Page 49 of The Casualty of Us (Philosophies of the Heart Duet #1)

I scowl at her before looking back down at the phone, staring at the picture of Hayes looking like the quintessential rock star baby in his torn jeans and black band tee, sitting with her in some kind of orange sundress.

Both of them are laughing as they eat lunch together in freaking Italy.

Italy.

How the fuck am I supposed to compete with that?

Hey, I know it looks like you’ve finally been having a good time this summer with your one semi-competent parent, but do you want to chat about how one of the kidnappers turned into a stalker?

Or how about how my brother and I are so far out of sync that I don’t even know what to say to him anymore?

Or that I still don’t know what box to put you in either?

Yeah. That’d sure be a great conversation.

“I don’t know.” I press the side of my phone, making the screen go dark, and take another sip of my drink.

“God, you make me want to beat my head against a wall,” she snarks back. “That boy isn’t doing anything but jacking off every night thinking about you.”

I choke on the sip, and she laughs loudly as I cough, shooting her a look of true loathing as my cheeks heat up at the mental picture.

“Hey.” Her voice perks up, green eyes suddenly twinkling in a way that instantly makes me suspicious. “Wanna bet on it?”

“Do I—” I gasp, taking another quick sip to fight off the lingering burn before wrinkling my nose at her. “Do I want to bet on whether Hayes thinks about me while he jacks off?”

“No.” She shakes her head with another laugh before lifting her brows. “Although I see where your head is at.”

“I hate you.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” she sighs, turning fully toward me and tucking her knees up. “If I’m right and he hasn’t touched anyone else all summer…then you owe me a favor.”

“Ha,” I snort, pulling a face. “That’s incredibly vague, but nice try.”

“You are no fun.”

“Well, then don’t come to me when you want to do shots tonight.”

“Ophelia!” My mouth pops open at her shout, and she gives me a serious look. “You are nineteen, not ninety-two. Make a bad decision every now and then or else you’re going to have no tea one day.”

And despite the fact I’ve been “just going with it” for a week now, something about the look on her face makes me feel scolded.

Enough so that I don’t even correct her that I won’t be nineteen for two more days and instead just scowl at her. “What would I get out of it?”

“I’m so glad you asked.” She smiles brightly, eyes flicking over to where Talan is playing a game on his phone on the other side of the deck to give us some semblance of privacy. “Are your little friends going to be coming back to school with us?”

I pause, pursing my lips and debating for a moment before curiosity has me answering truthfully. “They won’t be on campus, but yeah, they’ll be nearby.”

“I see.” She brings her eyes back to me while holding up a hand.

“Listen, I’m not asking questions about it all or the weird vibes you were throwing out when you first got here.

” I frown at her quick summarization, not liking how out of sorts I must have been for even Lisette Conners to pick up on it.

“But I feel it’s my duty as your friend to point out that I have a car on campus and that no one pays attention to most of the time.

” Oh, shit. “And I might be nice enough to help you escape if you need it at some point.” She lifts a brow.

“Only if you want to make it interesting, that is.”

Did she just say—

“Friends?” I balk at the term, some part of me worried she might actually think it’s true. “If we were friends, you would just do it for me anyway.”

That it might actually be true.

“Maybe your other little minions.” She waves a hand carelessly. “But welcome to the big leagues.”

Goddammit, I don’t have time for any more people to worry about.

“I lose either way.” I frown harder at her than normal with the fledgling realization. “If I win, it’s because he fucked around with someone else, and if I lose, you get to demand God knows what from me.”

“Hey, it’s your call.” She shrugs, smiling all the way through taking another sip of her drink. “Guess it comes down to how much you might need a discreet ride at some point.”

“You’re taking advantage of me.”

“You would do it too.”

I would. I would do it in a heartbeat under the right circumstances, and the fact that she recognizes that has me fighting a twitch of my lips.

But regardless…it’s too tempting an opportunity to pass up, and I’ll deal with the emotional fallout of a possible win later.

Soothing myself with the reminder that I can escape whenever I need to.

“Deal.”

“Eek!” She squeaks before lifting her drink, waiting for me to tap mine against it with a quick cheer to sigh. “This is going to be so much fun.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not even going to ask.”

