I nodded in her direction. “You did a little hum thing there.”

She did it again, while looking at me like a goddamn Bambi.

“You said something nice about Beck. Willingly too. Don’t think I didn’t notice,” she said, with a sly smirk.

I waved her off. “Beck’s an ass but he kind of knows what he’s doing.”

Her eyes narrowed more, and I watched her take a seat on the leather couch in the little library in Sebastian’s place upstate. It was where they fell in love, Faith had told me once. In that very room.

“Your boyfriend hung up on me,” I said, throwing Sebastian under the bus to distract her.

“Sounds like something he’d do.”

I paused, because surely there would be more of a reaction to this. When no more explanation came I couldn’t bite my tongue. “And you’re not remorseful on his behalf?”

She smirked as if she could see right through my attempt at diversion before saying, “I am not in the habit of apologizing for Sebastian. That’s up to him.”

“Well, I won’t hold my breath,” I pouted.

“What made him hang up on you?”

I gasped. “Wait, are you taking his side?”

“Absolutely not, I just figured you poked the bear, and he retaliated.” Faith smiled back at me.

“Fine, apparently the bear doesn’t like to be disturbed when he’s inking million-dollar deals.”

“Seems reasonable,” said Faith before taking a sip of her water.

“Ugh, fine. Anyway, I need his skills to help me figure out a permitting issue.”

“I’ll make sure he does it as soon as he gets home. Well, he has a few things to take care of first.” Faith winked.

“Ew, gross. I don’t need to hear about your sexcapades.”

Faith threw her head back and cackled. “Since when? You love hearing about them.”

I glanced at my fingernails. “Bald-faced lie.”

Faith guffawed. A full-on guffaw. “Don’t think I won’t forget you defending Beck. What happened to you guys when you were here anyway? I never managed to debrief with you. For some reason, you were never alone after that night when we left you two alone together in the big house.”

My cuticles suddenly became interesting. “Nothing interesting happened.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Then why be so coy? And why hide from me?”

“Who said I was hiding? I just wanted to spend some quality time with my new gal pal, Alice.”

Faith’s interrogation-face softened. “She does seem to like you.”

I waved a hand down my body. “What’s not to like?”

“I’m being serious, Luna. She was glued to you the morning after the sleepover.”

I tilted my head back against the headrest. We were back in the city and closing in on Club Deux where I’d spend the second half of my day. “It’s the red hair. It makes people think I’m cool.”

Faith rolled her eyes at me. “You are cool and it’s not just that. She feels safe with you. That’s important, especially if you still have googly eyes for her dad.”

“Now you’re going to make me puke.”