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“It was great. You did it perfectly ...” I hesitated as a beautiful brunette approached Collin and tentatively touched his arm.
“Hey, Miranda.” Looking at her, he took a step back. “I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight.”
“Just decided to come by last minute with a few friends of mine.” Appearing unsure, she blinked up at him with overbright eyes a darker shade of brown than her hair.
“Martin with you?” Andy asked her.
“Not tonight.” Miranda passed her gaze over me but narrowed it on Rachel. “Who are you?”
Rachel stood. Extending her hand to Miranda, she introduced herself, then gestured to me.
Barely acknowledging me, Miranda said insincerely, “Nice to meet you both.”
I got it. She was into Collin, and I wasn’t the competition that my sister was.
“How old are you?” I asked, blurting my thoughts out loud.
Miranda held a glass of wine. Her makeup was as flawless as her French-manicured nails. She wore a silver outfit that I was certain I’d seen in a Calvin Klein magazine spread, but she was too young to be drinking legally.
“Eighteen, but my brother is the owner.”
“Do you go to Southside High?” Rachel asked.
“No.” Miranda crinkled her nose. “Lakeside High.”
My eyes rounded. That was the most exclusive private school in Seattle.
Miranda looked at Collin. She seemed to be waiting for him to say something, maybe an invite for her to sit with us.
When it didn’t come, she gave him a tight smile. “Well, I’d better go. My friends are waiting.” She gestured toward a group of girls overflowing a nearby seating group, dressed in clothing that looked as expensive as hers.
“Call me.” Touching Collin’s arm and ignoring the rest of us, she leaned her boob into him as she went up on her toes to press her lips to his cheek.
Collin’s gaze followed her as she left, his eyes flashing with a strong emotion I didn’t know him well enough to read. Absently, he swiped her red lipstick from his skin with his thumb. Maybe he’d had her and didn’t want her again.
Miranda was rich and beautiful. Compared to her, what hope did I have to gain his interest? My chest collapsed, a sinkhole for my deepest desire.
“Glad you liked our performance,” Collin said to me before he looked at Rachel. “Wanna come to a practice with us before you decide?”
“Yeah, sure.” She tilted her head. “Where?”
“Andy’s house.”
“My grandma’s house,” Andy said, then glanced away. “My parents are out of the picture.”
“I’m sorry.” Understanding that all too well, I touched his arm.
“They’re not dead.” His steely gaze crashed on me like a landslide. “They took off, had better shit to do.”
“Like our dad,” I said, my gaze as hard as his. Deciding they might as well know what they were getting into, considering Rachel’s age, I said, “He split. Our mom is a drug addict.”
“Parents are assholes,” Andy said. “But my grandma is good people.”
“That sucks, babe.” Collin’s gaze was warm on mine, his voice low like when he sang. “About your parents, I mean.”
Registering his empathy deeply, too deeply for a tagalong, I hugged my arms around myself.
“Cold?” he asked, moving closer.
