She’d rather freeze.
The door opened behind her, the sound of voices and music drifting out onto the otherwise quiet street, and Eva mentally steeled herself in case whoever it was attempted to strike up a conversation with her.
Lily Cross stumbled into view, and Eva sighed.
Of course.
Her cheeks were flushed, sweat sticking her hair to the back of her neck. Lily looked shocked to see her, coming to a stop leaning against the coarse brick wall of the bar, gooseflesh rising on her skin.
“Are you leaving?”
“I’ve made an appearance and gotten my free drinks,” Eva said. “That’s more than enough.”
“Are you not having fun?”
Eva scoffed. “This is nowhere near my idea of fun.”
Lily moved closer, pausing a few steps away, shrouded in darkness out of reach of the streetlights dotted around the block. “I bet your idea of fun is going to the opera.”
“It’s certainly not that.” Eva jerked her head toward the bar. “Though you look like you were enjoying yourself.”
“You noticed?”
“No,” Eva said, too quickly, and Lily’s lips twitched. “I try my best not to notice you at all.” That was too honest.
“Why?”
“Because you’re annoying.”
Lily grinned. “That the best you can come up with? You’re losing your touch.”
“How dare you.”
Eva expected Lily to duck back into the bar, but she seemed rooted to the spot, looking at Eva with unfocused eyes.
At least Eva wasn’t the only one who wasn’t sober.
“Everyone else steers well clear of me,” Eva said, tilting her head to one side. “Everyone else is scared of me, but not you. Why?”
It was the most annoying thing about Lily. The thing that set Eva off.
“I dunno. Cause you’re not scary?”
Eva’s eyes narrowed, and Lily’s smile widened.
“And because it’s fun to wind you up.”
“You don’t find me scary?” Eva drifted closer without thinking. She expected Lily to retreat, to back down, to scuttle back into the bar where Eva didn’t have to think about her anymore.
But she didn’t.
Instead, Lily straightened her spine and set her jaw, leaning her head against the wall behind her and looking Eva in the eye. The challenge in her gaze was clear—I’m not afraid of you—and Eva hated the way it made her heart pound.
No one else would ever dare, and wasn’t that part of the draw? Wasn’t that why Eva couldn’t stay away? Equal parts fascination and dislike had led her here, walking a dangerous tightrope, swaying in the breeze.
Eva didn’t stop moving until she was mere inches away, perfume and sweat hitting her nose.
“How about now?”
