yanked Kira's elbow to pul her away.
'Ow,' she said when the crowd closed behind us, cutting
off the view of him. 'What did you do that for?'
'Don't cause trouble,' I told her. 'C'mon. Drinks.'
'Don't cause trouble,' I told her. 'C'mon. Drinks.'
'I wasn't going to cause trouble.' She frowned and tossed
her hair, not caring she'd whacked some dude across the
face with it. He looked pissed. Not the way I wanted to
start the night.
'There wil be other guys here,' I told her.
Kira just sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. 'Oh,
I know that.'
The Pharmacy was almost always a total sausage party—
three guys for every girl, easy, and al of them horny and
looking to hook up. Chivalry had nothing to do with them
puling out their walets and plying us with booze. It was al
about getting laid.
'Oh, look,' Kira said from beside me. 'Talk about
trouble.'
She was right. Trouble with a capital
'Helo, Austin.'
Once upon a time, Austin and I had fucked like tigers. I
was wiling to bet he stil had the scars. I did.
was wiling to bet he stil had the scars. I did.
'Paige.' His hair was longer, but he had the same grin, the one that parted thighs like the Red Sea. He didn't look
surprised to see me.
Austin wore a blue-striped shirt and faded jeans that
hugged his ass just right and hung down, ragged, at the
hems. Jeans like that should be outlawed on men like
Austin. His buddy, some guy I didn't know, wore an
almost identical shirt, but with brown stripes. He didn't
look half as good.
Behind me, Kira dug her fingernails into the skin of my
elbow. It stung, and I shook her off. 'How are you?'
'Good. I'm good.' His eyes shifted to Kira and back to
me. 'Haven't seen you in a while.'
'Haven't been home,' I said, though home to me now was
an apartment on Front Street, not a trailer or a rented
house in Lebanon.
'Yeah. I know. Hey, Kira. I made it.'
My insides froze. I glared at her, but Kira gave me her
best dumb look. 'What?'
best dumb look. 'What?'
She'd told him we'd be here. I knew it. I could see it on
both their faces, their conspiracy, and I wondered how
he'd convinced her to tel him. I thought about walking out,
and the only reason I didn't was because he was looking at
me. Not her.
Kira saw it, too, and she gave me a narrow-eyed glare. I
