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“A double espresso, please.”

I stopped.

“This can't be true...” I whispered, turning to Miles, who was taking the coffee from Lola and winking at her.

He turned in my direction, probably to leave the diner, so I quickly turned away and was the first to step out into the fresh air.

“You've got something there...” I heard him say behind me, and since he could only be referring to me, I turned back to him. “Under the other stain.”

He pointed to my jacket, where Vivienna's drink had left a clearly visible wet spot.

“Fuck you, Miles,” I blurted out, glaring at him angrily. “Fuck you!”

He smiled and pointed behind him, where his car was parked near the wooden fences, behind which a misty forest wound its way up a mountainside toward a waterfall roaring in the distance. An old, dilapidated wooden sign with Victorian-style wood carvings bore the faded words Psychic Fun Fair – Dark Amusement Park, and I knew there was one of the many paths leading up the mountainside to the abandoned amusement park from the 80s.

“I have a change of clothes in the trunk.”

When I realized the meaning of his words, my eyes widened.

He couldn't be serious...

“Are you out of your mind?”

The mere thought of wearing his clothes sent another wave of heat rushing to my cheeks.

He couldn't possibly have just suggested that. The mere fact that someone from the pack could see us together out here on the street should automatically keep him away from me.

“Well,” he raised both hands, one holding the coffee for Camille. “It was just an offer.” He smirked before turning away. “See you around, Copeland.”

I stared after him in disbelief, wondering if I had just dreamed all of this today or if my life was actually such a miserable mess.

The ringing of my phone snapped me out of my stupor.

“Hunter?” I asked as I answered, already expecting the worst.

“Hey, Emely,” his warm voice came from the phone. “Do you want to go to Midnights with Cody and me? Kieran might come too.”

I watched as Miles pulled out of the parking space much too quickly, raced through the puddles in the muddy parking lot, before he turned onto the street and sped off into the misty woods.

“If you only knew how much I need a drink right now.”

Chapter 43

Kieran

In the Shadows

The Rasmus

The security room reeked of coffee, but I was distracted by the laughter coming from the three occupied seats in front of the main PCs.

I spotted Shani's pink ponytail. She was wearing an Imagine Dragons band shirt again and seemed to be working on some complicated code.

Next to her sat Luca, a computer science master's student and baseball player, with short, golden-brown hair shaved on the sides and decorated with patterns. He was busy with his self-developed game and probably wouldn't be thinking about any security precautions today.

On the far right sat Jordan with his short dark dreadlocks, brown skin, and light brown eyes. He was one of the most famous football players, alongside Nash, Noah, Hunter, and that Quentin guy.

The three of them were the epitome of nerds, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least partly like them.