Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
It hits me, though, that the first smile I’ve seen from Vada is for her best friend.
She peeks back at the doorway. “Xander’s bodyguard saw me, and I’m positive your snitchy security team will be ratting me out to my parents any minute. I’ll be grounded for eternity, so this party is now my funeral. Here lies Vada Abbey, girl who died trying to check on Ben Cobalt.”
“For Audrey Cobalt,” I add.
“Of course for Audrey. She’s one of my best friends.” She drags her gaze to the fireplace where a strand of purple and orange lights blink. Her face is baking. “But I probably messed everything up with Easton.”
I frown. “How?”
She presses her fingers to her mouth, unsure if she wants to tell me.
“Do I want to know?”
“I’ve been hooking up with him—when he was a senior at Dalton.”
I stare hard at her. “Yeah, I didn’t want to know that. Thanks, Vada.”
“Well, the benefits part of our friendship has been over for a while. That asshole won’t do anything with me while he’s in college and I’m still in high school.” That actually makes me like Easton a fraction more. “Now everything is too complicated with him. Made more complicated after tonight.” She winces. “I constantly choose my friends over what’s in my best interest. So yay me.”
It’s not computing. “What made it more complicated?”
“He knows that I used his invite for the purpose of finding you.”
Oh this is now making too much sense. Easton has been like a Brillo pad rubbing against my face because he thinks I have a “thing” with Vada. “I will be telling him I’m not into you as soon as I see him. You should do the same.”
Her face is bright red, but she nods repeatedly, then we go toward the exit together. At the doorway, she says, “I know I’ve texted you an embarrassing number of times, but you really should talk to Winona. She hasn’t been the same without you in her life. You’re the OG sunshine boy, and she’s needed your light more than ever. Without you, it’s just darker.”
I always thought Eliot was the one who leaves an unbearable shadow in his wake.
I’m now more afraid that it’s actually been me.
42
BEN COBALT
I’ve been spiraling after I split from Vada. Mentally reeling.
I can’t stick around. I can’t. Winona will eventually be okay. The absence of me isn’t as harmful as the existence. That’s what I’ve come to know.
What happens when I leave Harriet? She has my brothers. She has my family. She won’t be cast into a cold, shadowy darkness. Right? Does she need me? Why do I feel like I need her?
No, I’ve known I need her. Like right now, the urge to be with her is a sledgehammer, and I’m speeding through this massive house trying to find the cutest scowl, the most beautiful brain—so when I do find her, I exhale. She’s here.
I slow into a music room. Walls soundproofed with padding. Guitars, violins, brass instruments—they all rest in racks near stereo equipment. She’s seated on a stool in front of a drum kit, sticks in hand, and my frown takes hold of me.
Why does she look so fucking sad?
“I thought drumming made you happy, Fisher.”
Her blue eyes ping up to mine. She opens her mouth, but nothing escapes. I shut the door gently behind me. Her yellowish blonde hair has lost its volume. It lies flat in its usual edgy cut around her delicate face. Strands brush against her striped red and white tee that molds her breasts.
A groan tries to work its way out of me when I see her nipples are hard.
Her knee-high socks and tiny gym shorts have also been driving me up the wall all night. I’ve always been attracted to her—that’s never been in doubt. Why is she upset? It’s the question I want answered. Everything else can shut up.
I come closer.
“I haven’t played anything yet,” she manages to say. I watch her rotate on the spinning stool…away from me.
It’s a knife in the gut. “Did I do something?” I ask her, my heart thrashing. “Harriet?”
She whirls back around; her scowl is a complete, pained grimace. “You haven’t been screwing with me, right?”
“What?” I don’t follow. My pulse keeps skipping. I’m losing oxygen with each passing second she’s not explaining what I did wrong.
“This hasn’t been one elaborate gotcha?” Her tone grows stiffer, more defensive. All the walls I’d taken down are being built back up. “Befriend your brother’s enemy. Make her fall in love with you. Then make her pay for the bratty email to his bassist, for causing friction in his own band. Should I be expecting to get egged at the end of this, Cobalt boy?”
I can’t breathe. “Are you serious?”
Her chin trembles. She looks as demolished as I feel. “Don’t break my heart.”