“Paisley is driving me,” I replied, which was mostly true. I left off the part where Paisley wouldn’t be coming inside the party with me. A lie by omission? Maybe. But necessary.
I’d never had a curfew, never needed one, and now, it was a little too late, but she was still my mom. Worry lived in her bones, maybe more so than your average mom due to the trauma she’d endured. I saw it in the tightness around her mouth. “All right.”
“That’s it?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. “No interrogation? No demand for addresses and emergency contact numbers?”
She stepped around the counter, her heels clicking softly against the hardwood, and grabbed her purse from where it hung on the back of a chair. Then she leaned in and kissed my forehead, lingering just a second longer than usual. “Don’t have unprotected sex,” she said, pulling back with a grin spreading across her face.
I groaned, heat flooding my cheeks. “Mom.”
“Have fun, Malibu, but not too much fun,” she said over her shoulder, sauntering down the hall. The door shut behind her a second later, leaving me alone in the quiet cottage. Just me and my reflection in the hallway mirror, dark dress, dark tights, darkboots. Everything black except for the pale column of my throat and the uncertainty written across my face.
Oh, and the black raven stamped on my wrist.
I lifted my arm, turning it so the mark caught the light. It looked like a tattoo, and I liked it. Cute and dainty with dark undertones.
Kind of like me.
My phone buzzed, a text from Paisley, letting me know she was nearly at my house. I took a deep breath and closed the door behind me with a finality that felt like stepping off a cliff.
Paisley pulled into my driveway. The late-evening air was cool against my bare legs as I briskly walked to her car, goose bumps traveling up my thighs. Summer was quickly shifting into fall, and I already missed the warmth of the sun. The woods breathed softly around the cottage, leaves rustling in a breeze.
My gaze drifted to the trees as I walked, and a shiver crawled up my spine. I couldn’t see anything, but it didn’t erase the feeling of being watched. The little chill bumps covering my body intensified, as did the voice in my head urging me to hurry and get in the car.
I quickened my pace and slid into the passenger seat, grateful for the warmth.
Paisley took in my appearance. “You look good. Too good. They are going to eat you up.”
I pulled the seat belt across my lap and clicked it into place. “Thanks, I think.”
“I still think this is a horrible idea,” she said, her hand moving to the gearshift and putting it into reverse. “It’s not too late to change your mind. We can go inside, sneak a bottle of wine, and bingeThe Bachelor.”
“Tempting,” I replied, fidgeting with my clutch sitting in my lap. “But what if something happens tonight? We could end this.”
“You’re right. And I don’t know if I could sleep tonight knowing we didn’t try. Fine.” She sighed and started driving. “Atlas is going to be pissed when he finds out.”
Better to ask forgiveness than permission. I did feel bad leaving Atlas out. I didn’t want to be the cause of a fracture or wedge in their friendship.
She cut through town, taking side streets I’d never been on. The headlights carved tunnels through the woods, twin beams cutting through darkness.
I might be going in alone, but I wouldn’tbealone. Paisley would be there, listening in on the other side of my phone.
Paisley cleared her throat. “If we’re going to do this, let’s make sure we have a plan. You’ve got the necklace on?”
I touched the small pendant resting just above my collarbone. It looked harmless. It wasn’t. I nodded. “Yeah.” Weirdly, she hadn’t asked why I owned a pendant with a recording device inside, but I had an explanation ready to roll off my tongue if she did.
“Keep it on the whole time,” she ordered, her eyes flicking from the road to me and back again. “No matter what happens.”
“I will,” I assured, smoothing my hands over the fabric of my dress, trying to settle the nervous energy vibrating through my limbs.
Her lips pulled into a worried frown. “And you’re calling me the second you get out of the car. I need to hear everything, make sure you’re safe.”
I wasn’t sure what she would do if anything happened to me. Did she plan to bust in? Regardless, I nodded because it seemed as if she needed reassurance. “Okay.”
The trees pressed in on both sides, their branches forming a canopy overhead that blocked out the stars. “You don’t have to do this,” she said again, almost pleading. “My offer forTheBachelorstill stands. We can turn around right now and figure out some other way.”
How did I tell her I didn’t want to abandon the plan without hurting her feelings? “We’ve come this far. We might as well take a shot.”
The trees thickened as we turned onto a narrow, barely paved road, pitted with potholes. The car bounced and swayed, no buildings yet in sight through the dense press of trunks and undergrowth, but it was close.
