we park in front of the house, his grin makes me suspect he’s up to no good. I get out and head to the front, not bothering to wait for him. He doesn’t follow me right away, but when he catches up with me, he’s whistling. I notice the backpack strap hoisted over his shoulder.
“What are you doing with that?”
“I missed my gym session this morning. I figured I could lift some weights.”
“I thought you said you wanted to crash Charlie’s party.”
“That too.”
I’m not sure what he’s planning, but he’d better not pull some crap tonight. I throw him a meaningful glance before opening the front door.
The scene I walk in on makes my steps falter. I see Charlie and two guys I’ve never met, plus my sister, Jane, animatedly speaking at the same time. They’re so into their conversation that they don’t notice we just walked through the door.
“Jane?” Andreas says.
The conversation ceases in an instant.
She looks at us, smiling broadly. “Hey, you’re home. Hi, Andy.”
“What’s going on here?” he asks as if he lives here and not me.
“Dude, chill out,” I tell him.
“I came by to see how Troy was doing, and then Charlie invited me to play a game while I waited,” Jane explains.
“Oh, cool. What are you playing?” I ask.
“Betrayal at House on the Hill,” she replies.
“I didn’t know you were into board games.” I walk closer, not glancing at Charlie on purpose. I’m afraid if I do, it’ll show on my face what she’s doing to me.
“I’ve always wanted to play, but no one in my circle cares for them.”
“It’s because your friends are all lame.” The dude with spiked green hair bumps my sister’s arm with his elbow, making me frown. A bit too familiar there.
“Who are you?” Andreas asks, not hiding the aggression in his tone.
I whip my face to his, hoping he can see the warning in my eyes, but he’s not paying any attention to me. He’s staring at Charlie’s friend.
Shit. His beast mode is activated.
“You just got here. Shouldn’t you be introducing yourself first?” the guy sitting next to Charlie retorts.
Andreas snorts. “Like you don’t know who I am.”
“Why should they? You’re not a celebrity,” Jane replies, making my jaw slacken. Ten minutes of hanging out with Charlie has put sass in my sister. I’ll be damned.
Andreas seems to be at a loss for words as well. He simply stares at Jane, bug-eyed.
Charlie points at her green-haired friend. “That’s Fred, and this is Blake.”
I don’t miss when she touches the dude’s arm. She’s standing way too fucking close to him, and I don’t like it.
“How do you know Charlie?” I ask.
“I met Charlie through LARPing,” Fred replies. “But she and Blake have known each other for like forever.”
Crossing my arms, I look at her. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, I’ve known Blake since we were in kindergarten.”
I sense the guy staring a hole through my face, so I move my attention to him. Looking closely, I realize he seems familiar. “I’ve met you before.”
“Sure have. Ludwig dragged me to one of your games. He introduced us.” I try to rescue the memory from the depths of my brain, but before I can, he continues, “I’m the editor of the Rushmore Gazette. Let me tell you, I loved getting censored by the school administration because of you.”
Ah fuck. That explains why he’s shooting daggers at me.
“You shouldn’t publish garbage then,” Andreas pipes up.
Charlie whips her head around so fast, her ponytail slashes across the air. “My article wasn’t garbage.”
“What’s going on?” Jane asks, confused.
“Nothing is going on,” I butt in before things get out of hand. “Charlie and I have settled our differences. Let’s just keep the past in the past.”
My remark seems to mollify Charlie.
When she looks at me, her eyes aren’t crackling fire anymore. “Right. We’re no longer archenemies, unless Troy decides to join us for game night. Then all bets are off.”
Her lips curl into a mischievous smile that sets my body ablaze. I’m lusting for this girl badly.
“That’s an unfair challenge. I’ve never played that before.”
“And you’re not going to. I’m not about to waste another twenty minutes explaining the rules,” Blake grumbles.
“Hey. It didn’t take me twenty minutes to learn,” Jane complains.
“I know, but I’m going out on a limb here and guessing your brother will be a more challenging case.”
“Blake! Stop it.” Charlie hits him on the chest with the back of her hand.
I wave her off. “Nah, it’s okay, roomie. Cheap insults like that don’t bother