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“We’ll make fun of it for other reasons,” Finn added with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I already hate this.”
Mason drove us to a dealership in Roseland, and the strangest feeling of familiarity settled over me as I sat in the front seat next to the brown-haired boy, with the other three squished into the back. Mason flipped his sunglasses down as he drove, but I could feel him watching me, and it made my skin tingle in a way that was both terrifying and exhilarating.
The familiarity of it all was terrifying too. It made me feel like I was walking a familiar path—one that had dead-ended in a pit of spikes last time.
When those fears sprang up, I clung to the image of my little black book. I wouldn’t let them hurt me again. I was prepared this time.
But a tiny part of my heart I could barely acknowledge existed was starting to believe that this path, though it looked similar to the one I’d been on before, was leading somewhere different.
Somewhere better.
I couldn’t afford anything as crazy expensive as the Bentley Jacqueline had bought me, and I didn’t want one anyway. But I had enough money for something nice and practical.
Finn pleaded with me to test drive all the most outrageously ostentatious cars on the lot while Cole glowered at the salesman who showed us around like he might rip the guy’s head off if he dared to try upselling me.
“Here, try this one,” Mason said, pointing to a small blue compact car.
“See, that I like.” I grinned, walking over to it and running my hand over the hood. “It’s better than pink, anyway.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that car never suited you.”
“Yours suits you. Though I like the new paint job better.”
When Mason had had his car fixed, he’d gotten it repainted too. Instead of the deep red, it was now a dark slate color that shone like burnished steel in the sun.
The emerald of his eyes flickered, and my hand on the hood of the car paused as I realized what I’d said. I had just casually joked about the time I’d taken a heavy metal chain to his car like a baseball bat. The words had slipped out of my mouth without thought, but they only served as a reminder of the strange turns our relationship had taken-the thin ice w
e walked on all the time as we tried to navigate a way past all the bullshit.
Mason’s expression was unreadable for a moment, then a slow smile spread across his face, flirtatious and dangerous and self-deprecating all at once. “Yeah. I like it better this way too.”
The dealer actually let all five of us off the lot to test drive the small blue car, and I had to imagine it was only because he knew who the Princes’ parents were. I sat behind the wheel while Mason took the front passenger seat—of course—and the sight of the other three guys crammed into an even smaller space than usual in the back made me laugh out loud.
I craned my neck to look over my shoulder before turning the key in the ignition. “You don’t all have to come with me, you know.”
“Why? Are you nervous?” Finn joked, reaching around from his seat behind me to slide his fingertips down my bare arms.
Goose bumps erupted along my skin at the touch, and a jolt of sensation made my lower belly clench as my pulse sped up.
Fuck. I should never have let him sit behind me.
“No,” I shot back. “It’s just that if you wanted to get Elijah to sit on your lap, there have to be easier ways to do it. You could just try asking. Who knows. Maybe he’s into that.”
“For the record, I’m not,” Elijah threw in, and when my gaze shot to him, there was heat in his eyes as he looked back at me.
My cheeks flushed as a barrage of memories assaulted me. I knew exactly what Elijah was into, and it wasn’t Finn.
Mason’s gaze cut to me again, catching my blush.
Did he and the other Princes know about what Elijah and I had done?
There had been a time when I was certain they didn’t, because I’d been sure if they did, they would’ve used it against me, taunted me, or mocked me. But the look on Mason’s face made me wonder if I was right about that assumption.
He didn’t look angry, or even jealous, exactly. He just looked like he could read every single thought flitting through my head, and none of them surprised him.
There was heat in his eyes too, and when he saw my blush deepen, a small, satisfied smile tilted his lips. He rolled down his window and inclined his head toward the road.
