Page 138 of Wicked Dreams (Fallen Royals 1)

I almost tell her that Ian’s been taken care of, but I don’t want her to stress about it. As he said: it was never about her. It was me.

“How did you know to search for me?” she asks.

“Someone sent me a text.”

“A picture,” she says.

I meet her gaze again. “Yes.”

“Who?”

I shake my head. “Don’t, Margo.”

“Who texted you, Caleb?” She reaches out and grabs my wrists.

“A blocked number,” I finally say. It’s not the truth, per se. I only have an idea of who sent it. Why they’d block their number to send it to me… It makes sense.

There are traitors at Emery-Rose.

Her face falls. She collects herself in record time, pushing up onto her elbow. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

I grunt. “Maybe I just wanted to see you.”

She pats the space next to her, but I shake my head. I stand and pick her up—her and the blankets draped over her. I sit, keeping her on my lap. She runs her hand over my chest, tucking her face into my neck.

I kiss the top of her head.

It’s sappy. I feel impossibly guilty, even as my abs tighten and my dick hardens in my pants.

Margo and I aren’t destined for a happy ending, even if we both want to pretend otherwise. Our destiny is to crash and burn.

31

Wednesday afternoon is my first outing.

It’s been a week of nothing but staying home, trying not to move. Riley and Caleb visit, but they have other obligations. School, for one. I’ve been doing my due diligence on the homework, keeping up with my classmates even while I’m away. It staves off some of the boredom.

Now, I’m free.

Tomorrow I’ll return to school—a daunting idea that I refuse to think about.

Riley and Lenora frame me in as we walk toward the dress shop in the mall. This particular store carries special, one-of-a-kind dresses. Some are unusual, but there are diamonds in the rough.

That’s what Lenora said, anyway.

We walk in, and I immediately start to doubt her. The first six dresses that catch my attention are horrible: bright colors and ruffles, gaping holes in the sides, velvet and shoulder pads.

“Don’t judge,” Lenora admonishes, touching my shoulder. “We’ll find a gem.”

I told them that Caleb had picked out a mask for me, but I didn’t know what sort of dress I wanted. Lenora had swooned at that—literally, she thought it was adorable and charming of him. I’m not sure how he got on her good side so easily.

And Riley… she got a mischievous gleam in her eyes. When I questioned her in the car, she merely shrugged. “I’ve been sworn to secrecy. But I’ll let you know if you’re going in the wrong direction.”

I grit my teeth and went with it.

Dress shopping is weird. We spread out around the store. I run my hands across fabrics I have no right to be touching. Some are soft, some are shimmery.

When I was a kid, at the age where my parents could’ve dressed me in whatever cute outfits they wanted, it was overalls and sneakers. I ran, skinned my knees, played pee-wee baseball with the boys at eight. Minus the one time I forced Caleb to play dress-up with me…