Page 65 of Slay Ride

“I mean about us. What lie can I come up with this time? Why have we locked ourselves in this hut, alone?”

“Tell them the truth.”

“I can’t. And neither can you.”

“You’re free to leave, then,” I say, motioning toward the door. “I’m not keeping you here. The lock only works on people who aren’t in here.”

“I know how locks work, Bennett.”

“Says the girl who panicked after locking herself in an outhouse.”

No, she doesn’t understand how locks work at all. If she did, she wouldn’t have let me past her defenses in the first place. Now we’re both fucked.

“Why does this have to stay a secret?” I ask.

She fumbles with her words before finally saying, “You know why.”

“Is it because you’re embarrassed? You say that isn’t the reason, but I think it is.”

She grips the edge of the bench and sits forward, looking into the small fire in the center of the room. “I guess I am embarrassed, in a way. It’s just . . . I don’t want to justify my decisions to everyone who knows us.”

Someone knocks on the door, followed by Ezra’s voice. “Everything okay in there?”

“We’re fine!” Cat says, loud enough for him to hear her. Hell, the Cattle in the mansion’s basement probably heard her. “We’re . . . talking.”

“Talking?” Kindra says through the crack in the door. “Why on earth would you two try to do something like that? And without a mediator, too?”

Cat motions to the door and gives me a look that says,See?

“She said we’re fine, now fuck off!” I say, and that’s enough to get them away from the door. I can tell because the light filters from underneath once they walk away. “We all tease each other,” I whisper. “The jokes wouldn’t be anything new.”

She shakes her head. “It’s more than that. I’ll have to field questions, and you’ll get it even worse than me.Don’t hurt her,Bennett. Don’t cheat on her, Bennett.” She scoffs and runs her toe through the dirt. “Is that really what we want to deal with?”

Some things are worth it.

That’s what I want to say, but my lips won’t form the words. I can only watch the way the flames cast a glow over her pale skin.

“Then what do you want to do?” I ask instead.

“I don’t know. This would be so much easier if we were back in New York. We’re under a microscope here.”

Another knock comes at the door. This time, it’s Ice Pick. “Hey, any chance I can squeeze in there? The other sweat rooms are pretty packed.”

“The constant interruptions certainly don’t help,” I say to Cat. “Let’s pick this up back at the mansion. We’ll have a few hours before dinner.”

Cat nods as I stand to unlock the door.

“An hour after we’re back, let’s meet in the natatorium,” I say. “I doubt anyone will want to go near water for a while after this.”

I walk to the control panel in the natatorium and turn off those horrible screens. All that fake sun disappears, replaced by reality. And reality is dark, snowy, and cold. The overhead lights work off the same panel, so I dim those as well. The less attention I can draw to this room, the better.

Everyone was pretty tired after the disaster event, so we should be safe. Cat and I completed the only successful drowning. All the other Cattle died from hypothermia while the participants warmed themselves in the steam huts. Everyone should be in their rooms right now, sleeping off the cold anddreaming of the late dinner Kindra orchestrated to give everyone time to nap and warm up.

Not Cat, though. If she’s sticking to our plan, she should be coming through those glass doors at any minute.

I adjust the champagne and slender glass flutes at the edge of one of the hot tubs, which is tucked away in an alcove behind a few tall plants. It’s the only spot in the room that offers any privacy from prying eyes.

And that’s the thing. It’s not that I dislike the secrecy surrounding our exploits. It adds an element of fun, if anything. But I’d be lying if I said I was okay with the reasoning behind it.

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