Page 59 of Silver Tears

“Oh, I’m going to a party one of my HBH friends is holding over on the west side of the Bay.”

“She is?” Archer says to me with his brow quirked.

I roll my eyes. “She’s insistent she goes. So, I won’t be joining you guys either tonight. I’ll be going with Mills.”

Rafe frowns as he eats, nodding his head. “Is that a good idea?”

I shrug my shoulders and lean back in my seat, watching Mills. “Probably not, but I don’t trust Ryan around her.”

“I’ll be fine!” she says in frustration. “I’ll be with Ruby. It’s not like I’m going alone.”

“Is Day going?” Eliza asks me, and I shake my head.

“He’s working tonight with dad,” Mills tells her.

All the more reason for me to be there tonight.

“See!” I say to the boys and they both nod their head. Even if Mill’s doesn’t understand, they do. If it were their girl, they’d do the same. “I’ll go with Mills and then we’ll come over and meet you guys later.”

Archer leans into my ear. “I don’t think you should go alone. I don’t think anyone there would be stupid to start anything with an Ace, but you’ll be outnumbered if anyone does. We stick together, because together no one would dare challenge us.”

I get where he’s coming from. It is a risk, but there is no way in hell Mills is going to that party without me. I don’t trust that fucker, Ryan. He clearly regrets cheating on her. I’m going to stick by her side all night long and remind him she’s off the market.

“It’ll be fine,” I assure him. I’m not worried about going there alone. We’ve trained in the art of combat since we were old enough to walk and talk. I’ve survived many a fight where the odds were against me. The elders made sure that we could survive anything. Mills is naive. She stills thinks she’s one of them. But she isn’t anymore. She crossed over to our side and, whether or not she likes it, that means she doesn’t belong at that party tonight.

MILLY

Ruby arrives at mine after school to get ready for the party. She has tea with us, then we head up to my room to plan our outfits and sort our hair. Ruby has not shut up about the fact that Will personally invited her. I think she hopes that something may happen between her and him tonight.

She’s riffling through my wardrobe, helping me to pick out my outfit when I decide that I should probably tell her about Seb.

“So, about tonight. Seb is going to tag along. Apparently, he’s worried that I won’t be safe there now I’m no longer at HBH. I’ve told him it’s ridiculous, but he won’t take no for an answer.”

Her head pops out from behind the wardrobe door. “Back up! Your fake, hot as sin, Ace god is coming to the party? Holy fricking shit!” She abandons my wardrobe, coming to sit beside me on the bed. Ruby tucks her legs under her and leaning on her hands, she presses me for the details.

“Ryan will shit a brick when he sees you arrive with him, you know. He keeps asking me about you.”

I pull my face. “Ryan can ask about me all he wants. I am never going there again. He’s such a sleaze.”

Rubes nods her head, chewing on her lip. “This thing with you and Seb is totally fake, right? I mean, it almost sounds as if he’s coming to ensure no one hits on you.”

I scoff, unable to look her in the eyes. I concentrate on the loose thread on my sock, fiddling with it. “Of course it isn’t real. I mean, come on, this is Seb Collings. He doesn’t date, and he doesn’t do girlfriends.”

My best friend studies me, nodding her head but saying nothing. “Have you two kissed?”

I bob my head from side to side. “Yes, but only because if we don’t, people won’t think it’s real.”

“Hmm,” she comments, not taking her eyes off me. “You two have never fooled around when there’s been no audience?”

I feel my cheeks heat. “Well, there was one time when I was angry at him, and we were in his room and kind of ended up kissing.”

“I knew it! You’re attracted to him,” she says, clapping her hands together. “This is so exciting.” She watches me as if she’s trying to burrow her way into my brain and find all my secrets. “And that was the only time?”

I worry at my bottom lip and shrug my shoulder. “There may have been a situation in his car when he took me home from work.”

She leans in closer, grinning at me. “What kind of situation? A kissing situation or?” Her eyes flare at whatever she sees on my face. “Oh my God, tell me seriously, this is major. You can’t keep this shit from me. My love life is non-existent. I need to live vicariously through you now.”

I arch a brow and shake my head. “It’s no big deal. He may have, you know, had his fingers in me and was kissing my boobs.”

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