Prologue
YOU’RE REALLY PRETTY,” HE TOLD HER. “YOU KNOW THAT,don’t you?”
Though it was dark out, enough moonlight shone for her to see the sly grin that fanned across his face.
She smiled back. He was nice, courteous—chivalrous really. And, of course, good-looking, just as she’d always thought. But over the past few minutes, a dull throb of unease had begun to form in the pit of her stomach. At moments he seemed...toocourteous, and always an inch closer to her than he needed to be.
Besides that, her head was spinning from the booze, not only the vodka he’d brought in a flask but the beer she’d drunk earlier. She’d sampled a few kinds from the microbrewery stands while she waited for him to show up.
She flicked her eyes to the right and squinted, trying to see through the thick cluster of trees they were standing in. There were bursts of colored lights, and she could still hear the noise from the fairgrounds—music, clanging, the roar and rattle of the roller coaster, and the muted screams of riders. But somehow, everything seemed farther away than even a few minutes ago.
The two of them had clearly drifted as they’d been talking, like twigs bobbing in a stream. She remembered him motioning ahead a couple of times, wanting to show her a constellation through the tree branches.
She breathed deeply, trying to force her thoughts to make sense of things.
“I should get back,” she said, the words sounding a little slurred to her ears.
“Really?” he asked. “Why the rush?”
For the first time she noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath, and she had to fight the urge to gag.
“It’s, you know, getting late.”
“It’s not that late. Besides, I like having a chance to talk to you alone, without a ton of people around. I’ve wanted to get to know you for a while.”
That was nice to hear, but this didn’t seem like the best way for them to find out more about each other. “Maybe... maybe we could do something together one night.”
“Aren’t we doing something together now?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking we could have dinner. Or, like, see a movie.”
She heard him snicker under his breath. “You girls never like freebies, do you?”
“What do you mean?” she said, feeling her brow crease.
“Women are always looking for adatedate, aren’t they? But what’s wrong with having the woods to ourselves, not having to be part of any scene?”
“I just—” The throb of worry was back. She darted her gaze toward the right again, peering through the trees. Everything seemed so distant.
“No, no, I get it,” he said. “And you’re right, we should go. Time to call it a night.”
He stepped back a little, crunching a few twigs under his shoes and giving her some breathing room. She felt the tension drain from her shoulders. It was going to be okay.
She put one foot ahead of her and tried to see into the darkness. The only problem was that she had no idea how to find her way back to the gap in the fence that they’d slipped through to get to the woods.
“Not that way, though,” he said, pressing a hand lightly to her arm. “There’s a faster way to reach the parking lot. That’s where your car is, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll make sure you get to it.”
“Thanks.”
He shifted his hand to her elbow, guiding her. She stumbled, almost falling flat on her face, but he caught her just in time.
“You okay?” he asked. “Do you want to hold on to me?”
“No, I’m all right.”
