Empire High Elite (Empire High #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,36
arms before he could finish his thought. God it was so nice to be hugged after walking around the Pruitts haunted house for the last day. I’d started to believe in ghosts for goodness’ sake. And the chill that wouldn’t leave my skin dissipated in his arms.
“Uh…hey, man,” Felix said, his arms wrapping more securely around me. “Can I help you?”
I pulled myself out of Felix’s embrace. “This is Miller. I believe you met him last night when you stopped by?”
“Yeah.” When no one said anything for a beat, Felix added, “but that doesn’t explain why he’s here now.”
“Miller has to follow me around all day because Mr. Pruitt is insane.”
Felix looked back and forth between us when Miller didn’t even offer a hello. “What do you mean follow you around?”
“He’s my bodyguard or something like that.”
Miller nodded.
“Well thanks for dropping her off,” Felix said.
Miller shook his head. “If she’s coming in, so am I.”
“Oooookay. Well, come in then I guess.”
Miller walked past him and looked around the foyer like he thought there were explosives and guns about to go off. He peered behind a few pieces of framed art and looked under a console table.
“What the hell is this?” Felix whispered.
“I’m sorry. I only just found out that he’d be accompanying me during all my outings.” I watched Miller look behind another painting. He’d been so normal last night. And now he was acting like a guard dog. Was he sniffing that vase for a bomb?
“All your outings?” Felix asked.
“There’s a whole list of rules about who I’m allowed to hang out with. Luckily you made the cut, because it doesn’t seem like Mr. Pruitt is ever going to let me hang out with Kennedy again. He has some grudge against people that aren’t in his zip code or something. Which is why I need to ask you a favor,” I said, lowering my voice.
“What do you need?”
“Can you distract Miller for me for a few minutes so I can make a run for it?” Actually, I wasn’t sure if I’d need Felix for this. Miller seemed plenty distracted all by himself. Seriously, what was he looking for?
Felix looked over at Miller and then back at me. “Where are you going to go? Why don’t you just stay here?”
“I’m supposed to be back for dinner with Mr. Pruitt tonight. Miller wouldn’t let me stay here, he’d drag me out of here when the time came. He already dragged me away from the funeral. I have to get away from him in order to pull this off. I’m going to go to Kennedy’s. I’m pretty sure Mr. Pruitt would never follow me there. He’s repulsed by it.”
“Doesn’t mean he won’t send Miller.”
Good point. “Then I’ll just…go somewhere else. Please, Felix, you have to help me. I can’t spend another night there.”
“Well you don’t have to make a run for it just yet. Come in and relax for a bit and we can strategize.”
He was right. I didn’t have to flee this second. Mr. Pruitt would be gone for hours. At least, I thought golf took hours. Whenever I saw it on TV, it certainly felt like I’d been watching for hours.
“I’ll let Kennedy know you’re here too.” Felix pulled out his phone and shot her a text. “Wait, you texted me.” He looked up at me. “Does that mean you got a phone?”
“Yeah. And a laptop. And a new wardrobe. And an Amex card for…something. I don’t know.”
He laughed. “I like your outfit.” He put his hand on my shoulder and gently ran it down to my elbow. “Your sweater is really soft.”
Miller cleared his throat. “Everything looks good here. Can we maybe choose one room to hang out in so I don’t have to do this all day?” His voice practically echoed. The last time I’d been to Felix’s there were students everywhere dancing and drinking. It was weird seeing it so empty. But empty was a lot better than haunted.
“Sure,” Felix said as he threw his arm around my shoulders. “Right this way.”
I was pretty sure Miller was glaring at us as Felix pulled me to the family room. Yeah, I could definitely feel Miller’s eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. I knew this was going to be awkward. Miller had insisted it wouldn’t be, but he was the one being weird. And I hadn’t even run away yet. At least he was the third wheel instead of me.