I arch an eyebrow, questioning his knowledge of my sister’s name. Xavier never even met Ashley. She was never at our play dates when we were kids, too busy getting yelled at by her singing coaches.
Xav never saw my dad, either. Curtis D’Amour would’ve preferred peeling off his own skin than attending a “Sunday brunch.” He’d always stay back to train for his next race.
Xavier quickly picks up on my interrogations.
He grins. “I asked around about you. Sue me.”
My stomach flutters.
“Did you, now?” I chuckle. “Who’d you ask?”
“Theo.” He scoffs. “Huge mistake, by the way. He just wouldn’t shut up about your sister.”
I half smile, and half cringe at the image of Ash and Theo devouring each other in Finn’s bathtub. I have no idea how I feel about these two, not that it matters.
Even if something else did happen between them, it’d never be anything more than physical. There’s no way Ashley will let Theo get close enough for anything real to sprout. Especially now that she’s this close to leaving town with her manager Rob and taking over the music industry.
“That’s her.” I nod.
“Not to be too forward, but… isn’t the whole point of having a famous sister that you don’t have to worry about money?”
I snort out a laugh.
He sure doesn’t know Esther Harper.
“In a normal family, maybe. My mom thinks it’s pointless for me to get a job. If it were up to her, I’d stay Ashley’s errand girl for the rest of my life.”
Xavier cringes. “I take it this scholarship is your ticket to freedom, then?”
“Ding, ding, ding!” I confirm, and he laughs.
We don’t speak again for a short moment, staring up at the sky and the million stars masked by dense clouds. If it weren’t for the few lampposts casting light upon the area, we wouldn’t be able to see shit. I feel calm. Peaceful. Until I sneak a peek in Xavier’s direction, and guilt gnaws at me.
“There’s something you should know,” I feel compelled to say. He deserves the truth, to hell with the consequences.
His eyes jump to mine.
“I wasn’t entirely honest with you before…” I need a breather to get a hold of my nerves. “I broke the pact. I figured out who you were long before we agreed to meet in Finn’s bedroom.”
Xavier sits up, his features darkened by shock and anger.
“You what?” he spits.
“I’m so sorry,” I word vomit. “I know I should’ve told you, but it was an accident. I never meant to find out, I swear.”
My apology doesn’t ease his anger in the slightest.
“Xav, say something, please.”
Stiff as a board, he inhales a long, steadying breath.
Then he dies laughing.
What the hell?
“I’m just fucking with you, Vee,” he says, breathless from laughing too hard. “I’ve known for a while.”
“What?” I blurt out. “How?”