This is another newer thing for me. I don’t normally do so well with making guy friends, but I’ve been chummy enough with Val since I joined the Zakharova.
Part of it is that he’s close to the group of girls I fell in with. But also, Val’s gone out of his way to make me feel comfortable. It’s not a sexuality thing—not like I’ve marked him “safe” simply because he dates men. Val’s bi, anyway. I saw him withplentyof girls before he and Roman crashed together.
I guess I just need to have safety proven to me, and he's…done that.
The three of us walk through the empty auditorium toward the side fire exit of the theater.
“I have an idea, Evie,” Val suddenly pipes up. He turns to wink at her. “Just pretend I’m Vaughn.”
Vaughn is Val’s slightly older butincrediblysimilar-looking brother. I’ve barely talked to him, but from the brief, passing interactions we’ve had, that’s where the similarity ends, though.
Val is an infectiously hyper ball of energy, all charming smiles.
Vaughn is the opposite.
He’s cold and calculating, as if his every move and word is specifically chosen to send a message. He’s one of those people who when he enters a room, everyoneinthat room immediately feels the chilling effect of his presence.
Which tracks, because he’s the head of something called the Obsidian Syndicate, which to the best of my knowledge is some shadowy underworld organization that no one really knows much about, Val included.
Bottom line, there’s something sinister and calculating about the guy that legit creeps me out a little.
Evie’s face goesverydark when Val brings him up.
“W-what?” she stammers.
“Why not?” Val grins. “I mean, he looks just like me. So you get allthis…” He drags a hand with a flourish over his torso and his grinning face. “But, you know,straight.” He shrugs. “Yeah. Just pretend it’s Vaughn’s hands all over you.”
Evie’s face throbs as she looks away.
I hear a chime, with jerks my attention to where Val has just turned his phone back on after it being off for rehearsal. I reach for mine just as Evie’s turns back on with a similar ping.
I use my hip to bump the back door open.
“Holyfuck...”
It feels like slow motion as I push the door wide and lift my eyes to Val. His face is white and his eyes bulging as they slide from his phone tome.
“Dove…”
Evie chokes my name, staring at her phone, then me.
My brows puzzle. “What?—”
The roar of people screaming my name hits me like a sledgehammer, ripping me out of that slowed-down moment as I whirl in shock.
Holy shit.
There’s easily thirty people in the alley behind the Mercury Theater shoving cameras and microphones into my stunned face .
What the fuck…
“DOVE!!” A woman screams, her microphone almost slamming into my mouth before I jerk my head away. A camera flashes brightly, then another, blinding me as I blink and stumble sideways.
“MS. MARCHETTI! ANY RESPONSE TO THE VICTIM’S FAMILY?!”
“MS. MARCHETTI! DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT ON THE ALLEGATIONS?!”
“DOVE! Have you spoken to the Cielo family?!”
