“Do you have planstonight?”
Chapter Seven
Seth
Istared at Elle…sitting there with her platinum hair and her flawless makeup, looking back at me with her steel-gray eyes. I wasn’t even sure what she was asking me,exactly.
My only plan tonight—and for the last many years of my life—had been to reunite with Dirty. And since that clearly wasn’t happening today… Yeah. I was pretty fucking wideopen.
“No plans,” Isaid.
“Good. Then you can come toHawaii.”
“Hawaii?”
“Kauai.” She wasn’t looking at me anymore, just watching traffic roll by out her window. “Have you everbeen?”
“No.”
“It’s the best island. You’ll like it. Woo has a place there where I sometimes stay. I’m on my way therenow.”
“Rightnow?”
She looked over at me. “Now.”
I just stared at her somemore.
Why the hell was Elle inviting me toHawaii?
“What is this…?” I askedher.
“It’s an olive branch,” she said. “The flight’s on me. What you do when you get there is up to you. You can stay at Woo’s with me and Joanie, if you want to. We’ll have security,” she added, pausing for effect, and the warning wasn’t lost on me. “But I can’t make you stay and talk to me. This isn’t a kidnapping. And I’m not promising you anything with the band. This isn’t about the band. I don’t speak for Dirty. This is just me, saying I’m sorry to an old friend and I wish things didn’t go down the way they did but they did… and I want you to beokay.”
I had no idea what to say tothat.
This was the only apology of any kind I’d ever gotten from anyone in the band. Not that I expected any. They were justified in firing me. At least, the firsttime.
Was she apologizing for that? Or the secondfiring?
Orboth?
She turned to look out the window again. “This is all I can do right now to make sure you’re okay. It’s a moment. I’m feeling generous. Just takeit.”
So I tookit.
“Okay,” I said. “I’llcome.”
She looked at me again, her gray eyes hard and direct. “And Seth, if there are any drugs…” She trailed off for a moment. Then she finished: “I’m so gone from your life, you’ll never get near meagain.”
“Understood.”
She looked away and fell silent, and she didn’t say another word to me on the drive to theairport.
I didn’t pushit.
I didn’t really give a fuck about Hawaii. Butthis… it was something I’d fucking dreamedof.
Well… I’d definitely never dreamed of Elle inviting me to fly to Hawaii with her. That was so far beyond the realms of what I’d ever thought was possible, I’d never bothered to have those kinds of dreams. But I’d definitely wanted this for so fucking long, I couldn’t remember what it was likenotto want this. Elle. Zane. Jesse. Dylan. Any one of them, actually wanting to talk tome.
