“The bar,” Evan repeated, hardening his eyes. “I’m not sure about this guy, Lis. How well do you even know him?”

I slipped my pen into my apron. “I don’t. Not really. I mean, I owe him. I trust him, I think.”

“You think?”

“Just give him a chance tonight?” I tried. “Please? He’s a friend and I don’t want anyone to be mean to him.”

Evan softened. “Yeah, all right.” He smiled. “Anything for our Lissy.”

I blushed. “Thanks.”

With my order placed and a few minutes to spare, I went out front. Nick’s back was to the kitchen, but as soon as I entered the bar area, he straightened, shoulders leveling, as if he sensed me. And then I realized he was watching me through the mirror behind the bar. He turned as I walked up.

“Hey,” he said. There was a tumbler in his left hand, a couple of inches of brown liquid inside.

Everyone carded here. Merv was strict about that kind of thing. So Nick definitely was over twenty-one. Or had a very good fake ID.

“I’m almost done,” I said. “Give me a few more minutes?”

“Sure.” He brought the tumbler to his lips and drained the glass. He waved at the bartender for another.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tiny blond-headed girl weaving quickly through the tables as if on a mission. Chloe. She was grinning at me like a fool, her eyebrows waggling. When she bounded up, Nick went stiff as a cutting board.

“Hi,” Chloe said, and held out her hand to Nick. “I’m Elizabeth’s best friend. Her coolest friend.”

Nick stared at her hand, his face impressively blank. But then he blinked, smiled, and shook her hand. “Hey,” he said.

“Did Elizabeth talk to you about tonight yet?”

I cleared my throat and made shut-up eyes at Chloe. “Not yet. He just got here.”

“What’s tonight?” Nick asked, glancing between Chloe and me.

I told him about the group, and about the lake. After our break, Chloe, Evan, and I had decided it’d be fun to have another fire. It was supposed to be nice tonight.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I added when I’d finished.

“I’ll come,” he said without giving it a second thought. “Something tells me there isn’t much else to do here anyway.”

Chloe slid onto the bar stool next to him. “You got that right.”

“Well,” I started, “I should go check on my order, and then I’ll be out. Chloe?”

She raised the line of her brow. “Yes, dear?”

“Be nice to Nick while I’m gone.”

She glanced at him, and a large smile spread across her face. “Never fear, Lis. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

I wasn’t sure I believed her, but the sooner I got my last order out, the sooner I could rescue Nick.

23

NICK

“WHAT THE FUCK?” I SAID IN A RUSH, once Elizabeth was out of earshot.

The smile on Chloe’s face disappeared like a snuffed-out flame. “Calm down. I’m not going to say anything.”

She was the girl. The girl I’d picked up at Arrow two nights ago. The girl who told me her name was Sarah.

Sarah/Chloe was Elizabeth’s best friend?

The whiskey in my gut turned sour and cold. It wasn’t just the connection between the two girls—there had been something off about Chloe. She hadn’t blinked an eye when I’d come out of my flashback and nearly knocked her on her ass.

I twisted around on my bar stool and propped my elbows on the bar top, burying my hands in my hair.

Chloe leaned in to me and lowered her voice. “Lis doesn’t need to know. Nothing happened between us anyway. Remember? You went ape-shit before anything could.”

“Ape-shit.” I snorted and shifted so that I could look at her through the gap of my bent arm. “How the hell does something like this happen? You of all people! Her best friend?”

She frowned and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. “Something tells me you pick up a lot of girls. And something tells me that the likelihood of this happening is actually pretty damn high considering how cute I am.”

I scowled her way. “You are unbelievable.”

“Me?” Her free hand fluttered at her chest. “I should be the one worried here. I’m Lis’s best friend, and you are clearly, somehow, questionably important to her. And, if I had to guess, you don’t place much importance on anyone you meet.” She pulled herself upright. “Just what are your intentions with Lissy, anyway?”

I mirrored her, pulling back from the bar top. The stool creaked beneath me. “My intentions? Well, I don’t plan on courting her, if that’s what you mean.”

A hoarse laugh escaped her throat. “Despite my better judgment, I actually like you. You’re not a pussy.”

She had no idea, and I was grateful for the flashback that’d interrupted us. If it hadn’t, what else might have happened between us? What else might she have figured out about me? Elizabeth knew some of my past, but she didn’t know the scary parts. And if she did, then she’d push me away and this whole mission would turn to ash.

Chloe narrowed her eyes, as if she sensed the horrible things I was hiding.

“What did happen the other night?” she asked. “What happened to you?”

“Migraine,” I said quickly, too quickly.