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“Billie, you don’t need to get me—”
“I have…”
He was in front of me, grabbing my shoulders, before I took off looking for anything to stall his departure.
“Billie, sit. I’ll stay.”
I froze, my cheeks warming as he stared at me like he could read every cowardly thought in my head.
“It’s okay. Everyone reacts the way you did. It’s normal,” he said, letting go of me and sitting down again.
I went back to my seat on the couch and buried myself under the blanket, trying not to stare at him like he was going to try to make an escape. “The brownies are really good. You know, if you’re interested.” It was a pathetic attempt to cover my crazy behavior and probably failed.
“I’m sure they are.”
He leaned back, doing something on his phone, not looking like he was going anywhere.
Curling on to my side, I kept my eyes forward, even if I kept Kaden constantly in my peripheral vision.
Chapter Twenty-One
The door to my suite swung open and Cookie walked in. She stared down at where I was lying on the couch, popping chips into my mouth.The Matrixwas playing on the TV and I hadn’t changed out of the sweatpants I’d put on last night after I woke in my bed alone.
She made a swirling motion over me. “Is this because of your brush with Chaos?”
“No,” I lied. “Just tired, is all.” I flicked a couple crumbs off my shirt.
“You know that’s a once-in-a-decade phenomenon at most, right? It’s not like you’re going to be dodging it every time you leave this place.”
I nodded, as if I’d known. Once every ten years? That was better than waiting for it to hit every time I went for coffee. It wasn’t like it had hurt me or anything. It just felt…
I shivered, trying to push the feeling from my mind, as I’d done fifty times already and failed.
“You know what? You need to get your ass up and start getting ready. Go pick out some tacky outfit out of that closet you seem to love so much and get moving. We leave soon, and you can’t go like this.” She was pointing at the crumbs still clinging to my t-shirt, while making a face like I smelled.
I didn’t. I might not have showered, but I would’ve noticed an odor.
“For what?” I popped another chip in my mouth, having no intention of going anywhere.
“There’s the annual tinker party tonight.Allthe tinkers go. It’s, like, the thing. You can’t miss it.”
It was as if the close call with Chaos had wiped my brain clean of anything else, including any annoyance at being left out. I popped two chips in rapid succession.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not invited.” I wasn’t just sure, I was positive. Kaden and Antoinette’s conversation had spelled that out pretty well.
Cookie looked at me like I was dumber than dirt. “What are you talking about? There’s no formal invite list. It’s the same time every year, and if you’re a tinker, you’re automatically invited. That’s how it works. And you can’t go like that.”
“Yeah, you can’t go like that,” Dice said as he walked into the suite, looking at my sweats and t-shirt, complete with oil stains.
Cookie turned to him and said, “She wasn’t planning on going. Can you even believe this shit?” She threw her hands in the air.
Dice shook his head at me. “You’ve got to go. All the tinkers go. If you don’t show up, it’ll look weird, like we’re hiding you.”
The two of them were staring at me and not budging. If they’d been willing to throw me in a river, dragging me to a party against my will wasn’t going to faze them.
“I’m not quite sure I’m supposed—”
“To go?” Cookie asked. “Are you not listening?Alltinkers go. And don’t tell anyone you’re a reservation when you get there, either. They’ll really think something is wrong with you. No one wants a reservation on their team.”
