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“But ... I mean this isn’t the same as not being jealous over Erica or a car,” I said. “Is it?”
Nathan was quiet for a long moment, as if considering this. “If we don’t get along, Sang, we can’t stay together,” he said. “Family is a choice, and we’ve chosen this, us. Mr. Blackbourne has already reminded us. And the truth is, I’m not. If you sit in Kota’s lap, or Victor’s, it doesn’t bug me for some reason. Maybe it should ...” Nathan sighed. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m not jealous of the guys. As long as you’ll stay with us. That’s what I want.”
My lips parted and I’d meant to reply, but I lost the words when his blue eyes locked on mine.
A sharp knock at the window rattled us both. Nathan pulled away from me, turning to blink back toward the window.
“What the hell are you doing?” North said, glaring in after us.
Nathan groaned, pushing me away and shifted so he could open the door. “We were staying warm. It’s cold.”
North shoved the door open further. “Get out. I’m driving.”
“No,” Silas said. “I’m driving.”
“Fine. Sang, move into the back.”
“No, Sang sits where she is,” Silas said. “You get in the back.”
“God damn,” North said, grumbling and filing into the back after Nathan.
It surprised me that Silas was giving North orders. It seemed unnatural until I realized this was his car, and Silas could tell the others where he wanted them to sit.
Silas slid into the driver’s side seat, wearing jeans and a baseball jersey. His black hair was wet, combed back. He was smelling fresh from a shower. “Hi, aggele mou.”
“Hi, Silas.”
He held up his arm, showing me the blue band with the pink stripe. I held up my arm that still had my sports band. He bumped fists with me so the bands touched and flashed a grin.
“Seems like it worked,” he said. He fished his keys out and started the engine.
“I was wondering why you were wearing pink,” North said. “You didn’t say it was for her.”
“She’s my luck charm,” Silas said, pulling out of the lot.
North grunted, folding his arms over his chest and looking out the window. “Do we really want to go to this party? I’d really rather not deal with a bunch of drunk teenagers tonight.”
“Let’s go for a couple of hours,” Silas said. “We’ll slap around a few high fives. We’ll show off Sang and we’ll go.”
“We’re not showing her off.”
“I mean we’ll show Sang a good time,” Silas said. He gazed over at me. “You want to go, right?”
I nodded absentmindedly, mostly because he seemed to want to go, or at least wanted me to go with him.
“Where is this place, anyway?” Nathan asked. “Where are we going?”
Silas shrugged, tugging his phone out of his pocket and pushing a few buttons. “It’s in the country someplace outside of town. Someone whose parents aren’t home I guess.” He tossed his phone to me. “Tell me where to go.”
“Me?” I choked out, glancing at the screen. A GPS map was already moving, showing where the car was in location on the street.
“You’re the navigator,” Silas said.
“She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” North said. He pushed his hand out, holding it palm open over the console between Silas and I. “She’s barely gotten out of the house even since her parents left. She doesn’t know her way around. Give me that thing.”
“Let her try,” Silas said, smacking at North’s hand. “Let her get some practice in.”
North grumbled, pulling his hand back and stared off out the window. I slid a glance back at Nathan, my eyes wide. I’d never seen those two at each other like that. And why was North so grumpy?
Nathan gave the slightest shake of his head. Don’t say anything.
It turned out I didn’t have to do much. There was a single road out of town that led straight to where we were supposed to go. It took half an hour to get there. North more than once questioned the address and suspected the other players gave them the wrong one to lead us on a wild goose chase.
The navigation unit directed Silas to the end of a street that had many ranch style homes. Cars were piled up in the yard to tell us which one was the right house. Silas parked a good distance away from the other cars. “I don’t want to get blocked in,” he said. “If we need to leave, I want to leave.”
I handed Silas back his phone. North hopped out and opened my door. I hesitated only a moment because I was terrified he was still mad at everything Silas kept telling him to do. I forced myself to suck in some courage and take a step out.
He shut the door for me, but didn’t move out of the way. He pointed a finger at my nose and then at his eyes. He wanted my attention.
“Listen to me,” he said. His dark eyes weren’t angry, but full of concern. “You’re to stay close to any of us. I don’t care who, but you should stay within arm’s reach. Don’t wander off alone, not even to the bathroom. Especially not the bathroom. No drinking. You can have water. Don’t drink or eat anything anyone gives you. Keep your phone on you.” He glanced up at Nathan. “If anything happens, you’re to drag her back here and take her home. You can come back for us later but get her out of here.”
“No shit,” Nathan said.
“It’s not going to be that bad,” Silas said. He walked around the car and took my hand. He led the way toward the house and the chaos of people and music spilling from it. “Come on, Sang, before mother grounds us or something.”
“Shut the fuck up,” North barked at him, but he trailed after us.
Silas weaved around the sea of cars. I glanced back at Nathan and North following but Silas tugged me along. He seemed in a hurry to get inside.
“Si!” Someone shouted to us from around the side of the house. A group of guys stood together in a circle under a tree.
Silas lifted my hand with his to return a greeting wave toward the guys calling out to him. “Hey.”
“Where the fuck have you been, man?” One of them said, stepping forward and putting a hand out.
Silas let go so he could shake hands. He did the same with the other guys standing together. The porch light was on, but the guys around us were in the shadow under the tree. I caught the outlines of faces but didn’t recognize any of them.
“What’s going on?” Silas asked.
“We were just talking about that kick ass catch North did.”
I glanced behind me. North nodded in our direction, gave a short wave but headed toward the house. Nathan glanced at me but followed North. I thought they were trying to stick together, but that was more difficult to do with North splitting up. From the way North was marching, though, I had a feeling he was going to inspect the house for trouble before we went inside. I internally groaned, hoping he didn’t see something that would set him off. Would he yell at the other kids if they were drinking?
Silas hooked an arm around my shoulder and drew my attention back to his new buddies. “You guys, this is Sang.” He nodded his head in my direction, squeezing my shoulder gently and beaming.
“Yeah, I’ve seen her around school,” one of the shadows said. “She’s pretty hot.”
My heart fluttered. The faces were starting to become easier to see, but I still didn’t recognize any of them. It was probably because I didn’t spend time with anyone outside of Kota and the others.
“Are you two a thing? Because if not, I’m gonna ...”
“She’s here with me,” Silas said, taking on a possessive tone. His arm tightened around my shoulder and his hand gripped until I was almost pressed up against his side.
“Let me know when he fucks up,” the guy said, nodding in my direction. I think he winked but in the dim light, it was hard to be certain.
I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to respond, so I didn’t. They started talking about the game again. I was turned slightly away from the group, looking out toward the house. It was a brick
, ranch-style home. I barely made out a back porch, and it was clustered with people sitting in the dark. The low murmur of other people talking drifted to us just under the music flowing from the house. The air smelled like wet farm fields. Since there weren’t neighbors too close to this house, I thought that was probably why they decided to have this party here.
My insides rattled at being around people I didn’t know. My mouth froze. Silas occasionally massaged my shoulder with his hand. I wasn’t sure if it was an effort to let me know he was right there or if he was showing the guys in front of him I was with him. I didn’t mind being associated as his date, but I was shy and feeling awkward standing there.
Something nudged my arm. I turned as North held out a red plastic cup to me. He had a similar cup in his hand. Nathan was behind him, and two cups in his hands, too. He handed one off to Silas.
I took the cup North gave me, peeking in and sniffing.
“It’s not poison,” North said.
“Not this time, huh?” I quipped.
