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CHAPTER4
Evie
The bass kicks through my body in a heady, phantom pulse. I squint my eyes, letting in just enough of the flickering strobe lights so that I can keep sense of where I am on this packed dance floor.
And more important, whereKatis. Although I think I just lost her again.
My eyes sweep over the people jammed up against me as I search for her. Most have their eyes closed, lost to the music or their dance partners. A flash of blue catches my eye a second before Kat shoves her way in beside me. She’s holding a bottle of some muddy-colored energy drink. Her hair is starting to curl from the humidity on the dance floor.
She hands me the bottle, motions for me to drink some. I ignore the warning clench of my stomach and take a sip anyway. It’s alcohol of some sort, brandy maybe, along with the sweetness of an energy drink. I take another sip and hand it back.
Kat drinks, then turns and shoves the bottle against the side of a girl dancing beside us. She motions to her like she just did to me—pinkie and thumb held out, tipped back against her lips.
Drink.
The girl hesitates, and then puts the bottle to her lips and takes a deep swig. She turns and hands it to the guy she’s dancing with.
A second later, the bottle leaves my sight. When the girl turns and gives Kat a thumbs up, dread settles upon on my shoulders.
But in a second, Kat’s pressed against my side, her body forcing mine to move to the rhythm of the music. She smooths back my hair from my face, and I think she’s smiling but the mask blocks too much of her face for me to be sure.
I’m just starting to submerge into the beat when Kat grips my shoulders and turns me around. My eyes flutter open and fix on a group of guys up ahead. Despite my heels, I can see little more than the tops of their heads as the crowd moves around them.
One of them, the tallest of the men, with striking pitch-black hair, turns and looks at me. Or in my direction, anyway.
My stomach twists. I grab Kat’s wrist, digging my nails into her flesh. She ducks her head closer and I yell, “I feel sick!” into her ear.
She nods, turns, and drags me outside.
I’m hyper-aware of the cool night air sliding over my skin. I should be shivering, but some invisible buffer insulates me against the cold.
Probably whatever was in that sports drink.
A bonfire catches my eye, sparks leaping from the flames. Many of the people around here know Kat. They call out to her, asking her to join them. Some look over curiously at me, but I duck my head.
I can’t handle strangers right now. I can’t handleanythingright now.
Kat says hi, but doesn’t stop to say more to them.
When I almost twist my ankle on the grass, Kat pauses just long enough to bend down and take off my shoes.
We emerge at a swimming pool that looks like it belongs in a five-star hotel. It has splash pools on both sides, and an island in the middle with a bar framed by a pair of palm trees. Girls in bikinis float around on illuminated water in plastic flamingos and unicorns. More than one couple are making out along the sides. When I realize just how many of the people inside the pool are naked, I finally figure out what’s about to happen.
I pull back on her hand. “Kat,no!”
She gives me a wicked grin as she hands me her mask. “Oh, yes, noob.Yes.” She walks right up to the side of the pool, pulls her dress up over her head, and dives in, the splash accompanied by a chorus of cat calls and wolf whistles.
Something tugs at my hair. I turn, staring at one of the guys who Kat pointed out in the crowd what seems like hours ago. He’s handsome in a roguish way, especially with the lopsided smile that spells out trouble for any girl in his vicinity.
“Your turn,” he says, dragging a hand through his mop of curly hair as he slides his gaze down my body. “Need a hand with your dress?”
A few other guys are heading my way now, their eyes crawling over my bare skin. Suddenly the music is too loud, the air is too hot, my clothes are too revealing. But I feel trapped inside my own body, my thoughts scattered.
“Evie!” I hear Kat call from the pool. “Get in!”
“Yeah, Evie,” the curly-haired guy says through a slick smile. He grabs the shoulder strap of my dress and shifts it down my arm. “Let’s get in the pool.”
It would be so easy to let him undress me. And I can imagine how cool and welcoming the water will be. Kat’s in there, and she’s waving at me, a happy grin plastered on her face.
