Biting his lip, he gave Mena a look that would’ve had her dragging him off to find a secluded tree in the woods—if she was actually into him.
“So, your strategy for picking up is to make it look like you have two other chicks on the hook?” I gave him a skeptical look.
“Yeah, you know most girls are put off by that, right?” Mena backed me up.
“Not this girl.” He grinned. “Trust me.”
“What girl?” Turner appeared in front of us, blocking our view of the fire and cocking his head to the side. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. This was going to be good.
Drew grinned. “You must be Turner.”
“And you must be Drew,” Turner deadpanned.
“Aw. You talk about me. I knew I had a place in your heart,” Drew cooed to Mena, pulling her closer as she rolled her eyes.
“Only to tell me what a pain in her ass you are,” Turner shot back.
“But what an ass!” Drew dropped his arms and turned, sticking his butt out and wiggling it in Mena’s direction.
Turner pulled Mena to his side and shook his head at Drew. I’d known him long enough to see the amusement in his eyes, but Drew hadn’t. He dropped the clown act and cleared his throat, standing to his full height.
“Hey, man, I don’t mean anything by it. I’m just messing around. I know she’s taken—she talks about you all the time. You’re a lucky man. Mena, am I making you uncomfortable?”
I coughed to cover up the giggle that was threatening to bubble over, but when Mena and Turner finally cracked, I gave up and joined them, all of us bursting into laughter at the wide-eyed look on Drew’s face.
Mena, ever the sweetheart, put him out of his misery. She stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know we’re just messing around. I would’ve said something if it was bothering me.”
“And I would’ve made you pay.” I wiped the tears from under my eyes.
“And I would’ve come down to that fancy-ass school to whoop your ass long ago,” Turner added.
Drew chuckled and jumped right back into his default setting, covering Mena’s hand on his shoulder with his. “Well, if we have the boyfriend’s blessing—”
Abruptly, his face fell as his attention snagged on something in the distance.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Nice to meet you, man. I gotta run.”
Without any explanation, he took a swig of his beer and rushed toward the edge of the clearing where the cars were parked.
Mena watched him with a confused expression. “What was that about?”
I shrugged. He’d joined a group of guys who had just shown up—all of whom I recognized as Fulton Academy students, most of them on the football team. Two were gesturing wildly and getting in each other’s faces. Drew dropped his beer and got between them, keeping them apart. Others helped him stop the fight before it started, but then it looked as if they all broke into a heated discussion.
“What the hell is that about?” Turner voiced what we were all thinking as we stood there, watching the scene from afar.
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.” I squared my shoulders.
“Want me to come with?” Turner asked. “That looked pretty heated.”
“No, that’s OK. Thanks.” I patted him on the arm. “I know all those guys. You two go have fun.”
I marched off before they could argue.
The closer I got, the more apparent it became that I knew each one of them. Some were in Halloween costumes, masks, and grotesque monster makeup, but others were just in jeans and their Fulton varsity jackets.
Will was leaning on the hood of his gray Bentley, watching the others argue with a passive, if not bored, look on his face.
“Boys!” I raised my voice a little to get their attention. “It’s a party. What’s with the hostility?”
“Donna, baby, I got this. It’s just some guy stuff.” Drew threw me an easy smile, but his shoulders were tense, and he was still shooting looks at Luke and Donnie—the two who had nearly started throwing fists earlier.
“What happened?” I demanded. An uneasy feeling crept up my spine, leaving a chill in its wake despite the heat of the bonfire. This was how they’d been acting after Luke crashed his car over the summer and injured himself and three other guys on the team. His left arm was still in a cast.
“Nothing, Donna. It’s fine.” Luke rubbed the back of his head and turned away from everyone.
“Is someone hurt?” I folded my arms. Then someone shifted, allowing a streak of bright light to fall over Donnie’s face, and I gasped and rushed forward. “Holy shit. What the fuck happened?”
His left eye was black and blue, and there were scrapes on his chin. He glanced over my shoulder and swallowed audibly, then gave a hollow chuckle. “Football is a contact sport. Shit happens.” He pulled me into a hug. “But thanks for the concern.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, stepped back, and eyed them all. They were acting shifty as fuck. And they hadn’t played a game last night, so that made no sense. Was I seeing shit, or were the others sporting bruises and scrapes too? Maybe it was just the masks and makeup, the uneven light of the fire deceiving me.
Before I could pull my phone out and turn on the flashlight to check either way, Will pushed off the front of his car and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Hey, D. Wanna go somewhere quiet?”
He smirked and pulled me in close. His eyes weren’t glassy, and he wasn’t swaying. Will was stone-cold sober at a party. Something was definitely up.
“Not tonight.” I pushed at his shoulders, and he let go, but then he grabbed my hand and tried to turn me around.
“OK, cool. Then let’s go get a drink and find the girls.”
“No.” I wrenched my hand out of his. “Will, what the fuck . . .”
“Everything OK here?” Suddenly Hendrix was there, his mask sitting on top of his head and his dark eyes taking everything in. Why was he everywhere? And why was no one telling me the truth?
A motherfucking werewolf jumped out from between the parked cars, growling and raising its paws in the air. Some of the guys jumped in surprise while the others laughed nervously at the performer.
“Not now, asshole!” I screamed, and the guy in the suit gave me a hairy middle finger and stalked back into the shadows.
I turned on Hendrix. “Everything is fine, Hendrix! Mind your own business.” Then I turned on Will. “No, I don’t want to get a drink or go find a quiet place with you, William.” I looked around at the crowd of idiots from my school. “You’re all about as subtle as a sledgehammer. I don’t know what this shit is about, but I don’t like it, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
With that, I turned on my heel and stomped back toward the crowd and the fire and the music . . . and yet another thing I had to manage.
I came to a stop at the edge of the dance floor and looked up to the pitch-black sky, begging whatever deity was listening for strength.
Amaya and Harlow were still dancing lasciviously, but now they were also making out. It was nothing new—they kissed from time to time at parties and shit. Amaya liked to tease the boys, and Harlow liked to subvert people’s assumptions about her. It was just a bit of fun, but there were a lot of people here we didn’t know, and they were both high, and the college guys were dancing a little too close. I didn’t want them to do anything they’d regret . . . or worse.