Evelyn still hadn’t said a word, but shenodded.
Frank offered her a demure smile, then left, the door flapping behindhim.
“Are you okay?” Imurmured.
Evelyn’s lips were slow to unbuckle, but when they did, they arched upward. “I am fine.” She slid a knuckle across mycheek.
“Ness?” Everestsaid.
His voice made the smile wilt off her lips. Where disgust no longer stained the way she looked at me, there was something guarded in the way she observed my cousin. It was as though she couldn’t see him without seeing the beast inside. Would she look at me the same way if she bore witness to my othershape?
Note to self: never shift in front ofEvelyn.
“Is all of Boulder going to this thing?” I asked Everest as we walked out of the inn and hopped into his convertibleJeep.
He’d taken off the black fabric roof, and the breeze twisted my hair. I wound it up and clutched the ends so that I didn’t arrive at the music festival looking like I belonged in the band. Mullets and pompadours had been untrendy for years, but it didn’t deter The Lemons from sportingthem.
“You sure you want to go to thisthing?”
“Yeah. I like TheLemons.”
He side-eyed me, one lid a little lower than the other. “You really know who theyare?”
“I wasn’t living in a cave back inLA.”
“Not a cavebut—”
I hummed one of their songs as proof that I knew the band and to stop him from making an upsetting comment. Mom had worked hard for everything we had. At some point, I asked, “How’sBecca?”
“Thesame.”
A long line of vehicles had formed up ahead. Blinkers striated the dark woods. The drive to the field converted into a parking lot was a crawl, but we finally made it. Like ants, the cars trolled over the grass anddirt.
I climbed out of the Jeep and tugged at the hem of my short, white eyelet dress. A glance around reassured me that most girls were showing way more skin than Iwas.
“Well, well, if it isn’t contestant number four.” Lucas’s oily voice had my spine straightening. “I bet Liam that you’d be catching up on your beauty sleep before thetrial.”
Giggling ensued. The girlfriends hadcome.
My pupils felt like they were warping. I snapped my eyes shut a millisecond, then opened them. “Did you think I was planning on distracting the three of you with my looks towin?”
Taryn, who clung to Lucas’s waist as though her balance depended on it, narrowed her blue eyes at me. Of course Liam was there too. And next to him stood a ravishing redhead. Was that the girl they’d spoken about on the bus the other day? What was her name again? The outer corners of her green eyes slanted upward, which lent her this fierce feline look. God, I already disliked her, for no other reason than because she was stunning and surely knewit.
“Is thather?” she whispered to Liam, perky nosecrinkling.
Liam didn’t say anything. Didn’t even look down at her. He was looking at me. No. Not at me. Through me. As though I wasn’t even standinghere.
“Hey, Tammy,” Everest said, walking over tome.
Tammylatched on to Liam’s hand. “Hey,Everest.”
My ribs cinched at the sight of their twinedfingers.
“Aidan couldn’t make it?” Lucasasked.
Everest cocked an eyebrow.Right.I’d failed to mention mydatewith Aidan Michaels. Instead of answering, I spun around and threaded myself through the throngs of festival-goers. If I didn’t lose the pack, tonight would be far fromfun.
Everest caught up to me and tugged on my elbow. “What the hell was thatabout?”
