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Lorelei gasped and threw her head back. She grabbed onto Kate’s shoulders as she felt her fingers moving inside of her, going deeper and deeper.
“Understood?” Kate asked again, more forcefully this time.
“Yes,” Lorelei breathed.
Kate withdrew her fingers and moved away, staring down at her with a hint of anger in her eyes. “I’ll tell Claire that she’s allowed to stay here, if she wishes,” Kate said in a sharp-edged tone. “If she tells me she doesn’t want to live here, I’m not going to force her.”
Lorelei kept her head down, nodding slowly. “It’s her choice,” she said. “It always has been.”
“Good,” Kate said, turning on her heels and walking away. “Let’s hope she makes the right choice.”
Chapter nineteen
Pass her around
Claireswungthefrontdoor to her home open revealing her best friend standing on the porch. There was something different about her. Dark circles lined her eyes and her bare shoulders looked bony. Paige looked sick. Claire frowned as she stepped aside, letting her friend into the house.
It felt like a lifetime ago that Claire last set eyes on her.
Paige didn’t say a word. She just took off her shoes and walked into the house, gazing around. There were boxes everywhere, stacked higher than their heads—Claire’s mother was preparing to move across the country for her new job. Paige moved through the space like a ghost. It was abundantly clear that a lot had changed since they last saw one another. Claire wanted to slip back into blissful ignorance, when everything in her life was completely perfect and nothing ever went wrong.
“Alright,” Paige said.
Claire ushered her friend upstairs to her bedroom. The room was basically empty but Paige barely noticed. She perched on the edge of the bed and stared off into space, her eyes glazed over.
“Paige?” Claire said gently.
She looked up to Claire, half snapped out of the daze.
“Are you okay?” Claire asked. “You seem different.”
Cogs were clearly turning behind Paige’s eyes.
“Paige?” Claire said, a little more forcefully now. “What is it?”
“Boy trouble,” Paige said, her voice barely audible.
Claire felt a lump form in her throat. “This doesn’t look like just boy trouble,” she said slowly. “You’ve lost weight.”
“Right?” Paige’s face suddenly lit up with a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I lost all my puppy fat.”
“You look sick,” Claire said. “Are you eating?”
Paige shrugged, slipping her head to the right to stare down at the floor. The smile had disappeared as quickly as it had shown up. “Sometimes,” she sighed, “I’ve been busy, you know.”
“Are you sleeping?” Claire asked. She reached up to Paige’s hollow cheeks and touched the dark circles in her skin.
Paige leaned away from Claire’s hand and slapped at her wrist. “Don’t,” Paige said. “Don’t touch me.”
Claire’s hand fell away from her friend’s face. She couldn’t understand what was happening. Where was her best friend? “Who’s the boy?” Claire asked.
“Boys,” Paige corrected.
“Plural? How—how many boys are there?” She could no longer hold back the fear bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Her friend was clearly involved in something she shouldn’t be.
“A few,” Paige said, her voice still dreamy. “They go to college.”
“Frat boys?” Claire asked. “Paige, you shouldn’t even be around those boys.”
