terrified as we approached the dock. I wouldn’t have put it past my brother and sister to leave without me. They were there, though, boat churning water, Gray at the wheel and Story seated behind him.
I took a seat in the stern, watching her. Story looked absolutely miserable. I wasn’t ever one to wonder why Gray did the things he did, but now I couldn’t help it. What was he doing with her? Or… to her.
Gray pulled us away from the pier, and in no time we were rushing toward our destination, sweet, salty air kissing my cheeks. The Riviera skyline was like a colorful chest of treasure opened and shining against the black sky. Gray turned off the engine when we arrived, steering us into a hidden cliff. The stars above us vanished and for a moment it was utterly pitch.
The thumping beat hit us first.
Then the dark opened up into a dazzling cliffside grotto that looked out over an ocean, enclosed by rock on three of its sides. A DJ spun on a dais in the middle of the water, colorful jewel-toned spotlights flashed from him into the crowd. Girls in bikinis and skimpy dresses danced on stages built into the rock, hair flying with their movements. Some jumped off rocks into the water below.
Gray docked our boat amid many others.
This was the most exclusive club in the French Riviera. Only a few knew its location and how to get here. I already recognized Khalid and the teenage heartthrob from our after party. The thing is, exclusive just meant small. We all frequent the same clubs and places. If you don’t like someone, tough shit, you learn to tolerate them.
Someone was there to help each of us out of our boat.
Theo, Gemma, and I were the last to leave.
“Let’s try to avoid each other,” Gemma said to me, her hand still encased in the man helping her get out. She stepped onto the polished floor, her hair all but whipping me in the face. She spotted her friends—the Gemma troopers, I called them, because they all looked like mini fucking Gemmas—and ran to them with a squeal.
“Yeah, they really wanted you here,” Theo said at my back, a laugh all but on his tongue.
I ground my jaw, letting the man help me out of the boat as I eyed the girls dancing on the stages, my plan set.
“You have your bad idea face again,” Theo said when he was out of the boat.
“I don’t have—” I exhaled, blowing a strand of hair. “Will you do me a favor, Theo?” I asked, batting my eyelashes, tone saccharine.
He pushed his cheek out with his tongue, looking me up and down with sharp eyes. A small barely-there smile hooked his cheek, and it nearly buckled me. It was like he was reading all of my thoughts, and it amused him. I was a mouse the lion had decided not to kill for a few minutes.