Nocturne (41 page)

“Is this about that article on your mom?”

“How’d you know about that?” I hadn’t mentioned it to Nathan, or anyone. Not even Gregory. Somehow, I cynically thought bringing up an affair my mother had would sour ours.

Nathan shrugged as the elevator dinged and the doors opened to the ninth floor, where Nathan’s room was, too. He followed me off and continued. “Everyone knows, Savannah. Cynthia Reynolds plays for the Boston Lyric Opera. She knew about the alleged
scandal.
” Nathan playfully mimed air quotes as his eyes bulged mockingly.

“So, what, she ran around and told everyone about my mom and Malcolm?”

Nathan had followed me to my room and as I slid my key into the slot, he shook his head.

“No … not about your mom and Malcolm. About the stuff about you.”

Ignoring the green light by the handle telling me I could enter, I dropped my hand and looked at him. “What the hell are you talking about? That article was about my mom and Malcolm and their—”

Nathan grabbed my key from me and opened my door. “Did you read it? The whole thing?”

I shook my head, my pulse picking up speed. “I skimmed the thing, saw their picture, I know the rest.”

“You have a copy?” he asked as the hotel room door locked loudly behind us.

“Unfortunately.” I reached into my suitcase and pulled out the Opera News magazine, which was rolled into a tight tube. I don’t know why I kept it.

Nathan took it from my hands and flipped through to the article, turning the page once more before handing it back to me, his finger on a section of the story I hadn’t read. Watching his eyes, which seemed to darken slightly, I took the worn periodical from his hand and looked to the section he’d pointed out.

An anonymous source reports to Opera News that Carulli’s daughter, Savannah Marshall, was admitted to the New England Conservatory after Vita Carulli gave a substantial gift to the school’s endowment. According to school records Marshall did not complete her studies at the conservatory. Marshall currently plays for the Bolshoi Ballet.

My cheeks were a thousand degrees as my nerves buzzed with rage. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I yelled.

He seemed startled. “Jesus, Savannah, I thought you read the whole thing. I know things with your mom have been shitty, and I figured this was why.”

“It
is
why … I … shit, I’m sorry,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. “I have to … just … I have to go.” Clutching the magazine in my fist, I headed out of the room and back to the elevators.

“Where are you going?”

“I just need a minute, Nathan. To call
her.
” The lie came more easily than I was comfortable with, but it came all the same.

“Sorry, I thought that was the reason you were so …” Nathan trailed off and ran a hand through his hair.

“What,” I snapped. “Focused? You thought I was out there every night trying to
prove
myself? Wait … do you believe that’s why I got in?”

“Jesus, no. You’re better than I am. You know that. I’d never think anything like that about you, Savannah, you know that.”

Just then the elevator doors opened and I rushed inside.

“We’ll talk later,” I mumbled as the doors closed. I didn’t want to fight with Nathan. I knew he didn’t believe those things that were written. What I didn’t know, however, was who might.

But I did know who I could start with.

I gripped the magazine tighter as I knocked on the door to room 744, causing the glossy pages to squeak against my fingers. Gregory opened with a sexy grin on his face, which quickly disappeared.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, stepping back to grant me entrance.

I smacked the magazine against his chest. “
This.
”

The door closed slowly as Gregory stared between me and
Opera News
.

“Page ten.” I paced back and forth across the window, resisting the urge to throw something.

A few seconds in, Gregory looked up. “Your parents are divorced?” he whispered. I hadn’t told him.

I nodded. “That’s not why I’m here. Read on.”

Within the span of sixty seconds, his jaw dropped and his eyes shot to me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I shouted as I snatched the magazine out of his hand.

“What are you talking about?”

“That you were all apparently bribed to let me into the conservatory.”

Gregory’s nostrils flared as he took a rough breath. “First of all, Savannah, I’ve never been bribed in my life. I’d never participate in such a thing. And if that’s what you came in here to accuse me of, then you can leave and come back when you have your head on.”

“Explain it, then. Explain who would say something like that.”

