“’Night,Jeb.”
He peeked over my shoulder at the parking lot, probably to check whether I was telling the truth about going to dinner with hisson.
I climbed into Everest’s car with little grace, the dress constricting my movements. “I didn’t know they made straitjackets out of blackleather.”
Everest cracked a grin, one of his incredibly toothy grins, and for a second, it made me forget that this was possibly one of the crappiest days of my existence. And I’d had my fair share of crappydays.
I hooked on my seatbelt. “So, who was that girl you were swapping spit with atTracy’s?”
“Just agirl.”
“Same one from the music festival,right?”
“Right.”
“And you met her…randomly?”
The tips of his ears flushed. “She’s not anescort.”
I hadn’t meant to imply he’d met her through Sandra. “What’s hername?”
He flicked his gaze to me. “Why do you want toknow?”
I was a little taken aback by that. “Because I’m your cousin, and your life interests me. But if you don’t want to tellme—”
“It’s Megan. She’s a freshman atUCB.”
Glancing outside, at the narrow sunlit road hedged with pines, I rubbed my thumb over my bag’s strap. “What aboutBecca?”
“What abouther?”
“What happens if she wakesup?”
“It’s been a month,Ness.”
“So you’re givingup?”
“I’m not giving up, but neither am I going to wait by her bedside for the rest of mylife.”
I was no relationship expert, but moving on from someone he’d loved after just a month felt incrediblybrusque.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty,” I ended upsaying.
“I don’t feel guilty.” His answer was dry, brittlealmost.
For a long moment, we both watched the ribbon of road we were traveling insilence.
When we crossed over into the Pine Pack territory—a border delineated by sour piss and a pristine, ten-foot metal fence guarded by two wolves in skin, I asked, “How come you went to the Pine Pack forhelp?”
Everest eased his window open and gave the guard our names. The man waved us through, and we set off down a cedar-shaded alley lined with floating whiteballoons.
“Because they hatedHeath.”
I mulled this over. “What’s in it forthem?”
“Julian will tellyou.”
“Why don’tyoutellme?”
