The Lying Season (Seasons #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,85

now.”

“Camden can fucking shove it,” he said with a lackadaisical attitude.

I got right up in his face, obscuring his view of the cards. “Now, Court.”

“Lark, what’s the big fucking deal?”

I leaned in, speaking softly into his ear, “Camden got a tip that the place is about to be raided. We need to get you out of here now, or we might all get arrested.”

Court reeled back, losing some of his cool. “Fuck. Can I cash my chips in?”

I shook my head, glancing uneasily over my shoulder. I grabbed his arm again and tried to all but drag him out of his seat. “Come on.”

“Fine, fine.” He lovingly stared down at the chips. “I’m out, boys. Duty calls. Free-for-all on my chips.”

The guys laughed, clearly thinking I was dragging him away for nefarious purposes, but I couldn’t even care. We needed to go. The last thing that could happen was Court Kensington getting arrested. It would spell defeat for Leslie and the campaign and me and English…and everything I’d been working toward. I felt suddenly very sober at the prospect.

As soon as Court and I were away from the table, Camden began to lead Katherine and Whitley away. I followed him, guiding an incredibly, stupidly drunk Court toward them. They must have been pumping him full of alcohol for him to barely be able to keep his feet under him. I didn’t know how he’d been fucking winning while he was this intoxicated. Unless the game was stacked in his favor to get him to keep coming back. That sounded like something Thomas would do. Get the big dogs to win a lot on their first night and then start clearing them out.

I shook my head. I’d probably never know. And right now, I had bigger things to deal with.

“Where are we going?” I asked when I finally caught up to the others.

“Camden knows a back way out,” Katherine said.

“How?”

Katherine shrugged one shoulder. “He’s Camden Percy.”

Yeah, that was answer enough, I supposed.

I felt chased by an invisible force. As if, at any moment, the police would burst in through all of the doors and put handcuffs on us. Everything would go down in flames. My stomach was in knots, the buzz I’d had vanished, and I just half-dragged, half-hustled Court toward the alternate exit that Camden was leading us toward.

No one stopped us. No one asked why we were all leaving, where we were all going in the first place. And still, anxiety warred through me.

The anticipation kicking into overdrive.

This wasn’t who I was. Not anymore.

I’d done enough in high school to warrant running away from the cops. We’d snuck out and gotten drunk and high and skinny-dipped and on and on. Enough that was horrible. Enough that was just stupid. I hadn’t missed this feeling. Like I was in a free fall, and soon enough, I would get caught.

Wasn’t this half the reason I’d given up Bad Lark before? I might have come to terms with her today when I was taking down Thomas, but I didn’t want this to be my life. I didn’t want that anxiety of wondering if…when I was going to get caught. It had poisoned my relationship with Sam the first time around. I didn’t want to do it again. And yet, he was doing enough bad all on his own.

I’d been so happy since we’d been together. Jumped the gun and used the L-word, even asked him to move in with me. Stupid.

I should have expected the worst. Should have thought the bottom would fall out. Like it always did.

Because I was the girl who was out of everyone’s league. Who could ever leave me? Except everyone.

Fuck.

My fears were really ramping up as we hurried out of the back exit and into a deserted alley. I couldn’t focus on Sam right now. I just needed to get us away and find a way for us to get home.

That was when I heard the sirens.

“Fuck,” I gasped.

Camden seemed unperturbed. “This way.”

He led us down the alleyway and out onto the main street. I had no idea where we were. I didn’t know this area of town like I did the Upper East or Midtown or even SoHo. I swallowed as our group hurried and yet tried to look casual, moving down the street in cocktail dresses and thousand-dollar suits.

The sirens were getting louder. I glanced over my shoulder once, just once, and saw the cars zooming toward us. I wanted to pick up my pace