“That’s the spirit.”

“Hey!”

We both turn at the sound of Graham’s shout to see him climbing off the jet ski at the end of the dock with another guy I recognize from the football team in tow.

“First party of the last week tonight!”

Lisette gives a laugh next to me, shouting back, “Since when?”

“Since now, Lizzie!”

I move my eyes between the two of them a couple of times, seeing the lingering smile on her lips and the way she watches him as he ties off the jet ski.

How his lips kick up higher and he pauses for a beat before looking away with a quick jerk of his head.

How her eyes go a little wistful before she looks down into her drink with her cheeks flushing.

She’s the girl. The one he was trying to make jealous.

And from the look of things…she’s in love with him.

Or at the very least likes him.

So what gives?

I think about pressing it with her for a second but decide to let it go since I don’t exactly see her as the type of girl jumping to lay her heart on the line, and I can definitely understand that.

So instead of calling her on it, I reach down in between us for the bottle of gin and start the night early. “Let’s do a shot.”

Doesn’t matter whether they’re stalkers, ballers, or rockers, I guess.

At the end of the day, they were all just men complicating shit.

“Do you think…” I lean forward, squinting at myself in the mirror and trying to imagine it. “That I would look good with short hair?”

“Sure.” Lisette flushes the toilet and comes up next to where I’m standing at the sink of the poolhouse bathroom, tilting her head so far to the side that she starts to fall before grabbing for the counter. “You could totally pull it off.”

She pulls open one of the drawers and starts to dig around, making me stumble back a step back. “Not now.”

No drunken decisions when it comes to hair—that should be a rule .

“Your call.” She shrugs, stepping up to the sink and starting to wash her hands. “Hey, Matty is totally into you by the way.”

I scrunch up my nose while thinking about Graham’s linebacker friend who came with the twenty or so other people for the party. “Not my type.”

“Hmm.” She narrows her eyes at me, finishing up and grabbing the shots we brought in with us. “Cheers.”

I toss back the clear liquid without much thought at this point, head going a little light for a second before righting myself with a blink. My hand immediately reaches for the counter, and I decide I’m done with the shots for the night as Lisette sets down her glass.

“Come on, we’re going to miss our turn at beer pong.”

“Yeah.” I set my glass down with a frown and reach for the bottle of water I brought along as well. “Give me five, and I’ll be right there.”

“You good?” Her hand goes to my arm with the question, and she gives it a squeeze, making me nod quickly.

“Yeah, yeah.” I lift the water bottle. “Just need to rehydrate, and I’ll be out in five.”

“Okay,” she singsongs, squinting at me tipsily before turning around to head for the door. “I’m sending Graham in to get you if not.”

“Got it.” I give her a two-finger salute as she slides out of the door, but a frown is pulling at my lips the second it closes.

That unsettled sense returning, making me take another sip of water, trying to wash it down before turning to squint at myself in the mirror again.

Lips pursing and eyes running over my features.

Wondering if he’s been tracing anyone else’s.

A quick knock comes on the door before it cracks a slit, music from the party pouring in as Talan calls out, “You good?”

“Yeah.” I nod at myself in the mirror, the frown on my face sinking deeper and pulling my brows down with a scowl that makes me angry. “Hey, do you still have my phone?”

“You mean the one you threw at me before doing an illegal keg stand earlier?” he tosses back with clear annoyance. “Yeah, I do.”

I spin around on my heel, ignoring the way the world tilts and marching over to him as steadily as possible. “Give it.”

“Never thought I’d miss running.”

His dramatics half tempt me to roll my eyes, but I’m too focused now—just knowing this is the right call and not doubting that.

His hand appears a second later with my phone in it, and I grab it quickly, not even bothering to close the door since the nosy shit would probably just press his ear against it.

I go to my messages and click on our thread, immediately pressing the call button and lifting the phone to my ear. Tapping my foot in annoyance as a couple of seconds tick by before it starts to ring—once, twice, thr—

“O?”

His little croak has me going still for a second before recovering. “Oh, well, look who it is,” I drag out, caught somewhere halfway between pissed the fuck off at him for not being here and pissed at myself for wanting him here. “So nice of you to answer, Flynn.”

