His hair was still damp and he was still wearing brightly colored swimming trunks.

"Fancy seeing you here," Ivan smiled, and then walked over to Callie and kissing her in the top of her head.

I glared at him. The fucker just couldn't leave me alone could he?

"Cal, why don't you and Bowens friend here go and make some snacks or something?" He suggested.

"Of course," she beamed, "Any requests?"

None of us said anything so she just pranced off to the kitchen. Ivan motioned for Peter to follow. He glanced nervously at me but I only nodded.

Sighing a little bit he got to his feet and followed Callie to the kitchen.

As soon as he was out of sight I said, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"I was swimming earlier."

"Fuck off." I gritted my teeth.

If he was so suspicious, how bad be not guessed that there was a very specific reason I wasn't telling him everything about what was going on. Could the dumbass not take a hint?

"Easy there girl, I just want to talk."

"I guessed that," I rolled my eyes, "And this is a super creepy way to go about that FYI."

"But effective." He smiled.

"Well, there's nothing to tell, so you can leave me alone now."

"If that was true you wouldn't be so defensive about it."

"Maybe I just don't like strangers prying into my business."

He took a seat next to me.

"Can you blame me, you have some very curious business."

"Curious enough to trick my friend into dating you?"

He shrugged, "I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. It's not like you like her that much."

"Why on earth do you think that?"

"Because I've heard her talk about you."

"Does she badmouth me that much?"

"No, on the contrary, her descriptors are relatively nice. But for a set of people who have known each other a quarter of their lives, it's flooring to me that she only refers to you as "nice" and "sweet". Even the most boring people in the world and be described as more than nice and sweet. She just never cared."

"What's your point?" I ask. His evaluation hits me right in the gut, but it's not like it's really news to me. Still, it stings.

"It relates back to one of the ultimate questions, why you?"

"When you figure that out let me know."

"I could figure it out if you gave me a little bit to go on."

"Nah," I said dismissively.

"Why not? What's holding you back?"

"A lot of things. Mostly just not wanting my business spread around even more than it clearly already is."

"Are you afraid of something?"

"Heights mostly."

"You know what I mean."

I find myself just doing my best to run out the clock before they get back, "Nope, I don't think I do."

Then, to my surprise, he lunges forward and grabs me by the wrist. It's so fast my brain doesn't even have enough time to process a yell.

He tears up my sleeve, revealing my rough grey skin. He paused, staring in confusion.

"Oh," he muttered, brushing his fingers along it and flinching from the cold, "I thought it would be bruised."

I yank my arm out of his grip and pull my sleeve back down. He didn't resist me.

His forehead crinkled in thought, trying to figure out what he just saw, and I was not about to help him out.

I got to my feet and began making my way to where I'd last seen Peter disappear to.

I'd never wanted to get back to the house any more than I did at that moment.

Ivan was right behind me, grabbing me by the arm to stop me in my tracks.

"What's going on with you?"

"I think we've covered that that's none of your business," I said, pulling away again and barging into the kitchen.

Peter was holding a tray as Callie opened bags of chips and M&Ms and poured them into bowls.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing, we just need to leave."

"No you can't," she said, setting a bag of Doritos on the counter, "we've barely gotten the chance to talk at all!"

"I'm sorry, we'll catch up later, I promise." I insisted, gesturing for Peter to come with me.

"What's the rush? Just sit down, we'll have some chips and stuff, you love junk food."

She grabbed my hand and led me back to the couch. I wanted to resist, but I kind of felt bad. Not to mention my stomach was begging for the food. I was almost never allowed to have candy anymore. Actually, I was rarely allowed to eat at all. I was pretty sure Randall forgot that food is necessary for my survival because he treated it like some occasional inconvenience.

I sighed and sat back down on the couch with her, not hesitating to grab a large handful of M&Ms and shove them into my mouth.

Peter on the other hand, was on alert. I felt bad for freaking him out so much without being able to explain myself. Thankfully he didn't push for an answer, instead, he just tapped his foot aggressively.

The questions kept coming, the same ones everyone always wants to know. What's it like to be rich? What's it like to be married? What do you do with your days?

The answers are always the same.

"It's fine. Everything's fine. I spend my days getting my nails done and hanging out in my greenhouse."

"You mean the one named after you at the University?" They always ask.

And every time I want to say, "No, why would you think that?"

But I don't. Because I don't have enough energy to be an asshole that often.

Instead, I say something to the tune of, "Yeah, I go later at night so I don't have to run into any students."

"I can imagine," Ivan interrupted, "I've talked to some of your old classmates, they had some interesting opinions of you."

I glared at him, trying to keep him from seeing how much my stomach dropped when he said it. I did my best not to think about my old friend group and how much they must have hated me.

"Okay, it's time for us to leave," Peter said.

"Oh, okay," Callie said. I tried not to be annoyed that she listened to him and not me.

We said our goodbyes and Peter and I made our escape.

When we were a safe distance from the apartment he turned to me and asked, "What happened?"

I only sighed and said, "I told you I don't like surprises."