I don’t look at him again.
Instead, I cross the room and take Lola’s hand, already pulling her toward the door before she can start in again. “Come on.”
She doesn’t move at first. “Bellamy—what the fuck?—”
I pull her with me, stepping back into the hallway as the muffled noise of The Pit pushes against the walls.
The door shuts with a soft thud, and my sister whirls on me. She plants herself in front of me, crossing her arms and eyes wild. “What the fuck, Bells? Him too, really? He’s the asshole of the bunch.”
I lift one shoulder, and it takes effort to keep my expression even. “I was helping him dress his cuts.”
She stares at me for half a second before a laugh bursts out of her, sharp and disbelieving. “Oh, yeah? You got medical tape under your skirt? Butterfly bandages in your asscrack? Neosporin tucked under your thong?”
My lips twitch despite myself. I hook my arm through hers, already steering us back toward the main area, toward the noise, toward anything that isn’t that room.
“Enough about me,” I say lightly. “Tell me more about Nate and Easton. I’m surprised they let you ditch them.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “You’re deflecting.”
“Maybe.”
She exhales, then shakes her head, but I can feel her giving in anyway, letting the shift happen. “You know what,” she says after a second, a smirk pulling at her mouth. “I don’t even care, because I already fucking called it weeks ago. I knew that man was down bad. But we’ll talk about that later. First, I want to hear your thoughts on East and Nate. They’re so hot, right?”
I follow my sister back into the pit, nodding at the right moments while she talks, while the noise closes back in around us, while the crowd swallows us whole.
I focus very hard on the way the floor feels under my heels and the way her voice sounds and the way the lights are too bright on this side of the room and not at all on how the fabric of my thong feels against my skin right now or the way my thighs are still?—
“Ugh, you’re not even listening,” Lola yells over the noise.
I lean into her. “What?”
She rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “I said—Nate asked if I wanted to get out of here.”
My brows go up. “What about East?”
She tips her chin toward the ceiling, fighting a grin. “Have I mentioned that they’re roommates?”
I laugh, and it comes out more genuine than anything I’ve managed in the last hour. “Okay. Text me when you leave. And keep your location on.”
She waves me off. “Obviously.” Then she glances over her shoulder. “They went to check on something. They’ll be back in a second.”
I look around at the crowd, buying myself another moment. “Before they do, quick: which one?”
Lola turns to me with her mouth dropped open, one hand pressed flat to her sternum, and gives me a look of such theatrical devastation that I almost lose it entirely. She straightens up, lifts her chin, and says in a voice pitched to mimic mine, “Bellamy, you know I’m not going to answer that.”
I raise an eyebrow.
She breaks immediately. “Okay, both. Obviously both. That’s not a real question.”
TWENTY
BELLAMY
My phone vibratesjust as I’m rinsing the last glass in the sink. I set it down, glancing at my screen. My heart skips a beat when I see his name on my screen.
Gage: Come outside.
Curiosity nibbles on my heels, and I walk to the front of the apartment. I pause at the window and glance out. His car is idling at the curb, sun catching on the windshield just enough to obscure the inside. For a second, it looks empty.
