Page 142 of Feed Your Fiends

“Look, I need you on the floor tonight. It’s our reopening, and the back-to-black event is happening.”

“Thewhat?”

“The last big bash before Beaulieu reopens.”

I’m so confused. “Hale, I haven’t been at the club for over a week—”

“We’ve been closed for a week for the roof repairs. Now we’re open.”

“Yeah, I got that, but… haven’t you seen—”

“Beaussip’s article? Yeah. Haven’t you seen the new one?”

I pull the phone away from my ear and see Beaussip’s notification, I hadn’t noticed because I’d only cared about messages from one person.

Beaussip

We reached out to Gant for a comment about his former girlfriend.

Beaussip:Who’s Elle to you now?

Gant hours later sends a blank screen.

Beaussip: Dead?

Gant:Do you see anything in that photo?

Beaussip:No. Nothing. Does that mean she no longer exists in your universe?

Gant:Precisely.

Blocked.

I put the phone to my ear with shaking fingers.

“It’s over. Gant’s done with you, which means I don’t have to worry about his antics, at least for tonight.”

Over.

Done.

“But him being done with you doesn’t mean that I am.”

“It doesn’t?”

“We have a business arrangement. That doesn’t stop because your little game with Gant has. It was going to end eventually. You must’ve known that.”

I’m quiet for a long time, and Hale sighs.

“Look, Elle, the blue-blooded world is different from our world.”

“Your world is different from mine, too.” I point out.

“But I’m in the middle. I can touch both sides to understand it. But you, you can’t play leapfrog and skip all those levels. You went crashing into Gant’s world, and now you’re crashing out. It’s just the way things are. Stay in your circle, and no one gets hurt.”

I pause, dread trickling through me. “Is that what you’re doing now? Staying in your circle?”

What had changed in a day?

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