“No, it’s okay. If it’s important to you, of course I’ll try. I just don’t know how much Ash will be willing to talk to me about that.”
Henry gave me a wry smile, leaning his elbows on the table. “Are you kidding me? You’re literally the only person in the world Sebastian has ever opened up to.” His voice softened. “He doesn’t let people in when things are falling apart. If he’s letting you in now… that’s not small.”
The butterflies kicked up a frenzy in my stomach. I was stupidly pleased by it. “I’ll try.”
Henry smiled again. “Just don’t use that as an excuse to keep hitting on him.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” I stared down at my plate, lips pulling into a tiny smirk. “If I were, he wouldn’t know what hit him,” I muttered.
“Heard that.”
Casa Umbral, in the Carabanchel district, used to be an old warehouse before it was repurposed into a contemporary art gallery. I hadn’t explored much of the west side of the city, but the industrial landscape was just as striking as anywhere else I’d been.
Inside, the place was crowded with modern and abstract pieces, everything arranged in those clean, impossible-to-replicate lines that made you stand a little straighter. The room buzzed with the artsy crowd of the city. Servers drifted by with trays of champagne, though plenty of people clutched small beer glasses instead. It didn’t feel overly pretentious—more like a niche corner of Madrid that somehow managed to feel exclusive without crossing into annoying.
I was—however—annoyed.
First, because the reason I was here at all was to be the emotional support friend of Henry Langley, who had decided at the last minute that bringing a date was better than bringingme.Something had definitely happened between him and Mateo this week, but he wasn’t sharing, which meant I was free to keep being irritated about being abandoned tonight.
The second reason was currently holding a glass of champagne in one hand while his other arm was looped through Sebastian Langley’s, posed like a polished little ornament. They’d walked in looking like the perfect couple, and even though Sebastian refused to take any official pictures, the people orbiting them—presumably Luca’s friends—were all about the selfies.
And I was wandering around aimlessly—alone—while the Langley brothers annoyed the hell out of me. Again.
It didn’t help that Sebastian looked fucking impeccable as always. I took some small comfort in the fact that the second he spotted me, his eyes dragged over me appreciatively before landing on mine. He threw me a wink, and my stomach did that traitorous dip I absolutely did not authorize.
“Ethan!”
My head snapped in the direction of the voice, and I immediately lit up, arms open as one of my favorite people in the world barreled toward me.
“Ari,” I laughed as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
“I’ve missed your face,” she said, squeezing me a little too hard.
“Very much the same. Please tell me you’re staying for more than a day this time.”
She stepped back, whiskey in hand. “I wish. Henry’s here, so I’ve got to take care of the rest. I’m off to Greece tomorrow night—still a few weeks left before offseason.”
“Work, work, work.” I lifted my glass with a smirk.
She mirrored me. “Learned from the best. Or maybe the worst?”
“Definitely the worst.”
“Speaking of which…” She craned her neck, eyes sweeping the gallery like a hawk tracking prey. “There’s the devil and… the devil’s new boyfriend?” Her gaze flew back to me.
“Yup. That would be him.”
“And do we like him? What are we doing? What’s the plan?”
“We are attempting maturity, but…” I made a face. “We might be failing a little.”
“Sounds about right.” She bumped her shoulder against mine lightly. “How’s school?”
“Great. Actually a little overwhelming, since I started at VistaReal a couple of weeks ago.”
She froze mid-sip. “Excuse me? Started as in… working?” Her eyes widened. “Are you Sebastian’s employee? Did you two somehow manage to make your relationship even more complicated?”
“There’s no relationship to complicate this time,” I said. “We’re just friends. And I’m just part-time, so don’t look at me like that.”
