Page 131 of Crossing Lines

“Horses, mainly, but why don’t you all come in June? I’ll be there for the entire month.”

“No,” Aria says immediately.

“And why not?” Jake asks, focusing on his fishing pole.

“Because I’m busy.”

“Become unbusy,” I say. “We definitely need a group trip to the middle of nowhere, to get away from everything.”

“Honestly, that sounds dreamy,” Stella says with a wistful look. “Time away from the paparazzi and life? Sign me up. It’d be the perfect break before the Asian leg of my tour starts.”

“See?” I say, knocking my shoulder against Aria’s. “It’ll be fun.”

“I better get a bed and a bathroom,” Aria says, “because I’m not into camping.”

“Do you think I live in a tent?” Jake asks incredulously.

Aria lifts her chin in the air and says, “I don’t know what to expect. You never talk about your hometown.”

“Because you never ask,” Jake says, giving Aria a hard look.

Elodie raises her eyebrows at Stella and me and we both nod. Jake and Aria need to work out whatever is going on between them, and by work out I mean have sex. Elodie taps Hunter on the leg and widens her eyes, lifting her chin toward Jake and then to Aria.

Somehow, he understands what she’s trying to say, which is helpful because I have no fucking clue what it is. Hunter slaps Jake on the back and says, “Then it’s settled. Group trip to Jake’s in a couple of weeks.”

Aria pouts and I throw my arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, if you hate it there or if he bothers you, I’ll help you bury his body.”

Aria leans into me and whispers so quietly I almost miss it, “It’s nothisbody I need help burying.”

I pull back in confusion and she pointedly looks away. One day soon I’m going to get to the bottom of what’s going on and help my friend, whether she likes it or not.

Chapter 34

Nina

ONE WEEK LATER

I hold my hand over Stella’s eyes while I lead her into her house. Kai, her bodyguard, meets with Nate in the pool house to go over the security measures he implemented.

“This is a bit dramatic,” Stella says. “I can close my eyes on my own. And I don’t even understand why I’m needing to close my eyes.”

“You’ll understand in a minute,” I say. She hasn’t seen the house since she bought it and doesn’t know I decorated it while she was in Europe. “And it is necessary, since I don’t know if you’re the type of person who likesto peek or not.”

She snorts, and when I position her in the kitchen, I remove my hand and say, “Ta-da.”

Stella blinks rapidly before glancing at me in confusion. “You…decorated?”

“I didn’t want you to come home to an empty house and have to start from scratch.”

She spins in a slow circle, taking in everything.

“You decorated the whole house?” she asks slowly.

“Yeah. If you hate it, I can redo it. I?—”

Stella knocks the air out of me with her hug. “You, my friend, are amazing. You didn’t have to do this, but this is seriously the best surprise ever.”

I grin. “Do you want a tour?”

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