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"honey ballard, sounds nice, doesn't it?" ______
Elias isn't stupid.
Honey's still in New York. Couldn't have gone far. There's no one here who knows her. And there's no one in this state that cares enough about a stranger to help her get home to an unknown town in another state.
Honey has no one to rely on.
No one except for maybe Shawn.
Elias watches the guy from across the crowded frat house. Shawn floats through the room like he owns it. The boy's got that kind of careless charisma that draws people in—leaning close to whisper something in a girl's ear, flashing a grin that makes her clutch his arm and laugh like they've known each other forever.
Elias can give him credit for that much.
But charm doesn't make someone smart. Shawn's the type who tells the truth without realizing the weight of it—too honest for his own good. If he knew where Honey was, Elias has no doubt the kid would spill it to his sister without a second thought.
And that sister just so happens to be hanging off Elias right now, arms loose around his neck, tilting her head to look up at him with eyes heavy-lidded and lips aching to claim his.
Samantha.
A permanent rebound. Convenient distraction. The one who always comes back.
Nico is absent tonight—turned down Elias's offer to party, to drown themselves in alcohol and strangers until they forget Honey and Evie's names.
Elias had even dangled the idea of a city-wide bender, the kind that leaves holes in your memory. Nico just laughed and shook his head. Said he'd stopped thinking about Evangeline a long time ago. Claimed it'd been weeks since he'd last talked to her and that he planned to keep it that way.
But Elias had noticed the change—the way Nico called her Evangeline. It was rare, almost foreign on his tongue. It told Elias more than Nico probably intended.
Maybe they were actually done this time. No more of the two-year cycle of on-again, off-again toxicity. No reconciliation. No attempts to form a half-hearted friendship in the aftermath of the break up.
Elias had tested the waters anyway, calling Evie to see how she was holding up. The moment he mentioned Nico's name, she'd hung up. That told him everything he needed to know.
Evie's never needed Nico in the practical sense. She could have any guy she wanted, but the years she's spent feeding her obsession with him have made her addicted to the mess they create together.
