Chapter Forty-Eight
Emme stood in oversized men’s jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt, her feet bare on the cold tiled floor.
‘Thank you, Tiago, I appreciate all of this.’
‘It’s nothing,’ he smiled.
‘No, really, I’m a mess.’
‘Here, take my boots, they’re big but they’ll get you home. Wear thick socks.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Don’t be weird about it,’ Tiago said with a shrug and a joke.
The heel of Cassie’s borrowed stilettos had broken when Emme went flying.
Tristan had looked desperately at her, in their messy clinch.
‘Are you OK?’ he’d asked, his handsome brow brooding and bleeding.
Emme had nodded, and been helped up by Tristan, closely watched by Tiago and Cat, who admonished Dimitri Diamandis for hurting her friend as a consequence of his violent rage.
Although Emme had managed to hobble to Tiago’s place in one shoe, the broken one in hand, she couldn’t walk home like that.
The snow had settled in Kristalldorf and she was grateful for the change of clothes as she looked around Tiago’s humble apartment.
It was the least fancy place she had seen since arriving: six Portuguese and two Mexican workers shared three bedrooms, but it was clean and warm and felt like the safest bet at the time.
At least she had somewhere to go. Poor Cat was stuck in Chalet Edelweiss, picking up the emotional shards after Emme and Tiago had helped her with the physical ones.
Emme caught the thick balled-up pair of ski socks as Tiago threw them.
‘Never made a more dramatic 100 francs, huh?’ he joked.
Emme shook her head.
‘Don’t,’ she said with a weary smile.
Now wasn’t the time to tell Tiago or Cat that she had inserted herself into this ghastly mess a fortnight ago. It was all so fucked up.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Nieves, Tiago’s flatmate, as she walked into the apartment. ‘My friend said there was a fight at the Kivvi party and –’
Nieves saw Emme standing in Tiago’s clothes.
‘Oh,’ she said, intrigued. Tiago never brought girls home.
‘Long story, I’ll tell you later … but this is my buddy Emme, she was working there with me.’
‘Oh really?’ Nieves said, almond eyes full of intrigue.
‘Wow, news really travels fast in this town!’ Emme said, raising an eyebrow. She put on Tiago’s socks and laced up his boots as Nieves slunk off to the kitchen with her grocery bags.
‘Want me to walk you home?’ Tiago asked.
‘It’s fine,’ Emme said, gathering her purse, coat, and a plastic bag of clothes.
She was dreading getting back to the Harrington home and hearing Lexy wittering about the drama they had all just witnessed.
She was worried about Tristan and the state of his face.
For a small guy, Dimitri Diamandis certainly packed a punch.
Emme opened her arms out and gave Tiago a hug.
‘Thanks T,’ she said. ‘I’ll wash these and return them.’
‘You better had.’ He said with a smile. ‘That sweatshirt cost me fifteen euros.’
And he squeezed her back. Two outsiders in their strange huddle.