I slumped against the round table. I’d stayed up late playing video games to kill time, then passed out around 3 AM.
Did Iknowwe had a meeting the next morning? Yeah, but it was hard to care. I needed a distraction from the ongoing crap in my life.
Crimson sat to my left. He wore his typical smart-ass smile. “Alone, eh? So, which one are you? Your hair’s lighter, so... Saffron?”
“I’m Aurum,” I spat.
He didn’t mention the not-dyed hair, focusing instead on a different critique. “What’s with the dark circles? Are you trying to copy Thystle’s style?”
I groaned, planting my forehead against the table. “Shut up, Crimson.”
“My dark circles are courtesy of make-up,” Thystle chimed in from Crimson’s left. “Natural dark circles are a bad thing.”
I ignored them both. I was so exhausted, and I’d rather be anywhere else.
From the corner of my eye, I checked the seat to my right—Saffron’s seat.
It was still empty.
I grimaced. We usually showed up to meetings together, but...
Still, it was weird that he was later than me. Our feelings and actions synced up a lot of the time, even without trying. The only other empty seat was Viol’s, and that surprised nobody.
Where the hell was Saffron?
Jade checked his shiny silver watch, then sighed. “Does a start time meananythinganymore?”
Crimson huffed, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs. He gestured at Thystle and Cobalt. “Three of us have young children and mates, yet we managed to arrive on time. What’s Viol and Saffron’s excuse?”
My first instinct was to bristle at Crimson insulting Saffron. But the feeling fizzled into a weird pit in my stomach. He was kinda right. Why should I stand up for Saffron when he was at fault?
The door flew open. My heart lifted for a second.
Then Viol sauntered in, his tight black leather outfit burning my eyes, and my heart dropped again.
“Yo,” Viol said roughly.
“Good morning. You’re late,” Jade pointed out.
Viol scowled at the accusation, then dragged something in from the hallway. Except it wasn’t something—it was someone.
Saffron staggered on his feet. His hair was mussed up, and the dark bags under his eyes were worse than mine.
Holy Drake, he looked like shit. So why the fuck was he smiling like a loon?
“Yeah, I’m late,” Viol snapped, “’cause I grabbed this sunny asshole on the way here.”
He suddenly turned his vitriolic glare onto me, like I’d done something wrong.
“What?” I asked.
“You didn’t notice your twin was passed out on the couch, blasting romance movies on the TV at eight in the fucking morning?”
All eyes turned to me. I winced. The truth was, I hadn’t noticed Saffron at all. Lately when we were in our room at the same time, I’d avoided looking at him, and he did the same. The shared room was divided into two sections beyond the common space, so it wasn’t difficult.
“No?” I said defensively. “I was barely awake when I came here. Besides, it’s not my responsibility to drag him along.”
Everybody stared at me like I said I wanted a giant meteor to crash into the island.
