He didn’t miss a beat. “So many things.”
What was he doing?
“Like what?” I whispered.
The crinkle at the corner of his mouth deepened. “You. Everything. We’re big on art appreciation tonight, in case you haven’t heard, and we’ve established it’s not any one thing—it’s the sum of all the parts.” His brows lifted knowingly.
I bit my lip. “Is it my dazzling personality?”
“That too.”
“My eyes? My hair?”
“All of it.” He almost purred the words.
I couldn’t make sense of it.
“Are you just telling me what I want to hear?”
His smile stretched slowly—too slowly—like he was deciding how much truth he could get away with. Then he leaned back, putting space between us. “You looked upset. Nothing’s a lie, but you looked like you needed to hear it.”
My smile slipped. I was one second away from telling him to go fuck himself or pulling him in by the shirt and kissing him senseless.
I swallowed thickly. “I don’t?—”
“Ethan!”
We both turned. Mateo was running toward us, urgency written all over him. The moment our eyes met, he waved me over and spun around, already heading the other way. I didn’t hesitate, following with Sebastian close behind.
“What is it?” I asked, keeping pace.
“Henry—I’m not sure. He keeps saying your name,” Mateo said, breath uneven.
“What?”
He pushed through the crowd and slipped through a doorway into a back room—bare walls, scattered supplies, ladders leaning in the shadows. I opened my mouth to ask again when I saw him.
Henry.
He was on the floor against the far wall, knees pulled in, hands tangled in his hair. An overturned glass lay empty by his feet. He rocked slowly, like he couldn’t quite keep himself steady.
“Henny?” Sebastian’s voice came from just behind me.
Henry’s head snapped up, and his eyes landed on me. Red-rimmed. Streaming.
Oh shit?—
CHAPTER NINE
ASH
“Ash…”
The water was running hot in the shower, steam filling the entire room until everything blurred.
“Henny, what—”My heart stopped dead in my chest.
He was lying on his side in the shower, curled against the tile, clothes still on, completely drenched.
