“What day is it?” I ask. Since my room is empty, no one answers.

I need to get out of this damn house. That’s my problem. I’m a doer, not a thinker and right now, I need to do something. So I text Pash. And then Dom. And then Babbage.

No one responds.

I guess that leaves the fam.

I hunt down Ella and find her outside near the pool with papers spread all around her. I grab two bottles of water from the fridge and then drop onto the lounge opposite hers, tucking one of the bottles against her leg.

“You looked thirsty,” I announce.

She looks up from her work. “Oh really?”

“Really.” I stretch out on the lounger. “And it also looks like you’re due for a break.”

Ella laughs. “Actually, I just sat down.”

“Perfect. Then I’m not interrupting anything yet. Let’s dish, girlfriend.”

Her laughter becomes a wave of giggles. “Oh God, Easton, please don’t ever say that again.”

“Why not? I thought you’d appreciate my offer to gossip. That’s all you and Val do.”

“We do not!”

I kick my legs up and grin at the clear blue sky. It’s a gorgeous day, and my spirits are rising. I’m still hungover, but my temples aren’t throbbing as hard and my heart definitely feels lighter. Hartley isn’t furious at me anymore—she’s been downgraded to just “mad.” I’ll take mad.

“But fine. If you want to dish, girlfriend, let’s dish. What do you want with Hartley Wright? Besides the obvious,” she tacks on when I raise an eyebrow.

“I don’t know. She’s new. I’m bored.”

“She’s not a toy,” Ella chastises.

“I know that.” I twist the cap off the bottle and take a few swigs of water. “She’s my friend, all right?”

“You don’t have female friends, East.”

“Sure I do. You and Val.”

“Yeah, but only because neither of us would ever sleep with you. If we were interested but you knew going there would ruin our friendship, you’d still pick the sex in a heartbeat.”

“If you and Val were interested in having a threesome with me? Um, of course I’d pick the sex.”

“I didn’t mean a threesome,” Ella sputters. “Ugh. You’re the worst.” She leans over and whacks me across the arm with her water bottle. “Anyway, you know what I mean. You’re only friends with Hartley because she doesn’t want to hook up with you. If she wanted to hook up, you’d be more than friends.”

I shrug again. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“You should leave her alone.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because she made it clear she’s not interested. And last night at the game, she was telling me and Val how she’s looking for a second job because her current one doesn’t pay enough. She said work and school are the only things she’s concentrating on right now.”

“Yeah, that’s what she told me, too.” I sit up. “Aren’t you remotely curious why a kid from Astor Park is living in a rundown studio apartment on Salem Street?”

“Of course, but she doesn’t want our concern, and I get where she’s coming from. I hated how everyone at Astor looked down at me. If she’s going to school and she’s feeding herself then we need to leave her alone. That’s what I would want.”

I decide not to point out that she’s kidding herself. She was in our business from the moment she stepped into the house. Ella’s a meddler. It sorta surprises me she won’t admit it.

I change the subject instead. “What are you working on?” I flick a finger at her papers.

“Continuous functions. I’m not getting this.”

“Basically it means that you could lay your pencil on the graph and continue it in negative and positive directions without lifting it off the paper.” I draw a sinuous curve. “Right?”

She nods.

“Then to determine if the function is continuous, you have to satisfy these three conditions.” I make a few quick notations and hand the page back. While she studies it, I check my phone. Pash texted me back. Finally.

Sorry. Lunch w fam 2day. We’ve got family visiting from Atlanta

Dammit. I throw my phone down. “How many problems do you have left?”

“Twenty.”

“How long’s that going to take you?”

“A while.” She stands up. “I need a snack.”

I trail her into the kitchen. “Great. Let’s go over to the French Twist. My treat.”

“I can’t go out with you, Easton. I’ve got to finish all my homework today because Val and I are driving up to State tomorrow. I’m surprising Reed to make up for not being able to go to his game today.”

Oh crap. I forgot that I’d planned to drive up for that—Ella usually hauls my ass out of bed and drags me to the car. But Reed won’t care if I miss his home game. He’d way rather see Ella than me, anyway, and I can always fly out to his game against Louisiana State next Saturday.

“Wait,” I say as something occurs to me, “why aren’t you going to the game?”

She keeps her back to me as she pokes her head into the fridge. “Because Callum and I have a meeting with the DA today. It was the only time that worked for both of them.”

That sucks. “What time are you going?”

“Around four, I think.”

“That’s like hours away. We have tons of time to go out. How about this? I’ll do your math problems and—”

“No,” she interrupts. “I need to do it myself. If I can’t learn these concepts, it’s only going to get harder.”

I dig my feet against the tile. “Then I’ll keep doing your homework. Come on, it’s not like you’re going to use half this shit in real life.”

“Not everyone can do complex math problems in their head, Easton. You’re too smart for your own good.”

“Really? ’Cause you’re always telling me how stupid I am,” I tease.

“I mean you do stupid things. I know you’re not stupid. You’re very smart. You know that, right?”

“Some stuff comes easy,” I admit. “But my grades suck.”

“Because you don’t like to take tests. Because concentrating on anything longer than ten minutes is boring for you.”

“I like flying and that takes longer than ten minutes,” I point out.

She places a platter of fruit on the counter. “There’s something interesting up there that doesn’t exist in class.”

True. In a small plane, you have to be on the alert, but mostly you feel alive up there. I can get close to that feeling on a motorcycle going a hundred down an open highway, but it’s just a dull copy. Not a substitution for the real thing.

“Fuck. I need to get up in the air again.” I grab a piece of melon and shove it in my mouth.

“Have you talked to Callum about it?”

I answer with my mouth full. “No. I already know what he’s going to say.”

“Which is?”

“Get your grades up. Stop drinking. Be more responsible.”

Ella slants her head. “Well. I guess you don’t want to fly that bad, if all those things are too challenging.”

I scowl at her. “That’s a little harsh.”

Unperturbed, she responds by raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to fight, Ella Bella. Come on,” I coax. “Let’s go play.”

“No.”

I give up. I know from past experience she’s not budging. Ella’s more stubborn than a pack of mules. That leaves the twins, I guess. “Sawyer and Seb home?”

“They’re in the media room with Lauren.”

I don’t stop my lip from curling. Lauren’s been over more than ever lately, and I’m kinda getting tired of it. She’s starting to act like she owns the twins, dictating where they can go and when. And they’ve been buying her stuff. Expensive shit that they can afford, but it strikes me wrong.