Page 75 of The Casualty of Us (Philosophies of the Heart Duet #1)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Something’s off.

I watch as Ollie scribbles some answers down on his tablet, and O sighs deeply, turning a page in her philosophy book with a tiny scowl pulling at her brow.

Holden is sitting next to me at the library table today and completely ignorant of my internal musings.

But my gaze moves between the twins as I try to find the source of my unrest since we’ve been back from Thanksgiving.

It can be hard to tell sometimes with the way they seem to maintain some kind of vibe between them, I guess.

Like there’s this note only they can hear, and they’re both using it as a loop between each other.

Holden was right at the start. Twins are fucking weird.

But that advice doesn’t help me figure out my current dilemma.

I watch as Ollie seems to steal her sigh while working on his next problem with an unhappy face, and O purses her lips, eyes narrowing just a bit.

Something about her gaze slightly off, just like the twist that keeps happening in my gut because of it.

I glance back at Ollie to find a frustrated look on his face, something deeper there making me pause too, but it’s not tensing up my shoulders like the autopilot O seems to be falling into at moments.

Like everything she says and does is completely normal, but part of her is absent.

Stuck up there in her head working something out, and normally Ollie would pick up on this shit as well, but he seems to be distracted too.

Leaving me staring at them trying to figure out when I became the stable one here.

“Hey, O,” Holden mumbles absently. “Can I look at your Brave New World commentary for the seminar?” He pauses. “I think I’m getting the chemical cocktails for the caste system mixed up.”

“Hmm,” she hums back just as absently, blinking down at the page and seeming to come back to herself. “Yeah, hold on, I’ll send it to you.” Her eyes lift to him as she pulls her tablet out from under the book. “Aren’t you partnered with Aaron on that?”

“What?” His head snaps up suddenly, and I shoot him a questioning look as he turns between us a few times before muttering, “He’s been sick, I think.”

“Oh.” O nods quickly. “That sucks.”

“Sure. Yeah.”

What the fuck?

I glare at them both as they look back down studiously, neither one addressing the seemingly hidden conversation behind whatever the fuck that just was.

The frustration in me surges at the eggshells everyone seems to be stepping around and I stare at them for another beat that tells me nothing.

It has my gut giving a sharper twist that just pisses me off more because I can’t figure out the cause, and when I look back at Ollie, he’s still completely checked out and missing this shit.

Which really has me doubting his update upon our return that there was no stalker activity and that O acted completely normal over break.

“Hey.” I narrow my eyes at him, clarifying when everyone looks at me. “Oliver.”

His brows fall. “What?”

“You still messing around with Bethany?”

A full-blown scowl immediately pops up on O’s face, and she turns to her brother as he shoots me a panicked look.

“Uh.” He clears his throat, gaze darting to his sister once before shaking his head. “No, I ended that before break.”

“Great,” O scoffs. “How did that go over?”

“Fine,” Ollie sighs shortly. “I told you we both knew it wasn’t serious.”

“Well, thank you for communicating that effectively.” She pauses, looking him over before bumping his shoulder with hers. “So does this mean your obsession with my roommate has returned?”

He rolls his eyes at her. “We’re not talking about this.”

So that’s a yes.

I narrow my eyes at him again, the half-distracted sense I’m getting making a lot more sense now and it has me questioning. “Where is Marley?”

“That’s a good question.” O turns my way, gaze landing on mine and flashing with surprise for a split second at whatever she finds there before continuing. “She’s been acting weird since coming back from Thanksgiving, and I haven’t been able to pin her down about it yet.”

Ollie pauses. “Weird, how?”

I look back to find him tenser than before, jaw clenched and making me squint at him because—

“What the fuck?” O voices my internal thoughts before waving a finger around his face. “Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you just broke my Dreamhouse again.”

A surprised laugh escapes with my next breath, and he spares me a glare before shaking his head at her. “I have no idea what you’re talking—”

“Said Ophelia Fitzroy with every lie ever,” she snorts, something about the words a little darker than usual and making it finally click because…that’s fucking it.

She’s lying about something—hiding whatever it is up there in her head just like Thing Two and Three at the table, apparently.

“Leave it, Ophelia.”

The snap in his voice that he usually never uses with her makes me sit up straighter as she pulls back, face falling with a flash of hurt that has me pushing back. “Watch the tone.”

