Chapter 19
The Witherbornes knew how to throw a party.
When I showed up that Friday, their entire house was full of people.
Glittery and pretty and probably important people.
So naturally, I had no idea who any of them were and felt invisible.
The invisible part I liked. I still had a controlling ex I needed to avoid, which meant no social media and keeping a low profile.
But I’d been at the house for thirty minutes, only the staff had acknowledged me, and I still hadn’t found Theo.
Different music played depending on what side of the house you were in. Different food and drinks too. The quieter, more sophisticated side had to be Theo’s mother’s territory. The wilder, noisier side probably belonged to the brothers, although I hadn’t seen them yet.
I grabbed some wine, hopefully not drugged, and headed out onto the patio. Some of the partygoers had climbed right into the pool, fully clothed. That was going to play havoc with the chemical balance, but at least they were having fun.
Where was Theo?
I spotted Fleur by an outside bar, chatting with someone, and made my way over.
“Hey, Fleur.”
“Owen!” she squealed, then flung her arms around me. She wore a cute little bikini with a baggy pink shirt over it, and strappy sandals.
“Oh, uh, hi.”
“I heard about the thing next door.” She’d said the last part from the corner of her mouth, trying to make it sound secretive, but instead drew attention to it, so her friend raised his eyebrow.
“Oh yeah, that.” I’d tried not to think about the events at the Briar house a few days previous. Nothing had been on the news, and the cops hadn’t been knocking down my door, so I figured it was all good. “Hey, so . . . the salt?”
“Yeah, Theo said you salted the neighbor. Nice.”
“I have you to thank for that. How did you know salt was his weakness?”
Fleur leaned on the bar. “I didn’t, it was just there, this whole time. Salt, salt, salt. Like a voice in my head.”
I knew all about voices in heads. “Well, thanks. I think you helped me realize what needed to be done.”
“I have a new one now,” Fleur said, her expression turning troubled. “But it’s weird. Just a name . . . Tabitha. I don’t remember if I should know the name or not.”
“Tabitha?”
“Yup, I wake up with Tabitha in my head. No idea who she is, but her name is in me.” She brightened again and downed her drink. “Free bar. Want some more?”
I showed her my wine glass, still half full. “I’m good. Have you seen Theo?”
“No, but he’s supposed to be here, and his mother is annoyed he’s not.”
An annoyed Geraldine was probably best avoided. “He’s not in the pool house?”
She shook her head. “Too many people out here, he said, before it even got like this.” She nodded toward the upper rows of windows on the main house. “I think he’s sulking upstairs. He’s been quiet since . . . the neighbor incident.”
“Oh.” That didn’t sound good. I’d expected him to be happy now his neighbor had been dealt with and Jay’s murderer brought to vigilante justice.
“You should go find him. He always brightens when you’re around.”
I hadn’t spoken to him since the night at the Briars’.
We hadn’t texted. He’d called, but . . .
I’d let it ring out. I’d needed my space to adjust. But I should probably have checked in with Theo before now.
He’d gone through a lot too. And the whole transition thing must have been a huge change. “How’s he been these last few days?”
“Quiet.” Her smile fell. “He’s always such fun. I don’t like when he’s quiet.”
“Yeah, me neither.” I told her I’d see her later and headed back inside. Theo had given me the tour of the house, but he hadn’t showed me his room. I was going to have to try and figure it out. Or . . .
I pulled my phone from my pocket and texted him.
Hey, it’s party time. Where you at?
Hey, Freckles. Come up
Sure thing, Fangs. Where’s your room?
He texted me directions, which as it turned out, I’d definitely needed. The house was insanely huge and the layout old and illogical. I eventually found the room, after several staircases and junctions, and after stumbling on one very amorous couple in a hallway.
Theo opened before I’d finished knocking. He leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed, gaze raking over me. His jeans were slung low, somehow defying gravity while clinging to his narrow hips.
“Sure you trust me enough to come in?” he asked.
I almost laughed, but while his smile said he was joking, his eyes called his mouth a liar.
“C’mon.” I wore my own sheepish smile in the hopes it would break any buildup of ice from the past few days.
“That was a high-stress situation. You can’t blame me for waving a piano leg at you when you had your fangs out like I was on the menu. ”
He rolled his eyes and somehow made the gesture go all the way down his body as he turned away, leaving the door open.
His room was three times the size of my entire apartment, bigger maybe.
