Light turns my eyelids golden and I rise up out of sleep slowly at first, then in a jarring torrent of memory.
Hex.
Coming back to my suite last night.
God, my room is trashed again, but for a different and way superior reason. Among the discarded clothing, there are, if I remember correctly, at least two more magically generated ghosts and three rather creepy fake spiders, all courtesy of the delirious, blissed-out curse words I got out of him last night. In SpanishandEnglish, because I’m an overachiever in this area.
I grin wickedly and roll over—
The bed is empty.
I flare up, feeling the sheets, eyes snapping around the room. “Hex?”
No response.
He didn’t—no, not again. Just, flat-outno,he’s here, somewhere, he has to be—
I scramble to grab my phone, drop it, pick it back up, and swipe it open to a missed text from him.
HEX
Don’t worry—I did not leave. I’m in Iris’s room for breakfast. Join us when you’re awake.
The absolutetidal wavethat is relief surging through my chest cavity flattens me back on the bed. My body actually vibrates a little.
I laugh pitifully to the empty room.
Okay. So I might have some attachment issues.
I’ll work on that.
I tug on pajama pants, pocket my phone, and try not to race out of my room too desperately.
Thankfully, there are no staff in the hall just yet as I hurry, shirtless and hair gone wild, to Iris’s room.
Her door is cracked open. “Iris—Iris, do you know where—”
Hex is sitting on the couch in her suite, legs folded, a cup of tea in his hands. He’s wearing one of my Yale hoodies, my boxers. Hiseyeliner is smeared and his hair is swept over one shoulder and he looks up at me, all gleaming joy.
He lowers the cup from his lips. “You’re up,” he says brightly.
I cross the room, vault the back of the couch, drop to my knees on the cushions, and kiss him quite senseless.
“Coal!” Iris chirps. “You made him spill tea all over my—”
“You were gone,” I say into Hex’s mouth.
He pushes back, startled. “You didn’t see my text? You were sleeping so deeply. I didn’t—”
I drag him back and capture his mouth again. “I saw it. But you were stillgone.”
“You needed sleep.”
“I needyou.”
“You have me.”
“Not enough, not—”