“Have you talked to your mother? Seems she should be the one you smack with that magazine.”

“So she did it, then?” My head was spinning as I thought of that day. The day I received my acceptance letter. Everything I’d spent my life working toward was wrapped up in one word: Congratulations. Now, it was about to be destroyed by one word: Donation.

“I have no way of knowing who gave what money to where. Nor do I care.”

“
I care
,” I snapped as I walked toward him, meeting him toe-to-toe as my vision blurred with tears. “I care, Gregory. I care that everything I worked for means shit if this is true. You were at my audition. Just tell me. Did you even score me or was it already determined that I was a shoo-in because of
this?
Is that why you were such a dick to me when I had you in class? Because I was the spoiled brat whose mother bought her way into the conservatory?” I was speaking so fast I had to stop and catch my breath, just as Gregory caught my shoulders.

“
Listen
.” He leaned down slightly so we were eye-to-eye. “I wasn’t a dick to you, Savannah. And, if I was, it was unconscious because I was trying to avoid dealing with my feelings for you. I’m sorry for that. I’ve been sorry for that. That aside, you’re not a spoiled brat and you were
not
a shoo-in. Any time I’ve heard rumors of things like that happening have been after we’ve already declined someone’s admission. You were in before you walked off the stage, but not because of some
bribe.
”

“What?” I wiped under my eyes but didn’t try to pull away. His grip on my shoulders calmed me.

His voice softened significantly. “Until that point it had been years since I’d heard a high school student of
any
instrument play with such skill. You were in before the last note from your flute silenced in the auditorium that day. I didn’t care what the others had to say. And, I had no idea who your mother was. I didn’t know if you had the money to come, but I was prepared to do anything to make sure that you got into that school. Because of your talent, Savannah. Because you deserved it. Because you
earned
it.”

My lip involuntarily quivered as I took in the sincerity of his eyes. The truth. I opened my mouth to say something, but he stopped me.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your parents?”

“It’s not important. It’s not part of the deal here, Gregory. We don’t … share things like that.” I’d wanted to tell him. Badly. But relying on him for emotional support seemed risky given the rest of the summer was likely to fly by and I’d be left with open wounds he was unable to tend to.

“Sit,” Gregory commanded as he led me to the bed. I silently obeyed. He took my hands in his and continued. “It is important.
You’re
important. I know our time together is limited, but your thoughts and feelings still matter. They happen, and they matter. I want to know what’s going on with you.”

I sighed, and with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I looked him in the eyes. “You understand, though, why I might not want to discuss my parents’ marriage breaking up because of an affair?”

His lips parted but he had no words. What could he say? He just nodded and swallowed hard.

I grazed my thumb across his knuckles and tried to change the subject. “Who would say that stuff about me, then? Even if my mom did try to
get
me in, and believe me, we’ll have the discussion, who would say something to the magazine?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “But I can try to find out. I have my suspicions.”

“You’d do that for me?” I looked away from his strong hands and met his eyes. I knew there was no way he’d be able to find out, but his allegiance to me meant more. But then my mind ran to the question of his suspicions. Did he think Karin had something to do with this? And why hadn’t he talked about what happened when she flew out?

“Savannah,” he sighed, stroking his fingers down the side of my face. “You know I’d do absolutely anything for you. I’m so madly in l–”

“Don’t.” I stopped him by putting my finger over his lips. “Don’t say it.”

His lips opened again and, for a second, I thought he was going to argue with me. To say that he loved me. I would have come apart then. Demanded things I had no business demanding. Instead he closed them again around the tip of my finger and quickly traced it with the tip of his tongue. His eyes closed as he moaned softly.

I caught my breath at the intensity of the swift movement and brought my hand to his chest as I rested my forehead against his. His lips searched for mine immediately, as if whenever they were an inch apart they
had
to be together. Gregory’s bottom lip skimmed the hyperaware skin of my top lip. Normally I’d playfully tease him. Turn my head to the side or duck my chin in the cat-and-mouse game our mouths liked to play.