“What the fuck?” he mutters, voice all low and raspy for some reason. “Ophelia, what time is it there?”

“I don’t know.” I scowl, annoyance spiking because of that now too. “And don’t try to distract me, Dimples, no more of your sneaky-sneak shenanigans shit.”

“Wha—” A puff of air explodes across the phone that sounds suspiciously like laughter. “Freckles, are you drunk?”

“That’s none of your business,” I snap, taking a deep breath as the door opens a bit more. “I just wanted to let you know that there’s no hard feelings if things have changed.”

“What?”

“You don’t need to worry about some hellscape-level revenge or something,” I sigh, brows falling because it’s true, and that sucks. “I have bigger fish to fry.”

Sucks. Sucks. Sucks.

“Ophelia.” His voice loses some of its rasp even as it drops deeper. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Huh. That certainly got my body’s attention.

“It’s been five minutes!”

Lisette’s voice in the distance has me grabbing the door and pulling it open to see Talan standing there wide-eyed before I call past him, “Two seconds!”

“Who are you talking to?”

“Oh.” I frown at the random question and his inability to stay on topic. “Lisette, we’re playing beer pong.”

A choked kind of noise comes through the phone before he shoots back, “You’re with Lisette Conners?”

“I’m sorry,” I snort. “Did you forget the English language while you’ve been frolicking through Europe?”

“Ophelia, what the—” He inhales so deeply that even I can hear it before something rattles in the background. “Where are you? Where’s Ollie?”

That question has me looking down and frowning at it for an entirely new set of reasons before muttering. “Not here.”

“You’re with Lisette Conners and not your brother?”

“We’re fighting.”

I jerk my head back up as Lisette shouts again, “Today, Fitzroy!”

“You and Ollie?”

All the demands have me huffing in irritation and stepping past Talan to see her standing by the beer pong table with the balls in hand. “I’m coming!” The shout leaves me before I think to pull the phone away from my ear and has me mumbling a quick, “Sorry.”

“Ophelia.”

The intensity of my name this time demands my attention and has me snapping, “What?”

“Where are you?”

“Alllll summer,” I drag out, picking up where I left off instead before remembering. “But yeah, no hard feelings, I just don’t have it in me this year.” I give up a bit of the truth to cover up the lie before sighing. “And it’s not like I don’t have options too.”

Attempting to maintain some kind of dignity no matter whether I win the bet in the end or not.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

The quiet mutter has me narrowing my eyes right before he questions tightly. “Wait—did you say options?”

“Are you talking to Cheyenne?”

“Wha—”

“Whatever, I have to go,” I cut him off, starting to pull the phone away from my ear even as he tries again.

“Wait, Freckles—”

“Today, Fitzroy!” Graham’s shout has me flipping him off where he stands at the other end of the beer pong table with the linebacker who apparently has the hots for me. “Or else you forfeit!”

“Who the fuck was that?”

I go still at the sudden tension in Hayes’s voice, familiar enough with it at this point to imagine him pulling at his hair right along with it.

“Ophelia Sage—”

My name turns into a hard command that has me spitting back, “Tell Cheyenne I said hello, yeah?”

“I swear to God I will—”

“So glad you’re having a good summer.”

I press down on the red button to end the call before tossing it right back to Talan. “Man,” I sigh, taking another sip of water and nodding at him. “I feel so much better now.”

He looks down at me like he’s a little scared. “So happy to hear that.”

I give him another nod, happy he’s getting with the program and that I won’t have to see his face every day by the end of the week. So much so that it has me trying for politeness by way of offering up absently. “I think gin and tonics might be my favorite.”

“They say they’re the psychopaths drink.”

I lift a brow at him. “Well, that makes sense then.”

“Ophelia! I swear to God!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I step around Talan at Lisette’s scream, leaving him looking torn and probably trying to figure out whether I’m joking or not.

Prancing off to the beer pong table and pretending like my phone doesn’t exist until the wee hours of the morning when I crawl into bed.

Curling up under the covers and watching the sun just start to break over the horizon in the distance.

Not answering any of the calls or texts I can see waiting for me to read.

Lying to myself that I’m too drunk to know exactly what I just did.