He presses harder on the gas, and we zoom past a moving van and into the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel, the one-and-a-half-mile stretch of concrete that connects New Jersey and New York City. Once we’re past several cars, I stand up, holding on to his shoulders, legs trembling, the wind sending my hair flying.
“What are you doing?” Liam yells. “You trying to get us killed?”
I laugh and sit back down, leaning forward and saying into his ear, “Come on, live a little.”
He shakes his head and takes off, but I can tell he’s smiling.
He turns on the radio, and a familiar Cat Burns song booms from the speakers. The one playing the first time we’d kissed in Sterling Club.
“Hey, turn it up.” He does, and the feeling I get is pure magic. I lift my arms into the air and let out a scream.
—
When we arriveat the address Zee gave us, my heart is still hammering in my chest. I watch as Liam takes his helmet off and unzips his jacket.
“So what’d you think of the bike?”
I shrug. “Eh.”
“Eh? What do you meaneh?”
I grin, pushing my hair out of my face, and lean in to kiss him. “I’m joking, it was awesome.” He pulls me against him and kisses me back hard, sending a current of electricity rushing through me.
—
The rooftop deckis filled with Greystone alumni, a mix of New York finance types and artists.
I scan the crowd. “Zee should be here somewhere.”
We find her by the bar, taking a shot with a random guy.
“Zee!”
“You made it!” I can tell she’s already tipsy. She throws her arms around me. “This is Calum. He’s class of 2017.”
“Calum Fuller.” Wait—isn’t that the man DuPont said had a job for me? He holds out a hand. He’s got whitish hair, dark bags under his eyes, and pale, sickly skin.
I take his hand. “Naomi Mason, nice to finally meet you. Professor DuPont told me about you.”
“Naomi! A pleasure. You know, your sister tutored me when I was in high school.” He lets out a laugh, remembering. “She’s a genius. Helped me out big-time. Glad to be able to return the favor.”
What is he talking about? What favor?
“I’ll tell her hi for you. Uh, this is—”
“Liam Alexander,” Liam says, shaking the man’s hand.
“Ah…are you related to a Liam Alexander, class of ’85?” Calum asks.
“My father.” An emotion clouds Liam’s eyes. He doesn’t talk much about his father.
Calum nods. “Our fathers were roommates. Ask him about Colin Fuller. Sounds like they got in a whole lot of trouble back then. Get him to tell you how they got Bethany Parkhosed.”Hosedwas the term used for a student who got rejected from an eating club they’d bickered. It was a cruel form of social ostracism.
Liam grimaces.
Next to him, Zee grows impatient. She holds up a shot glass. “Are we doing this or what?”
After they take shots, I put my arm around Zee, who is draping herself over some random guy, and drag her away. “Who the hell is that and where is Trey?”