I stepped inside, and it just kept on going.
Bed area, couch area, TV area. Basically, a whole apartment for sleeping in.
A fancy black and gold guitar hung on the wall.
I’d had no idea he played, or maybe it was just for Instagram.
Expensive clothes hung off most places—draped over the couch, pooled on the floor, hanging off a treadmill that hadn’t been used in a while, if ever.
An empty vodka bottle on the nightstand.
A wall of framed magazine covers, all of them him, and across from the bed, a mirror big enough to be a problem.
He sauntered toward the windows, where the noise from the outside party filtered up. His shirt hung off his shoulders and halfway down his arms. He didn’t look dressed for a party, but the unhinged look was all him.
“Hey, so . . .” I followed him in, letting the door close behind me. “I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s a party going on downstairs, and its star isn’t there. He kinda invited me, so . . .you coming down?”
“Maybe.”
I was definitely getting solemn vibes. I set my wine glass down on a sideboard and ambled closer. “You okay?”
“Like you care, pool boy. You just work here.”
Alright then. We’d found the tone, so at least I knew where I stood.
“Huh . . . I guess.” He didn’t want me here.
That was fine. I played with the ring on my finger.
Jay’s ring. Yes, I stole it after saying I’d turned over a new leaf and was good Owen now.
I was borrowing it. “I can . . . I’ll go, then, if you like. ”
“No, dumbass.” He snorted. “I’m being a bitch because you’re an easy target and I’m in a mood. Get that cute ass over here.”
I didn’t move until he turned his head and smiled, softening his hard tone.
Damn, Theo confused me. Did he want me here or not?
We’d kissed, and now I was getting iced out, but my ass was cute.
What was any of this anyway? Did he want company?
Did he want me gone so he could brood? I wanted to be here.
I’d come back after seeing insane things. That had to say something, didn’t it?
I made my way over to the window and stopped on the side opposite him. We looked down at the pool and the fifty or so people crowded around it. Some were in the water, in shorts and bikinis, wine glasses held aloft. Very Miami.
“Is the pool safe?” Theo asked.
“Probably.” I should have been back to check it, but I’d been avoiding the house. And Theo’s calls. “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here,” I said softly, keeping my eyes on the pool.
He looked over, silently reading me. He did that a lot.
Thinking too fast behind those eyes. I wasn’t sure what he saw in me, but whatever it was, he returned his gaze to the pool and the smiley people.
“Most everyone down there is a shade of gray. People do good and bad shit. I see it all now, Owen, brighter than before. I judge them before they’ve even opened their mouth, I can’t help it.
I see their souls like neon signs. At least one person in that crowd has done something most people would consider vile. No wonder these are mother’s people.”
I didn’t want to ask, but felt as though he was leading me into it. “What’s my neon sign say?”
He didn’t answer or look over, and that was worse. It had to be bad, for him not to laugh it off. Oh heck, I was psychopath. A bunny-boiling Ted Bundy. I might as well hand myself in and get it over with.
“You’re not as bad as you think,” he said, keeping his voice level and his gaze on the crowd. “But you’ve got some shit going on.”
It didn’t help, knowing he could see my sins. Or maybe it did? Maybe it was exactly what I needed. I couldn’t hide from Theo, even if I wanted to. But he was still here. Still talking to me. Still thought I had a cute ass.
“I don’t care, by the way.” Now he looked over.
A little curl of dark hair flopped over his eye.
“It’s just . . . it’s a lot. Not you. All of it.
I mean, I knew it was all bullshit, the front people put on, but the people I thought I knew, I see them differently now.
I don’t want to know them like this. And then there’s the hunger.
You saw it by the pool after we dealt with Jeremy.
I can’t ignore it. It’s behind everything I do.
I didn’t like who I was then, and now I really don’t like who I am.
” He chewed on his bottom lip. “I don’t know if I can do this, Owen.
I don’t think I can be everything everyone else wants me to be.
I’ll suffocate, or drown, or something.”
I wasn’t going to tell him everything would be fine. I wasn’t that kind of person. “Yeah . . . I know that feeling.”
We fell quiet for a few minutes, both of us thinking.
“Thank you, for doing what you did. Saving me,” he said.
“No worries.”
“You did also transition me, which kinda sucks, honestly, but here we are.”
“What was I supposed to do, let you drown?”
He shrugged, as though that had been an option.