I jerk my head back, stunned. “You’re what?” I wait for her to explain herself, but she goes quiet. “Treasure?”
“I know, Pais, I went too far. Two kick-ass roommates were supposed to be my gift to you. My roommates in college were nightmares. And actually, my gift was perfect until Dandi fucked it up.”
I roll my eyes. “Not really.”
“What do you mean by ‘not really’?”
I flop down on the side of my bed. I have to sit for this. I start with all the boys Dandi paraded through the dorm, hitting all the high and low points.
“You’re telling me that this disgusting guy left shit in the toilet?”
“And frankly, I can’t narrow it down to just one guy. Maybe Dandi has a type. The kind that likes to leave sperm on the shower walls and shit in the toilet.”
“You may be right, Pais. There are some sick-as-hell people out there. I can’t believe you were going through all of that and hadn’t told me a thing. You must hate me.”
I roll my eyes. My cousin can be so dramatic sometimes. “What I said about her type was a joke, Treasure.”
“This is not a joking matter, Pais. You don’t have many girlfriends, so let me tell you, fucking your roommate’s boyfriend is a cardinal sin, punishable by public flogging.”
“Okay, you’re going to have to explain what you mean by ‘public flogging.’”
“Blasting her ass on social media.”
“Oh, you mean defaming her? It’s not that serious. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that.” I shake my head vigorously. “Plus, I have other things on my mind.”
“Other things like what?” she asks.
I look down at my crotch and rub the insides of my thighs. It’s still hard to believe I had sex with Hercules Valentine. It’s so funny how fast the brain starts the process of making us forget our past pains and pleasures. Mr. Gorman, my fifth-grade physiology teacher, said that ability is part of a human being’s survival mechanism. Our brains can't let the good or the bad impede the day's hunt for food, clothing, and shelter. I never knew what he meant by that until this very moment. However, I’m one hundred percent certain that my encounter with Hercules helped me put Boyles behind me faster than I would have if our paths had never crossed.
“Treasure,” I say.
She hesitates. “Yeah?” She sounds wary.
“I have to tell you something.”
“You’re not pregnant by that fucker, are you?”
I shake my head at the absurdity of her question. “No. It’s something far worse—at least, that’s what I think.”
“Did he give you a disease?”
I chuckle. “No. Will you stop already? It’s not about Boyles. And I’ve never had sex without protection.”
“That’s right. You’re the responsible one.”
“And remember that.”
She chuckles. “Okay, now I can relax. I mean, the last thing I need is your parents calling my parents and blaming me for getting their sweet little princess knocked up or infected with an STD.”
Her cynicism is more about my parents than me. Londyn and Leo and Xander and Heartly have a strange dynamic. My father and his brother listen to each other and are always on the same page businesswise. But I feel like sometimes they use their children—me, Treasure, Max, and Lynx—as tokens to compete with each other.
I take a deep breath.Here goes nothing.“It’s about the Valentines.”
Treasure’s deathly silence gives me chills.
“Hello? Are you still there?” I ask.
“What about the Valentines?”
