Page 25 of Where the Darkness Goes

She takes a sip of the drink in her hand, looking around. “So, nice tour?”

“Very nice,” I tell her. “This is a cool place.”

“Thanks. That’s right, I forget you guys haven’t been here before. Tessa and I come here a lot in the summer with my family, but this place rarely gets used in the fall, so I thought it was the perfect chance to get out here with our girl.” She nods her head toward the doorway, where Tessa is lingering, pretending not to listen. “She looks pretty tonight, hmm?”

“She’s always pretty.” Tessa’s eyes find mine, clearly shocked, and I don’t know if it was a mistake to say that. Either way, it proved me right.She cares.Even if she likes Brendan, even if she’s here with him, she cares what I think. She cares about me. Maybe more than she realizes.

“Got it all set up,” Brendan says, clapping his hands just as the music kicks on. A JoJo song plays through the speakers as he walks over to her, pulling her into his arms and planting a kiss on her lips.

I’m going to vomit or kill him.

I’m going to vomitandkill him.

The sound of plastic crumpling draws my attention, and I loosen my grip on the cup in my hand before I crush it. When my eyes find Britney, I’d nearly forgotten she was still there. She’s staring at me like I’m a science experiment, her eyes gleaming.

Something is definitely up with this girl.

“What’s that look?”

“Nothing,” she says, her voice ringing with pure glee. “Very interesting, that’s all.”

“What’s interesting?” I scowl.

Before she can respond, Will appears in the room with a bowl of chips. “There’s food,” he tells me, mouth as full as his hands are.

I don’t think I’ll ever eat food again. When I look back over at Tessa, Brendan’s hand is on her jaw, talking to her so low none of us can hear it.

“Okay.” Britney claps her hands together, calling loudly, “I think we should play a game.”

“What game?” Tessa asks, pulling away from Brendan to eye her best friend with suspicion.

“Let’s see, we’ve got Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle, or…” Her eyes light up, and she leaps to her tiptoes. “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” She shimmies her shoulders. “Ooh. Yes, that’s the one.”

“What? My sister is here!” Will argues before the rest of us have time to point out why this is such a bad idea.

“Don’t worry.” She puts a hand up, crossing the room into the kitchen and returning moments later with a sheet of paper and a plastic cup. “We’ll draw names. One boy, one girl. If it’s a relative, we’ll redraw. Obvs.”

“That only leaves you,” Will pouts.

Britney looks at him as if he slapped her. “Is there something wrong with me, Will Becker?”

He chuckles and pats her head. “No, Brit. Obviously not. I guess I can kiss you or whatever.”

“You’d better say that. You should be so lucky.” She huffs, but it’s playful. At least, I think it is. “I know where you sleep. If you think I won’t put Nair in your shampoo bottle the next time I spend the night at your house, you don’t know me at all.”

He pulls her into a hug, scrubbing the top of her head with his knuckles. “Shut up. You know you’re hot.”

She lets out a littlehmphand goes back to scribbling our names in a line on the page. Then she tears each name out, folds the scraps of paper, and drops them into the cup.

“What if she gets someone besides me?” Brendan asks, gesturing toward Tessa like a caveman. He may as well be grunting.Her. Mine.

“It’s just a game,” Britney says, holding her hand over the top of the cup as she shakes it around. “It’s not like you guys are official or anything yet, right?”

Brendan hesitates, running a hand through his hair and looking down at Tessa. “I mean, no. I guess not. Are you okay with this?”

To my surprise, her eyes slip from his momentarily, and it’s clearly not intentional when they find mine. I’m not even sure she realizes she’s done it. Then she looks at Will. “As long as I don’t have to kiss my brother, I guess.” She fights against the growing smile on her lips, but so do I because—holy shit!She didn’t say she doesn’t want to kiss me.I’m fire and ice all at once as that realization hits me.

“Don’t make me barf,” Will says, his mouth full of chips again.

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