He kneels down next to my chair. “I’ve been kind of a jerk lately.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
He grins. “I wasjelly. You get to go hang with all these rich, famous people—”
“They’re not rich and famous. Well, not all of them.”
“And I can tell something important’s been happening over the last few weeks. But you wouldn’t let me in. Wouldn’t tell meanything.”
“Itoldyou why—”
“I know, I know. NDAs and contracts. It still hurt. But that’s all beside the point.”
I stare down at him, my best friend. He’s a terrible employee and he’s been behaving like a dumbass these last six months, but I still love him. “It’s beside the point?”
“Yeah. Becauseyou’rehurting, Ollie, and I’m your best friend. You’resupposedto talk to me. So, come on. I can tell some major pain’s going on in there.” He taps at my chest. “Spill it.”
We’re at work, I’m supposedly still on shift, and Ididsign a bunch of NDAs and contracts.
But I just don’t care anymore.
“I met this guy…”
CHAPTER33
Elliot
Zee and Nik’s Halloween masquerade ball is normally the highlight of my personal social season.
To be fair, I don’thavemuch of a social season. I keep to myself, and it’s been a very long time since I attended any events or gatherings in England. But I never miss this Halloween masquerade, not since the first one they held years ago.
Part of the reason I enjoy it so much is because the wearing of a mask appeals to me. Despite the fact that I’ve spent the last six weeks wishing I could rip Oliver’s off his face, Idoenjoy wearing a mask myself, probably for the same reason the Venetians enjoy their masquerade season. It allows me to throw off the social expectations of my class, and to become someone else…if only for a night.
And yet I’m not looking forward to tonight’s masquerade atall. If anything, I feel only a terrible sense of loss. A few days from now, I will go back to my dreary, lonely life.
All that effort to save Arden Hall was warranted, if only for the people who depend on the estate for their jobs.
But the house itself…
When I think of it now, it seems huge and empty and hollow. I shut myself up there for three years and feltsafe, telling myself I was merely hibernating for a season.
The truth was, I was burying myself alive.
So tonight it’s with a sense of sadness and regret that I put on the mask I plan to wear. I wear a formal suit and add a simple black mask to the ensemble. It doesn’t cover my face as much as Oliver’s covered his, but it is perfectly adequate for tonight.
Oliver.
The thought of him hits as hard as it always does, and I pause for a moment as my body echoes the emotional pain.
The night he left,Ialmost did, too: I wanted to run, get away from this place and never have to feel the way I felt that night again. I’d even sent down for Daniel to come and pack my things, when Niklaus got wind of what was going on, and came in to see me himself, dismissing Daniel.
“Elliot,” he’d said firmly, “what in the hell is going on? Carlton tells me that Ollie’s left the house, and now I find you packing as well, and trying to bring your flight forward?”
I’d asked Carlton to do that for me. Apparently he’d gone to Niklaus instead.Thatdisobedience only made me angrier.
“Yes,” I told Niklaus coldly. “Oliver has gone. And I’m leaving, too. I never should have come,nevershould have agreed to reduce my music to some trifling, marketablenonsense!I’m going home.”
“The hell you are,” Niklaus said calmly. “I’ve put my reputation on the line for you, Elliot. No matter what happened tonight, you’regoingto that meeting.” I whirled on him, only for him to raise one finger warningly. “Don’tmake me get Zee in here, Elliot. That wouldn’t end well for either of us.”
