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CHAPTER18
Evie
I’m failing college. It’s Friday night, and I’m doing laundry. I tell myself it’s because I don’t know what fresh hell this weekend might bring, but honestly… I’m avoiding Owen.
When I come downstairs to collect my final load of washing, the kitchen still smells like chili, and my stomach grumbles. In the spirit of being lame, I think I’ll come grab some from the pot on the stove and barricade myself in my room for the rest of the night.
I expected the chili… but I didn’t expect to see Kat lounging against the kitchen island nursing a beer. I thought she’d be out partying in the woods like the rest of the school. It’s all they ever seem to do on weekends.
“There you are,” she says dryly. “I thought you were still upstairs, wishing we’d never met.”
She took what I’d said very personally, which hadn’t surprised me. Still, I’d felt like shit about everything, particularly when I’d heard her crying a few nights ago. I’d tried knocking on her bathroom door, but she’d yelled at me to go away. Ever since then, I’ve been avoiding herandOwen like my life depended on it. Which, in a house this size, is kind of hard to do.
“Look, Kat, I’m sorry.” My stomach rumbles again, but I ignore it. “I said some mean things, and—”
She gives me a dismissive wave. “Don’t we all.” Her eyes roll to the ceiling as she puts a hand into the pocket of the short dungarees she’s wearing over a neon-pink crop top. She smells like weed, and from the red tinge to her eyes, she’s stoned as hell. “Here.”
I stare at the key in her hand. “What’s this?”
“The key to my heart,” she croons, clutching her hands under her chin and batting her eyelashes at me. Then she laughs and holds out her hand, the key on her palm. “Now you can keep all us assholes out of your room.”
“That’s… sweet.”
She shrugs. “I found it on the floor by your door.”
I hastily stamp down my annoyance before it gets out of hand and has me yelling at Kat again. I hold up a finger. “First, what were you doing in my room?”
Kat opens her mouth, but I interrupt her with another finger. “How long have you had this?”
Again, she opens her mouth. Again, I cut in. “And who put this there?”
Kat gives me a deadpan look, counting off her fingers as she says, “I was looking for my pills, Monday—and fuck if I know.”
We stare at each other for a beat before I let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t have the energy for this.” I shove the key into my pocket.
She hangs her head a little, looking up at me through her lashes. “I’m sorry. I should have given it to you sooner, but I kinda forgot about it.”
“You know I don’t have your pills, right?” I put my hands on my hips. “We’ve been through this, Kat.”
“I know,” she whines, clapping her hands over her cheeks and stalking past me to the pot of chili. “Want some? It’s just gonna go to waste with no one here to eat it.”
“Then why’d the chef make it?”
“He didn’t know everyone was going out.”
“You’re still here…”
Kat squints at me over her shoulder. “I’m cleaning my room. Who knows, I might just find my pills.”
“So you mean, you actually do knowhowto clean your room, you just never thought it was a good idea until now?”
“Bitchiness doesn’t suit you, Evie,” Kat says through a grin. “And the more I think about it, the less I actually wannadoit.” She gives me a quick onceover. “We could go out instead. There’s a bonfire down by the lake.”
A hair-raising drive with Kat followed by the possibility of bumping into Owen or another of the equally obnoxious Royals? I’d rather drink a bottle of hot sauce.
“No, thanks. And I’ll come grab some chili when I’m done folding.” I go into the laundry room and toss my dried clothes into a hamper.
When I come back out, Kat is busy dishing up a massive helping for both of us.
