“Why what?” Marv asked,confused.
“Why don’t you trust him?” I asked. “You don’t know him, doyou?”
I watched as Marv’s expression evened out completely from worried back to stone. “I know enough,” was all hesaid.
“Well, I don’t,” I stated. “I’m going to talk tohim.”
“Then I’m going withyou.”
I placed a hand on his shoulder. “No, if you come with me then I won’t learnanything.”
Marv stiffened for a moment, listening to something on the other end of his earbud before, with a sigh, henodded.
“Keep your earbud and speaker on you,” Texas said. Obviously, he and Knix had been listening to ourargument.
I didn’t bother replying, but I didn’t mind keeping the earbud and speaker. I knew they would want to listen in anyway. Moving further into the garden, the quartet’s music slowly quieted in the background until I couldn’t hear it at all anymore. Instead, the only thing I could hear was the bubbling and splashing of a nearby fountain. I followed the sound until I arrived at a three-tiered, stone fountain with beautiful, clear water streaming from the dips of shells into the bottomtier.
“What are you doinghere?”
I spun to face Grayson, one hand over my chest. “Jesus,” I snapped. “You scaredme.”
“Answer the question, Harlow. What are you doing here?” Grayson didn’t move from his spot across from me on the other side of thefountain.
“I wanted to ask you the same,” I said. “I’m here for a friend. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you have a date? This is acouple’sretreat.”
I had never seen Grayson so serious. At school, he was playful, and generally uncaring about everything around him. But standing across from me, with dark circles under his eyes, and his hair in disarray, he looked tired. More than that, Grayson lookeddefeated.
“What’s wrong?” Iasked.
Rubbing a hand down his face, Grayson turned away. “Nothing. You should probably leave soon though. I didn’t realize you’d be here with one of yourboyfriends.”
“They aren’t my boyfriends,” I replied with a huff. “Why do you always have to dodge what I’m asking? You never give me a straight answer.” I moved around the fountain towards him. “It’s acouple’sretreat,” he snapped, repeating my earlier words. “Why areyouhere?”
“None of your business.” Grayson took a step away and I quickly reached out, stumbling a little in my heels and grabbed his shirt for balance. He turned back, hands automatically going out to catchme.
I slowly straightened. “I can tell something’s bugging you, Grayson. You keep trying to get me to talk to you, well I’m talking to you now. Tell me what’s wrong, maybe I canhelp.”
“You can’t,” he snapped, jerking his hands away as soon as he realized that I was steady. “You can’t fucking help someone who doesn’t wantit.”
I blinked at the vehemence in his tone. I raised my hand slowly and laid it on his arm. He looked down and stared at my freshly polished nails. I had never gotten my nails done before, but I didn’t mind them. I liked dressing up for this role I was playing. I liked the challenge of being Harley. Maybe it was because this job was distracting me from the disaster waiting for me back home. I liked to think it was because I was doing something that would help someone else. If Grayson let me, I could help himtoo.
“That sounds like something you might have said before,” I saidquietly.
Sharp, blue eyes meet mine. “Why are you here?” herepeated.
“I’m looking for someone,” I replied, hinting. I had the feeling Grayson knew exactly what I was doing here, what the others were doing here. He had already admitted that he had seenMarv.
“Shit.” Grayson cursed low, turning away from me, yanking his arm from my palm. I clenched my hand in a fist, but remained put. “Don’t tell me you’re looking for–” Grayson didn’t finish his statement when he looked back at me. “You are, aren’tyou?”
“I’m what?” My mind was reeling. I had lost track of the conversation and I was confused by his outburst. Grayson turned fully towards me, hands gripping myarms.
“Don’t tell them, Harlow,” he said, eyes desperate. “Please don’t tell them. I’m fixing it. I’ll get him to stop, I swear I will. There’s no other reason for you to be here. Forthemto be here. But please don’t tell them. I’ll get him to give it back and then we’ll leave. I’ll make sure he never comesback.”
“Holy fuck,” I heard Texas whisper in my ear. “Heknows.”
Texas continued to talk as Grayson tried to convince me to keep his secret, a secret that was already spilling out. “It’s his brother,” Texas said. “His brother has been to every event as someone’s guest – Joshua Caruso. He’s been the one stealing.” Texas was no longer talking to me or himself. I was sure he was talking to Knix, who was likely alerting both Bellamy andMarv.
I kept my focus on Grayson. “Why?”