Gird your loins for a public massacre and for the love of all that is holy, stay offline and keep your lips zipped.
The reason for the warning? The actor had clearly started out intending to slaughter the book, having chosen “the most lurid cover in the poxy airport shop”—he’d even done a small video at the start making horrified faces and saying, “What the bollocks am I to do then? Stuck in this bloody arse-end of a room with only this minging trash for company.”
That was bullshit, since he had a phone and the ability to download a new read at any time, but the whole thing had been a show put on to entertain himself and his legions of followers.
The actor’s initial disdain was why the thread had ended up going viral. Because by the end of the book, he was just doing the barest updates.
Shit.
Fuck.
Oh hell no.
Run, motherfucker!
You numpty!
They’re all gonna die.
NO.
His final update on the thread had said: Buy this book, lads and ladies. We’ll have a blooming book club—I gotta talk about this bonkers twist. Anyone who spoils it is an absolute git. Our lad Aarav can write.
He’d then followed my account. He had twenty-five million followers at that point and followed only two hundred others.
I’d gone from having a respectable five hundred followers, to fifty thousand in the space of mere hours. The number was closer to a million now and maybe a few of them came because of the author photo and those motorcycle images shot by the magazine, but I hadn’t needed any of the photos to make my career.
My words had done it for me.
Mia looked around, waving ostentatiously at her friends to make sure they saw she was talking to me. Since I was never in the mood to do selfies with teenage girls, I was just about to make my exit with Pari when Mia’s phone rang.
“It’s Mum,” she said with a frown, and answered. “Ugh. How long?” A pause, before she looked at me. “Aarav’s here to pick up Pari. Can I ride home with him?”
I gestured for her to hand over the glitter-encrusted phone. “Diana,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Just a flat tire.” She sighed. “I’m pulled over at a petrol station, waiting for the AA to respond. Do you mind taking Mia back with you? Beau has hockey practice today, so if Shanti could keep an eye on her till I get back home, I’d be grateful.”
“Sure, no problem.” I didn’t think the fifteen-year-old would appreciate a babysitter, but there were ways to spin that. Not that I didn’t understand Diana’s overprotectiveness—I’d just seen two adult men, fathers picking up their children, give Mia an interested glance.
Jesus. She was just a kid.
After handing Mia her phone, I said, “You’re hanging with us till your mum gets home.”
She started to bristle. “I have a key.”
“Don’t you want to spend time with us?” I grinned.
Giggling, she blushed. “Um, no. I mean yeah, I want to hang with you.”
An excited Pari voluntarily gave up the front passenger seat and scrambled into the back. She chatted to Mia about her hair as I got going. I was barely paying attention, but I heard her mention Mia’s new watch. I’d spotted it while we were talking, one of the big new colorful styles I’d seen advertised on several major billboards.
“Aunt Sarah sent it to me for my birthday.” Mia showed it off. “I asked Mum if I could open it early and she said it was up to me.”
“Are you going to have a party?” Pari’s voice was hopeful.
“A slumber party,” Mia answered before I could head things off. “Just for friends my age.”
Pari said, “Oh,” and I wanted to wince, but I couldn’t blame Mia for not wanting a much younger child at her sixteenth.
“But I’ll save you a piece of cake and make sure to come over before the slumber party so we can take a picture together. Wear your party dress.” Mia’s generous offer was enough to have my sister smiling again.
Yeah, Diana had good kids, kids raised in love who understood kindness.
“Mum’s taking me on a shopping spree,” Mia continued excitedly, “and Dad said I can pick out my own car after I pass my restricted license test. He gave me a budget, so it won’t be new or anything, and he’s really strict about making sure they have all the safety systems, but I already found some super cute used ones online. Beau said