Calliope just shook her head again, taking a sip of her Diet Coke before wrinkling her nose. “He’s not a bad kid. He just sometimes does bad things. But there’s just—” She gave a huge sigh. “There’s just something missing in him. I don’t want to lock him away. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. There’s no place to put him. They don’t want to help a child before they do something violent. Only after.”
“What specifically are you asking of me, Calliope?”
She looked him directly in the eye. “Help me teach my son how to be a person, a productive member of society. I can’t pay you, but I have skills that might be beneficial to you, considering what you do.”
What he did… To the rest of the world, he was just another one-percenter with a charitable foundation used as some kind of tax write-off. They were a little easier on him because of his tragic past and the fact that he’d adopted seven children, but there were whispers about that as well. He shook the thoughts away.
“Skills?” he asked.
“I’m a hacker. A good one. Hell, a great one. Possibly even the greatest ever. I’ve never met a system I couldn’t hack. I have a day job, but it’s a solitary job. Nobody watches me. I can be at your beck and call. Just help me. Please.”
Calliope clearly wasn’t somebody accustomed to asking for help. She looked like she’d rather have a root canal than beg a rich stranger to save her son, but there she was, doing it anyway.
Thomas could use somebody like her. There was no doubt about that, but how did he teach somebody to curb impulses in their child that he blatantly encouraged in his own? “And if I can’t help you?”
Calliope stared at him with dull eyes. “Then, at some point, my son is going to snap and kill somebody and the blood will be on both our hands.”
It was impolite to stare. It was something Dimitri’s mother had drilled into his head from the time he was little. Don’t stare. Don’t obsess. Don’t let people see who—no, not who, but what—you really are. Normal people didn’t like that, didn’t find his stalkerish tendencies romantic or flattering.
The thing was, Dimitri had never obsessed over anybody but Arlo, had seen nobody but Arlo from the moment he’d dragged his mat next to Dimitri’s in Mrs. Faison’s preschool class and confessed he was afraid of the dark. Dimitri had assured him that he was afraid of nothing and that had reassured Arlo enough to fall asleep.
Arlo didn’t remember that, and he didn’t remember Dimitri. After Dimitri had set Arlo’s parents’ bed on fire, his mother had moved them away, away from prying eyes and away from Arlo. But Dimitri had found his way back. The moment he’d gotten his license, he’d learned where Arlo was, what he was doing, and had found a way to make their paths meet again.
Not that Arlo knew any of that. As far as he knew, he and Dimitri were just friends due to circumstance. They both needed money, so they both worked at the campus coffee shop, which was where Dimitri now sat, taking his thirty minute break with a group of people he called friends. Well, who called him a friend. Truthfully, he wouldn’t care if a hole opened up and swallowed them up right in the middle of Hallowed Grounds.
“You’re going, right, Dimi?”
Perfectly manicured fingers appeared, snapping an inch from his face. Dimitri dragged his gaze from the boy behind the counter to stare blankly at the blonde-haired girl before him. “What?”
Mandy rolled her eyes. “You never listen to me.”
“To be fair, you never stop talking,” Jason said. “It’s hard to keep up.”
Mandy gave him the finger and a pissy look, which only made Jason more bold. Mandy liked the attention, though. She liked any and all attention. But Jason was right, she never stopped talking. And never about anything that interested Dimitri. She talked about frat parties, and football games, and, well, Dimi. She’d been trying to get with him since the start of senior year, and not even his sexual orientation seemed to stop her constant attempts to trick him into a date.
But Dimitri only had eyes for Arlo. Sweet, soft, dangerously pretty Arlo. As if he could hear his thoughts, the boy looked up from behind the counter and gave him a timid smile. It didn’t meet his eyes. Arlo hadn’t given him a genuine smile since that piece of shit, Holden, had shown up in his life.
“I can’t. I have to work,” Dimitri said. “I’m closing tonight. Remember?”
Mandy pouted, her bottom lip pooching out in a look that wasn’t nearly as cute as she thought it was. “Can’t you get somebody to cover for you? Like that kid with all the acne.”
The kid in question was Remi, and he would have laughed if he’d heard Mandy’s assessment of his looks. Remi’s skin wasn’t clear but that didn’t stop the girls from throwing themselves at him. He was smart, funny, and his family was filthy rich. And, somehow, he was still a nice guy.
But no, Dimitri couldn’t ask Remi to cover for him because Remi was already scheduled to close with Arlo. Dimitri would be off in twenty minutes. But he wasn’t about to tell Mandy that. She was like a dog with a bone. She wouldn’t let it go until she either dragged him to the party or he lost his shit and told her to get lost. Neither of those things were particularly appealing to him.
“I’ll ask,” Dimitri lied.
“Yay,” Mandy said, bouncing on the balls of her feet and clapping her hands like she was about to break out in a cheer. Jason rolled his eyes, returning his gaze to his laptop. He’d been pretending to study since they’d sat down, but really, he was keeping an eye on Mandy. Jason really liked Mandy.
Dimitri made a production out of pulling his phone free and typing out a text to Remi, just not the one Mandy expected.Can I take your shift tonight?
The reply was instantaneous.Shit, pretty boy. You can take all my shifts.
Dimitri did his best to hide his smirk.I just need this one. Thanks. Oh, and if anybody asks, I was always scheduled to work this shift. Cool?
The eyeball emoji popped up, then,Anybody? Would anybody be stalker Barbie?
Dimitri’s only response was a thumbs up. With that settled, he slipped his phone back into the pocket of his apron and shrugged.“He said there’s no way. It’s his mom’s birthday.”
