Page 68 of Just One Bite
“Bullshit!” I move forward and Gavin grabs me. “You’re on the council. You know something.”
“It wasn’t me! You know me. I wouldn’t do that without asking you.”
“If it wasn’t you, who else would it be?”
“I don’t know.”
My phone chimes, but I ignore it. The whispering and shouts are muffled by the roar of blood in my head.
“You weren’t on the nomination list I saw at the start of the week. Someone must have recently added you.”
I’m not letting him off that easily.
“Parker, you’ll want to read this.”
Gavin nudges me with his phone.
“Not now.”
“Look.”
I squint to see past the glare on his phone, and the headline on the latest blog forum reads:The Osborne Sisters: Three Little Liars.
Underneath are four lines:
These sisters have secrets. Who do you believe and who can you trust?
Fake relationship.
Little thief.
Cheater.
“Shit.” All the anger runs out of me.
There’s a stirring of emotion in the pack. Gavin’s nostrils flare, and I feel the faint flicker of it in my chest. He wants to ask me if I’m lying. I can’t worry about it now. I have to find her.
“Sorry, both of you, for being a dick. Really. But I … I have to go. Olivia needs me. Can we reconvene?”
They nod, but I’m already backing into the crowd, searching for her in the wash of house colors. I’m swimming in the movement and the heightened emotion of everyone around.
Her fear is like a siren in my head that leads me right to her within a sea of people.
“This isn’t happening.” For the first time, Olivia’s voice breaks from the calm, calculated smoothness.
“I know. It’s okay. We’re going to figure this out.”
“No, how did this happen? How did they figure it out? We—” She spins around, and I grab her shoulders to stop her from being pushed away in the crowd. It was dispersing, but now they’re gathering around us. “Emma ran and Eva followed. But I had to find you. I … I …”
I grab her hand and spin her to face me. “We’ll figure it out.”
“What’s going on? Who nominated you for council?”
Her words cool the heat in my chest. I didn’t need to tell her. She already knew.
“I don’t know.”
“Everyone is giving me dirty looks.”
