“They’re cousins,” I said. “But it’s complicated.”
“Cousins? No shit.” A strange expression passed over her face as she looked at Nate. His eyes lifted to hers, but he looked away. She cleared her throat. “We should go, the guys will be pissed if we’re not there.”
Code for: Nix would be pissed.
“Actually, Celeste and I are going to call it a night,” Miles said.
“We are?” She gawked at him.
“Well, yeah, I thought we could—” He leaned in and whispered the rest of his plan to her. From the way her cheeks turned red it wasn’t difficult to work out what he wanted to do.
“We could all hang out for a bit,” she said, giving me an apologetic smile.
“Babe, come on,” Miles groaned. “I want to spend time with you.”
Indecision flickered over her face and the air turned thick with tension.
“You two go, we’ll be fine,” I said, making the decision for her.
“You’re sure?”
“Chloe and Nate will keep me company.”
“We will?” Nate’s ears perked up. “I was actually going to call it a night too.”
“What?” Chloe barked. “I mean, I assumed you’d hang out with us for a bit.” It was her turn to blush.
He looked to me, and I shrugged. “I guess I can.”
“Excellent.” She clapped.
We said goodbye to Celeste and Miles, and I grabbed my bag from the trunk of her SUV. She didn’t look wholly pleased with not coming with us, but maybe this would give her and Miles a chance to figure things out.
“Ladies,” Nate said, bleeping open his car. He held the door for Chloe and she slipped inside.
His eyes caught mine over the roof and he smiled.
“What?” I asked.
“Life sure has gotten a whole lot more interesting with you around.”
Before I could ask what the hell that meant, he ducked into the car.
“You ready?” Chloe asked me, and with a swarm of butterflies in my stomach, I nodded.
“Where are they?” I glanced up and down the street again, nervous energy buzzing inside me.
We’d been here almost fifteen minutes, and there was no sign of them. Not to mention the fact that Nix wasn’t answering his cell phone. Neither was Kye or Zane.
“Something’s happened,” I said, a sinking feeling in my chest.
“Maybe we should— oh, here they are.” Chloe pointed to the familiar headlights, and Nix’s car came into view.
But the second he climbed out, I gasped. “What happened?”
He limped over to me and I slid my arm around his waist, pressing a hand to his chest. “Nix?”
“Fuckers jumped us.”