Her head whips my way, but I wait until Ollie’s frustrated gaze finds mine to make sure he gets the message that I don’t appreciate him taking his shit out on her one bit.

“Hayes,” O scoffs weakly. “It’s fine, I can mind my own bus—”

“You know,” Holden interrupts from next to me. “You’ve really turned into a better boyfriend than I ever would have expected.”

A quiet falls over the table with the random observation that has me looking around in confusion until O feels the need to add, “People can surprise you, Holden.”

What the fuck?

I move my eyes over them all once more, sensing the moroseness seeming to weigh everyone down. It has my gut not only twisting but rolling over this time too, and I decide enough is enough about a split second before standing up.

“Come on.” I grab O’s hand to pull her up with me, ignoring the confusion on her face and the questioning looks the other two send our way. Turning and starting to head for the back of the library while hooking a couple of my fingers through hers.

“Hayes.” She tries to tug them back. “Someone could see.”

“I don’t care.” I hold on, determined not to let whatever the fuck is up with Ollie and Holden or whatever else she has percolating up in her head pull us down too.

“Dimples,” she sighs, giving a weaker tug than before but still following along as I lead us to the destination I have in mind.

“Seriously, where’s the fire?” We turn around the same corner of shelves that we almost went behind before Halloween.

“Or are you actually looking for a book because I’d make exceptional exceptions for—”

Her words drop off suddenly as I turn back, immediately pressing her up against the shelves and lifting my hands to rest beside her head before calling her out. “You’re keeping secrets, Ophelia Sage.”

She blinks up at me, blue eyes a bit darker today and face framed by her brown waves. The picture of innocence as her brow falls too delicately for it to ever be genuine. “I have no idea—”

“Don’t you dare use the line on me that you just called your brother out on.”

She pauses, lips pursing and eyes holding mine, keeping the silence as well and making me warn her.

“No lies, Ophelia. I mean it.” The little smattering of freckles across her nose does something weird to my heart just like always and has me taking a wild guess.

“Is this about what you almost said on the phone?”

“What?” Her brows fall for real this time, and she shakes her head. “No, it’s not about—”

“Then what?” I push, voice dropping in frustration because that was my only card here. “Is it about what happened with Thomas? Is Kyler giving you trouble?”

“Wha—no, Hayes,” she sighs deeply, closing her eyes for a second and taking a breath before opening them with a fucking wall there. “Everything is—”

I drop a hand to her chin. “ Don’t lie.” Her mouth pops open at the action, and I trail my fingers along her jaw, but…

I need her to understand too. “I would break every rule for you, Ophelia. I would follow you into the damn river if that’s what you asked, but don’t ever lie to me again.

” I reach my thumb up to make a soft pass over her lower lip, letting the words sink in. “Do you understand?”

Her eyes hold mine, something flickering in the backs of them that almost looks like respect before she breathes out. “Okay.” I can feel the word pass over my fingertip before she adds softly, “I understand.”

I lift a brow. “Is there anything you’d like to add?”

“Not particularly.” She shrugs. “If we’re being honest here.”

“Freckles.” I stop the way my lips want to twitch and drop my hand from her chin down to grab her hip. “You’re keeping something from me. I can feel it.”

“That’s disturbing.” She frowns, nose scrunching up at me. “Like actually very—”

“ Ophelia. ”

“I’m not lying.” Her face falls a bit before she takes another breath and seems to rally. “I’m not, I promise.”

“You’re also not saying anything,” I scoff in frustration.

“You can twist it whichever way you want, but I still know you’re keeping something, and it’s driving me a little crazy, okay?

” Her mouth opens, and I squeeze her hip.

“No lies, Ophelia, I swear to God.” I drop my head down closer and wait until she blinks to demand, “Are you safe right now?”

Because there’s only one thing she would fight this hard to keep for me.

She’s got to be plotting something to do with him .

Her gaze moves between mine a few times as she whispers, “I’m safe. Promise. I’m not doing anything…completely unhinged.”

“You are doing something, though?” I narrow my eyes and see the instant guilt in hers that gives me my answer. “Fucking hell, O—”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t need to,” I growl, heart starting to fucking panic in my chest right along with the direction of my thoughts. “Either you start talking or I will plant my ass in Lincoln Park until you do.”