Page 55 of Falling

“You look fucking stunning, Wren,” I whisper, and I make the mistake of looking her in the eye. Her wide eyes stare into mine, her lips slightly parted. “I’m just saying, I won’t be surprised if someone tries to take you home with them.”

“The only person taking me home tonight is you,” she murmurs. My heart skips multiple beats. I know it shouldn’t take this long for her to tie my tie, but her hands are still on me, even when I can see it’s done. “You clean up nice in a suit. You look good.”

I grin. “Say that last sentence again.”

“You look good?”

“Just wanted to double-check I’m hearing you correctly,” I say. She rolls her eyes and drops her hands after smoothing out my shirt. “Are you sure your dad will like me?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” She looks up at me as she takes a little step back. Her heel catches with the carpet, but I wrap my hand aroundher waist to steady her. Her hands come to the lapels of my blazer, pulling herself up into me. “Now stop worrying.”

“What if I bring up cream cheese?”

“Why would you ever need to bring up cream cheese?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I might get nervous and say something about it.”

“If you do, Iwillgo home with someone else tonight right after I murder you.”

19

MILES / WREN

GIVE A SEX-DEPRIVED GIRL A HOCKEY PLAYER…

MILES

With my shittytiming and my even shittier luck, it seems as if I’ve managed to will my worries into existence. In the short time we’ve been in here, there has been this one guy with his eyes on Wren the entire time.

He’s dressed like all the other men in this place except he’s one of the few who look our age. Even when we’re sitting, my hands tight around her waist and her head nestled in my shoulder, he still doesn’t stop trying to fuck her with his eyes.

Not that she notices.

It turns out these things are pretty boring when you can’t drink. All the people around us are drunk, laughing loudly, and finding everything funny after the auction went down. Wren and I are eating pistachios out of a bowl, waiting for something to happen.

“Is this what it's usually like?” I ask.

She sighs, slouching back in her chair. “Pretty much. It was better when the girls would come. It was more of an excuse for us to dress up, and we’d make up stupid games to pass the time.”

I tilt my head at her. “Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Just people watching, making up lives for strangers that we see. That sort of stuff. Wanna play?”

I'll do just about anything to pass the time at this point. “Show me how it's done, baby.”

“Okay. You see that guy over there?” she asks, her gaze setting on a group of men, but one guy in pants and a button-down stands out as he's the only one without a blazer. I nod. “Middle class. Divorced his wife because she watched a movie he introduced her to without him. He likes it soft and timid in bed, but she was an animal. He couldn't admit it to his buddies so he lied and said she was the one who couldn't take his sword of thunder.”

I roar out a laugh at the randomness, and she does too, smiling at me. “Your brain is brilliant.”

“Why, thank you,” she mimics, flicking her hair over her shoulder. She nudges me in the arm. “Now, your turn.”

“Okay… The guy next to your guy. He lives a very happy life. Wife, kids, the whole shebang. But he has a secret. He probably has a porn collection or something from the way he's fidgeting like that.”

“Or he’s a murderer,” Wren whispers.

I turn to her. “I know you revealed your true identity to me, Miss Amelia Wren Hackerly, but if you really are a murderer, please just put me out of my misery.”

She sighs. “Do you always assume the worst in people or is it just me?”

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