flies open and a guy steps out of a bathroom, right into our path.
Not just any guy.
Eli.
His eyes bug out as he takes in Gabriel’s state. “Shit. Is he okay?”
“If by ‘okay,’ you mean ‘absolutely shitfaced and probably in need of a stomach pump,’ then yeah, sure. He’s okay,” Noah says. “We’re going to try to get him out of the house through the dungeon so no one sees him.”
“I’ll help.” Eli takes Gabriel’s arm from around my neck. I let him. I know Eli needs to feel like he’s solving the problem. And helping Gabriel is something he can do that doesn’t directly impact me. I step back and watch the two of them maneuver Gabriel into the master bedroom, which appears mercifully empty of revelers.
We keep the lights off, but this room overlooks the lit-up terrace, and the light from below casts an eerie glow over the already surreal space. Everything in the room is circular – a giant, circular window, circular beanbag chairs, circular rug, circular bookshelves that hold plushie toys and sculptures of Lord of the Rings characters. There’s an insane circular bed that looks like it revolves. And in the corner is a large circular hole in the floor with a shiny fireman’s pole sticking through.
I roll my eyes. “Rich people are ridiculous.”
Noah sits on the edge of the hole, dangling his legs over the side. “I can’t see anyone downstairs, but it’s a three-floor drop.” He gestures to Eli. “Get him on my shoulders.”
“I need you,” Eli grunts at me as he shoves Gabe’s prone body onto Noah’s back.
I need you.
The words wash over me like a wave, sloughing off my skin. I wonder how bitter they taste on Eli’s tongue, but he doesn’t acknowledge them. I crawl over and support Gabriel’s ass while Eli wraps his body around Noah’s shoulders like a scarf.
“Will you be able to support him?” he asks, his voice tight with worry.
“I’m about to find out.” Noah wraps his legs around the pole and pushes off from the edge.
He grunts as he takes Gabriel’s full weight, but he doesn’t lose his grip. I hold my breath as Noah spins, knocking Gabriel’s knee against the rim as the pair of them disappear into the darkness below.
The temperature in the room rises ten degrees as Eli glares at me from across the fireman’s pole. He’s changed clothes since the dance, and he looks devastating in a deep blue shirt that matches the exact shade of his eyes. Those twin oceans fix on me, swallowing me into their depths.
“Gabriel…” Eli trails off.
“He needs me. I have to go.” I grip the pole between my thighs, wrapping my hands around it and pushing off from the edge. As I spin toward him, Eli leans over and briefly captures my lips on his.
The kiss is a feather brushing against me. It’s almost possible to believe it didn’t happen. But my lips will never forget the taste of Eli Hart. I stole his kiss on the dance floor and he’s returning the favor – only this feels even more illicit, more soaked in shadow and secrets.
You’re nothing like her.
His harsh words sing in the air as I slide away from him. His body disappears from view as the ground swallows me, until he’s a memory, a dream. Until all I can see in the darkness is a pair of ocean swept eyes.
“Thank you,” I whisper. My whole body trembles as I fight to grip the pole. My body wants to float away. What just happened? Eli Hart made it clear that I was dead to him, so why does the ghost of his kiss linger on my lips?
23
Noah
We drag Gabriel down the road to where Antony waits with the car. He flings the doors open, and Claudia and I roll him into the backseat. “What the fuck happened to him?”
“It’s no big deal.” Claudia meets my eyes, and I’m not sure if she’s just tired or if something else is going on, but I get the message she doesn’t want Antony to know the details of tonight’s party. “He just had a little too much fun.”
“Why does he reek of honey? No, don’t answer that. I don’t care. If he throws up in my car, you’re clearing it up.” Antony drives us back to Gabriel’s house. I sit with Gabriel on the backseat, holding his sticky, mead-soaked body so he doesn’t smash his head into the door every time Antony flies around a corner. My