Ivy wheeled on her, face red with embarrassment. “Will you shut up? He’s only upstairs, he'll hear you! And no, we did not and we are not and this is none of your business anyway!”
Hope lifted her eyebrows at her sister. “Excuse me, but it definitely is my business. Or are you going to tell me that we’re still going to be moving out of Brighton once this is all over?”
Ivy’s eyes slid away. She fiddled with the cuff of her glove.
“Well…no,” she admitted. “I mean, we haven’t worked out all the details yet-“
“Because you were too busy banging,” Hope interjected smugly.
Ivy shot her a death glare. “Because it’s complicated. It’s…really complicated.”
Something about the way Ivy’s voice fell on the last few words made Hope pause. She looked at her sister. Really looked at her.
Ivy had been lit up like a neon sign when Hugh had been around, but now that secret glow had guttered out. There were dark smudged circles under her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept at all. Hope had assumed that Ivy had been up all night…but for reasons that should have left her satisfied and smug, not pale and drawn.
“Ivy,” she said in concern, rolling a little closer. “What’s wrong?”
Her sister turned away, bracing her hands on the edge of the sink as if it was the only thing keeping her upright. She stared out the window, but Hope was pretty sure she wasn’t seeing anything but visions of a certain hot paramedic.
“It’s really complicated,” she said again, quietly. “I can’t say much more than that, Hope. I promised Hugh I wouldn’t tell his secrets to anyone. Not even you.”
“But you are mated, right?”
Ivy let out a long sigh. “We’re mates. But we’re not mated. That’s all I can—what’s she doing here?”
“What?” Hope craned her neck, but her wheelchair was too low down for her to be able to see anything out the window other than sky. “Who?”
“It’s one of Gaze’s thugs.” Ivy had ducked out of sight herself, as if taking cover from a sniper. “She’s across the street, staring at the house.”
“How do you know she’s one of Gaze’s people?”
“I recognize her from the party, and she was at the cafe with him yesterday, too. Actually, she asked after you. Tall black girl, cornrows, wears motorbike leathers?”
Hope’s heart skipped a beat. “Betty?”
Ivy raised an eyebrow at her. “You know her?”
“Betty? Oh w-well, kind of, I guess,” Hope stammered. “I mean, yeah, I know her a bit. She goes to my school. We’re in some of the same classes. She’s my partner. In biology. At school, I mean.”
Both of Ivy’s eyebrows had now risen. “You’re lab partners with a juvenile delinquent?”
“Betty’s not a delinquent,” Hope said defensively. “She’s smart. Really, really smart. And funny and brave and loyal and—” She noticed that Ivy’s eyes had narrowed suspiciously, and hastily changed tack. “Um, and just a really good partner. Biology partner. At school. Like I said. Yep.”
Was she babbling? Oh God, she was babbling.
“We’re more casual acquaintances, really,” she finished lamely. She tried to stop there, but couldn’t help herself. “Uh, so, you said she asked about me?”
“Yeah.” Ivy had gone back to peering suspiciously out the window.
Hope waited, but Ivy didn’t say anything further. “Well?” she prompted. “What did she ask? How did she look? Did she seem angry, or worried, or, or—look, just tell me exactly what she said and how she said it, okay?“
“If Hugh hadn’t vouched for your innocence, I would definitely be worrying about now,” Iv
y muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Ivy let out a long-suffering sigh. “Hope, about this crush—“