“New girl.” A voice I was vaguely familiar with popping up out of nowhere.
It registers, dawning on me when his body pushes through the crowd. That smile his giveaway. Perfect and white same as before.
“Hey Xander,” Hailey greets. Him doing the same after.
She arches a curious eyebrow in my direction, noticing the same thing. He’d taken a half step closer to me than her.
“I finally got a name to report the guy who ran into me,” I tease.
“Still don’t know yours, new girl,” he says. “And if I remember correctly,youran intome.”
I shrug lightheartedly, it is still up for debate.
“You just get here?”
Hailey answers for both of us. “Yeah, I was about to grab us some drinks.”
“In the kitchen, same as always.”
She nods, already assuming.
“Rory, you want to join or —” Words lingering in the air.
My chest swelled. Hailey was making sure I was okay before leaving me alone with a guy.
Her mouth creases in indecision even after I tell her I was good. I could handle myself. Always had to in the past and that wasn’t going to change in the present.
“What do you think of Kellet’s party?” Xander asks, tipping a red Solo cup to his mouth after Hailey disappears in the crowd.
My jaw goes slack. “This is Cole’s party?”
“Only the finest vacation home for a hellhound,” he says and it almost comes off bitter.
My heart skittered in my chest. I knew I had a bad feeling about this place.
“You didn’t know?”
“I’m catching up.”Slowly,I could add but don’t.
Xander’s gaze was fleeting, taking another drink.
I throw my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m going to go find Hailey.” Suddenly needing to know why she didn’t tell me the truth.
A delayed expression crosses his eyes, but he doesn’t push, and I wander off.
The second-floor balcony was empty. I wish that’s how the identical, lower one was. Throngs of people hanging out on the patio. Versus the few risking sinking their heels in the sanded beach below.
The task, like my attitude, absurd.
I have more time to think the longer it takes me to push through the cluster of packed bodies. Not a good thing. An idea crossing my mind.
Dodging the guy that was doing a shot out off some girl’s belly button, I pivot. Somehow finding the hallway I was looking for.
The step creaks under the weight of my foot. My movements blind in the space.
“Did you dress like a homeless person on purpose, or did younotlook in a mirror first?”
I squeak out a noise, wildly grabbing the banister. A chill of goose bumps explodes down my skin. My body churned.That voice.