“Nah.” She shakes her head, pretending she’s not interested but her next comment tells me she wishes she has. “Heard it’s invite-only.”

I spot Chloe sitting against the hood of some red little sports car and roll my eyes.

“Surprised you didn’t get invited.”

I scoff before I can stop it and she spins to look at me.

When I glare at her and look away, she starts laughing.

“You did! Why the hell are you not going?”

“Why would I?”

“Better question... why not? It’s not like you’ve got somewhere else to be. Shit, I don’t know about you, but this is the first time in a while I’ve had a spot to go back at the end of the night. My mind’s not on how to get my next meal or where I can sneak a shower. We’re fucking teenagers for a while longer. Why not act like one every once and a while?”

I stop and turn to her, watching to see any sign of a liar or a con. And not the kind we poor kids have to be from time to time but the shitty kind we can choose to be better than.

She stares right back, even lifts her chin a little, so I nod and start walking toward the herd of cars.

“Holy shit, wait,” she whispers. “Are we really just gonna walk up in there and expect one of them to give us a ride?”

“I’ve learned not to expect anything.” I turn to her with a smirk. “We’ll either catch a ride or have some fun stirring up shit for the in-crowd.”

She pauses, shrugs and then laughs as we continue forward.

By the time we hit the parking, all the partygoers are hoping in the cars and a few kids are hitting each window with a little white card.

“What is that?”

“Directions maybe?”

“I don’t think we’ll be finding a ride.”

Right then, a familiar black SUV pulls around the row of cars, and all eyes trail it as it pulls over...right beside me.

The window rolls down and some guy I don’t know leans out.

“That’s Leo,” she whispers, and I roll my eyes.

The corner of his mouth lifts and he swings his eyes her way a minute, licking his lips before he looks back to me.

“And he can hear you.” I tilt my head and he then glances to the back as the window rolls down, revealing a couple girls I recognize from gym. High and mighty smirks on their faces.

“Royce didn’t think you’d show. I told him you would.” He eyes me.

“You don’t even know me.”

“Don’t need to know you to know you’d be here. Now get in.”

That’s when I notice the blonde in the front seat. She leans over Leo, running her hand up his arm.

I raise my hands and shrug in mock disappointment. “Looks like you’re all full. Guess I missed my chance.”

His smirk grows, but there’s an edge to it he can’t quite cover. “Get out,” he says without even sparing the girls a glance.

All their glares whip from him to me.

Vienna chuckles beside me.

“We could squeeze—”

“I said out.”

With low grunts, they do as they’re told, slamming the doors as they quickly run to the back of the line of cars.

Leo’s eye follows them. “We write the number of people in the car to make sure nobody gets picked up on the way. All the cards were already given out.” He glances back to me. “I was their only shot for tonight.”

“You can still change your mind. Bet they’re a guaranteed lay.”

He assesses Vienna. “I’m good.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Vienna jokes, making him laugh.

“Get in.”

I look to Vienna and together we shrug and step forward.

When we both get in the back, Leo scowls out his window, then peels out.

This better be fun.

It takes a solid twenty minutes to get to the party place, an old ranch house on a deserted piece of land. Nothing but the house lights seen for miles.

It’s one of the creepy looking places that murderers buy so they can torture and kill their prey without perked ears and prying eyes.

And we’ve just got locked inside.

Leo fist bumps a guy on the way through the narrow hall and we get frown after frown as we bypass a huge ass line of students.

“Bathroom line?” Vienna whispers, and then we reach the end, seeing a big dude scanning each person and confiscating their cell phones.

My hand instantly hits my chest.

Leo sees it and frowns, looking from the metal detector to me. “You got a phone in there?” He pops a brow and I shake my head.

“Nope. No phone.”

He’s slow to accept my answer and then looks to Vienna. “You?”

“Dude. We live in a group home. Like we could pay a cell phone bill.”

He nods and then we’re through the dark curtain.

The other side is no majestic place. Nothing special or over the top.

An old house, clean but not kept up with lights and a few sofas against the wall. Some music coming from somewhere and a few kegs in the kitchen as well as a long table people are playing dice on.

Vienna spots a few girls she must know because they wave her over, but she doesn’t budge.

“You can go,” I tell her.

“I came here with you, that’s messed up.”

“For real, go. I’m not very social as it is. I like to roam around and check shit out. You’ll have more fun with them.”

She hesitates a moment, smashing her lips to the side. “You sure? I don’t want you to think I used you or whatever.”

“I’ll see you later,” I laugh lightly, pushing her along and as soon as she walks away, I can breathe a little better.

It’s true what I told her. I’m better by myself.

I make my way to the keg, but stand back and watch several other people fill up their cups before I decide it’s likely not poisoned and grab my own.

When I step through the living room to what I’m thinking served as a den when the house was occupied, I spot Captain leaning against the wall, a brunette between his legs.

He’s pulling her shirt down, kissing on her shoulder, but his eyes meet mine when I walk by.

I step out back, spotting Bass sitting at a table in the yard.

“Raven Carver.” He grins, calling me over with a nod of his head. “The fuck you doin’ here?”

“Bass Bishop.” I walk closer, bringing my cup to my mouth for a long drink. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Free beer,” he jokes. “So how’d you end up here?”

“Lucky, I guess.” I shrug.

He stands and walks toward me. “You get that all cleaned up?” he asks, reaching out to pull my lip down a bit.

I dab at the blood spot, showing him it’s all dried.

He chuckles lightly and nips at my fingertip before stepping back to take his seat. He grabs a cigarette, offering one to me.

“I’m good.”

With a nod, he turns back to his buddies and I move along.

I walk across the yard to the opposite side of the house, propping my hip against the old wooden panels that line the edges. Nothing but empty field for miles.

Not five seconds later a firm grip locks my hip in place and hot breath hits my neck making me jump.