This party, which is happening in the middle of the woods that border Bardstown, is full of people from the Mustang camp.
The soccer players who worship him, the students from Bardstown High who are in awe of him and girls from all over town who want to be with him.
All of them are either laughing or talking or swaying with the music with red cups in their hands. I even hear people chanting his name off to the side.
Of course, Callie. This is his party.
This is his territory.
Everything here is his.
Except me.
I’m the trespasser. I’m the one who doesn’t belong. I’m the anomaly here.
And what if someone recognizes me, the sister of his rival?
What if they tell Ledger about it?
Oh Jesus Christ, I haven’t thought this through, have I?
I havenotthought this through at all.
What if he uses this, me being here, as something to rile Ledger up in the next game?
He’s done it before.
I mean, he hasn’t usedmeto rile my brother up. But hehasused things against Ledger. And well, Ledger has done the same, but yeah.
I need to get out.
I need to leave.
I grab Tempest’s hand and try to stop her from getting into the thick of the crowd. “I think I’m…”
Going to leave.
That’s what I was going to say before I left my words hanging.
Because just then the crowd parts, the horde of swaying bodies falls apart, and there opens a direct line of vision.
To him.
The guy who owns everything around me.
Reed Roman Jackson.
He’s sitting on a log, his powerful thighs spread, his demeanor casual, his body leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees.
And as usual, he’s not alone.
There’s a girl draped over him — I think she’s from school — and she’s talking to him, whispering something in his ear.
It’s not the fact that a girl is hanging off his arm that makes me pause, no. I’ve seen this before at school, multiple times. I mean, it would be more of a shock to see himwithouta girl.
It’s not the girl. It’s him.
It’s the fact that despite very meager lighting in the space — the moon and headlights from parked cars — every single thing about him is so clear, so vivid.
