“Oh yeah, where is that thing?”
“At home. My cousin drives it once in a while.” Veena tore her napkin into little strips in her lap, like the conversation embarrassed her.
“She got a brand-new car from Toyota for her sixteenth birthday,” Gage told me. He made a face like nice life, huh?
“What will you do with the money?” I was genuinely curious.
She shrugged. “I’m saving it.”
“For what?” Ali asked. “Spill, VV. Tell us, or we’ll harass you all night. Tell us…”
“Tell us your story…” Gage joined into singing the jingle of a recent Toyota commercial.
Veena balled up the strips and threw them on her plate. “I’m going to donate it, okay?”
“Donate?” Ali’s mouth hung open. “That’s so you, V. To who?”
“To Doctors Without Borders, maybe, or WFP.” We must have looked clueless, because she added, “The World Food Program.”
Ali shook her head, her mouth hanging open. “Girl, we need to get you in some real trouble. Like, sully your name.”
“Sully?” Gage asked. Veena snorted.
“You know, get her a bad girl reputation. She’s got the blue hair and nose ring already.”
“Ugh, let’s go,” Veena said. “The show starts in a couple minutes.”
I texted Kovitch that we were on the move. Veena spoke to Jordan and her family for a minute on the way out.
My stomach tensed as I waited for her. I’d been lucky to get this far, but I needed to get everything right from now on. If I lost Veena, the world would lose a lot more than a champion snowboarder or Olympic gold medal winner. It would lose a quality person. And we didn’t have enough of those to begin with.
The Grinders, a country punk band, sounded like a herd of howling cats to me. I wasn’t a big music fan, but if I were, country punk wouldn’t be my thing. I wanted to jam my fingers in my ears as soon as they started.
I didn’t like much about the bar, either. It was packed with people, had horrible sight lines, and smelled like old beer. Because the band was popular with teens, the bar wasn’t serving alcohol until later that night after they finished their set. That was the only way so many minors got in to begin with. But from the whiffs of alcohol and weed I’d smelled, plenty of kids had taken care of business before they came.
Brown and Bart had created a security plan, which they’d gone over with me yesterday. I knew the entrances and exits, the layout of the back of the house, and where Bart would be parked if we needed a quick getaway. But the preparation didn’t help me feel much better. In these tight quarters, if someone wanted to hurt Veena, they could.
I made sure we got a table in the corner, so I could see who came and went, but I shouldn’t have bothered. Ali and Veena were on the dance floor in seconds. They tried to drag me out there, too, but I refused. I’d fire myself first. At least up to now all my screw-ups were honest mistakes.
Gage went to get a soda and say hi to some VMA students at the bar. I pushed my way through the crowd to the wall near Veena. So far, so good. Until someone snuggled in next to me.
“Hey, new girl.” Jake’s breath reeked of alcohol.
“Hi.” I turned back to Veena.
“You’re slippery, you know that? I keep looking for you at school, and you keep getting away.”
I crossed my arms and pointed a sharp shoulder at him, but he moved closer until his face swam a foot or so from mine. He stage-whispered, “But now I’ve got you cornered.”
Did he want to bet on that? My baton pressed reassuringly into my back.
“Want to dance?” he asked.
“No thanks,” I said.
He grabbed my wrist. “C’mon, newbie, don’t be like that. It’s only dancing.”
In a flash, I rotated my trapped hand up so it was in front of my face, and with my other hand, dug my fingernails into the meaty part of his palm, and then jerked my hand out of his. Instructor Bradley would’ve been proud. As I applied pressure, Jake’s eyeballs popped.
“Be like what?” I asked as I let him go.
He blinked a few times like he wasn’t sure what had happened. “Later, maybe.”
“I don’t think so. And Jake, my name’s Nicole. Not new girl, newbie, or noob. Got it?”
“Okay, yeah, got it.”
Still rubbing his hand, he disappeared into the crowd. I returned my focus to the dance floor where Veena bounced with Ali, their fists in the air, singing the lyrics.
Someone slid in next to me again.
I twisted back, grabbing for the baton. “What part of the word no isn’t clear to you, Ja—?”
Connor’s face froze. “Um, every part is clear.”
I flushed. “Sorry, that was meant for someone else.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” He paused. “Everything okay?”
I rolled my shoulders back and down to release them. “Let’s start over. Hello, Connor. How are you?”
“I’m doing well, Nic. You?”
My eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you a little old for this crowd?”
He pointed to a table on the other side of the bar where a few ski patrollers I recognized sat. “Some of the guys wanted to hear this band.”
I glanced at the musicians. Except for the drummer, they were all bobbing around the stage like Veena and Ali. Sweat flew off the lead singer and into the crowd whenever he swung his shaggy head around. Gross.
“Why?” I asked.
Connor laughed, and damn, it was sexy. I checked him out quickly. For once, he wasn’t sporting a ski suit. He had on worn jeans that fit him well, a comfortably faded T-shirt, and a plaid shirt worn open over the top. That golden stubble roughed his cheeks again, and his hair was perfectly messy. Carrots, he was hot.
“So, Nic, speaking of being older than this crowd, I heard a funny rumor.”
I kept my eyes on Veena. “What kind of rumor?”
“That Veena’s family was