Not this time.

Clenching the cotton of his shirt I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth as he took in a sharp, quick breath. In one movement his mouth was open and our tongues were working together as feverishly as my hands worked to undress him. Gregory shifted up the bed and grabbed onto my hips as I straddled him, pulling off my shirt as he looked on approvingly.

Leaning forward with my hands on the bed, I let my hair skim across his chest and shoulders.

“I’d do anything for you, too, Gregory,” I whispered as I brushed my lips along his jawline. “Absolutely anything.”

Gregory

Savannah’s cheek rested on the hot skin of my chest, her warm breath circling my skin and making me feel like I was home. With one arm tucked under my head, I let the fingers on my other hand trail through her hair and down her back. Her hair had grown several more inches in the years since I’d last seen her. Lying here now, her blonde waves were scattered across my chest and over her shoulders, damp with the sweat we’d just worked up. She’d been quiet for almost two minutes before I spoke.

“Hey.” I kissed the top of her head as she lifted it to look at me. “I need some water. Do you want some?”

She nodded as she lifted her head and shoulders so I could unwrap myself from her. I hated doing that. Everything was colder when I wasn’t touching her. I quickly pulled two bottles of water from the mini-fridge and slid back into bed.

“Thanks,” she whispered, opening the bottle and taking a sip before screwing the cap back on and setting it on the bed next to her.

Sitting with my back against the headboard, I opened my arm so she could curl up against me again. As she lowered her head to my shoulder, she let out a slow sigh.

“You okay?”

She nodded, but didn’t look up. I’d have believed her if I didn’t feel the slight shrug of her shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” I pressed.

Still silent, she shook her head. I didn’t want to push, but I knew she had a lot of things that she needed to talk about. I wished she had told me about her parents’ divorce, and the look on her face when she told me why she felt she couldn’t say anything to me was devastating. She deserved better.

“Nathan knows something’s going on with me,” she finally blurted out. My muscles tensed as I tried to decipher what she meant by
something.
She must have felt it, because she continued speaking. “Not about us, I don’t think. But, something. He thought it was about the article. He knew about my parents’ divorce, and my mother’s relationship with Malcolm ... and he thought that the stuff about my admission to the conservatory was what was making me distant from everyone.”

Flames of irritation rushed over me at the thought that she’d confided in Nathan Connors. I was well aware they’d known each other for years. But I still hated that she felt I couldn’t provide an emotional shelter for her. I
knew
realistically that I couldn’t, but that didn’t stop the pain of pushing my pride aside as she kissed my neck once.

“Have you been distant?”

“I guess. I just … don’t want to waste any time with you.” Her voice was uncomfortably distant.

I pulled my eyebrows together and looked back over the last couple of weeks. Savannah and I spent so much time together rehearsing, and even our spare time was spent in whoever’s room was lacking a roommate, that I hadn’t taken a step back to look at her other relationships. Everyone knew how I was. I didn’t spend a lot of time socializing, especially on the road. Travel exhausted me, and I was often shuffling between practicing and sleeping. But Savannah was significantly more social than me, and I quickly calculated that she was spending nearly all of her free time with me.

“I don’t want you to pull away from your friends, Savannah.”

“I’m not pulling away, but there’s a big chunk of my life that I can’t talk to them about … I think I need to talk about us with someone. Just … to process what’s going on. I won’t broadcast it, but—”

“Anyone but Nathan,” I spit out without regard to the delicacy of my tone.

Savannah sat up and pulled back slightly, looking me in the eyes. “What?”

“I get that this is a really emotional and conflicting situation, Savannah, I really do. And I appreciate the need you have to talk to a friend, but … anyone but Nathan.”

“Gregory … I …” She drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs.

My pulse kicked up, but not the way it did when her legs were wrapped around me. “Were you considering telling him about us? The boy detests me, Savannah, and I can’t say the feeling isn’t mutual. He’d take great pleasure in ruining my reputation.”