“I don’t think you shouldn’t be alone. Where’s your…whatever the teacher is.”
“The teacher’s name is Caleb.”
“Yeah, well, where is he?”
I crossed my arms. “None of your business.”
“You told him, right?”
My hands fell to my sides. “Of course I told him.”
“Good, because he deserves to know.”
I frowned. That sounded oddly specific.
He raked both hands through his hair and his curls started popping everywhere. It took about five years off of him, reminding me of the big brother I’d always loved and looked up to. “What about that girl you used to hang with? The Amazon with the killer legs.”
I laughed. “Ryan?”
“Yeah.” He tugged at his collar as he stopped pacing. “She was insanely hot.”
“Still is. And you still couldn’t handle her
. Though she does seem to go for the suit types these days.”
One eyebrow rose. “Oh, yeah?”
“Taken.”
“Figures.”
I laughed. Goddess, it was easy to fall back into rhythm with him. But he was still Xavier Hastings, golden boy. And I was still Luna, the outcast weirdo. He hadn’t backed me up when I needed him. My mother had made the ultimatum based on our father’s directive.
I was to go to college and stop with the occult nonsense.
Occult.
As if they understood any part of me.
When I declined, I was cut off. No pretty credit cards or bank accounts with the Hastings money. If I wanted to be so frighteningly ‘unusual’, as they’d put it, then I’d do it without any help from them.
Xavier had just stood there. He hadn’t even looked at me.
I’d left and that was that.
He sat down next to me. “I came to talk.”
“I’m not really in any condition to do the chitchat thing.”
“No, I don’t suppose you are. But I’m not leaving you like this.”
“Since when? You’ve been really good at letting me deal with my own problems for years.”
“I tried to contact you. Over and over again.”
I fussed with my sleeve. “Would it have changed anything?”
“It might have.”