Page 26 of Meet Cute the Virgin

“There,” I say, pointing to a panel on the wall. “Gas starter?”

“Oh, fancy. I’m sure that was a Grams update.” She flips it. Nothing. Flips it again. Still nothing. “Maybe it’s?—”

The whoosh of gas igniting cuts her off, followed immediately by the shriek of the estate’s fire suppression system. An alarm starts to sound, and suddenly grated metal walls slide down, covering all the books half a second before water sprays from the ceiling, cold and shocking, drenching us both in seconds.

Teddy screams. I laugh, actually laugh, bent over with my hair stuck to my face and my lightsaber on the rug dying. Minnie has vanished, probably to higher ground.

“Killian’s going to kill me,” Teddy wheezes, wiping water from her eyes. “Actual murder. With a real sword.”

“Worth it,” I say and mean it. Fuck, that was a good laugh.

“I’m guessing when Grams made the update, she got the grates installed too?”

“I didn’t even know it could do that,” Teddy admits. Her grams was always thinking ahead. I’d guess she had theminstalled when Teddy started walking. The books are saved; we are not.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I ignore it, but I know who it is. Who else would it be? Everyone I know is under this roof. Mr. M, short for mysterious, who I’ve been texting with most of the morning. Nothing big, just small talk. But I have to admit it’s nice, or I’m starved of human connection. Gah, I don’t know.

Teddy follows my gaze to my pocket. “Him?” She perks up.

“Probably.”

“Tell him you’re drowning in a library and he needs to step up his rescue game.”

“Theodora!” Killian’s voice bellows through the house.

“Oh shit, he said my real name. That means big trouble.” Teddy’s eyes are wide. It sounds like a herd of rhinos is barreling down on us before the doors to the library are thrown open.

“It’s my fault!”

“I did it!” Teddy and I both say at the same time, both trying to take the blame.

We look at each other, then over at Killian. I nod, and we lunge for our lightsabers.

“I’m not going down without a fight!” Teddy screams and runs toward Killian, making me laugh harder.

I love her. Only Teddy could make me laugh when I wasn’t sure I’d ever smile again.

Chapter Thirteen

TRISTAN

As pissed as I was that she was on a dating app, even if not real, it’s playing out well. For the past few days, we have been exchanging messages. It’s nice getting to talk to each other without any underlying tension. It’s more relaxed. We go back and forth with questions, and I’m learning things I never knew before.

Lily:What’s the worst thing you did as a kid?

I type, delete, and type again. My confidence in something has never been lower than when I’m sending her a message. I can write code, and hell, I’ve even had to write to the president before; I didn’t debate my words as much as I do over these texts to her.

The cursor blinks. Behind the chat window, her father’s reports and medical records fill the main screen. The autopsy photos, toxicology reports, and the official narrative of cardiac arrest—which I know is a lie.

His killer still plagues me. I have to solve it. Lily doesn’t know the truth about her father’s death, but I know she wants justice. I can give that to her; she just won’t ever know.

Me:Hacked my school’s grading system to change my GPA.

I was twelve at the time. I was more interested in seeing if I could do it than actually changing the GPA.

Lily:That’s adorable. My dad was pretty much a drill sergeant. I wasn’t getting away with shit.

That makes me smile. You couldn’t get away with shit with Victor. Not even his own daughter got a pass. I can tell she misses him; so do I. I never realized how much I leaned into that friendship, but once I lost him, I could see he was more of a father to me than my own ever was.