I ran my fingertips back and forth over the tender and swollen flesh. He was underneath my skin, still raging with intense passion.
“Scarlett,” Brando called.
My fingers stilled. “I’m here.”
“The lake, for the fire.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you want to go to the lake?” Violet said, her voice rising to get her point across.
It didn’t matter to me. The lake by the fire or inside the cabin with candlelight, either way, I had him. So I shrugged.
Violet watched me with narrow eyes and a grin that screamed I ate the canary! She whipped past Brando, her eyes scrutinizing me with every step she took. She leaned her hip against the counter, next to mine.
“Chocolate cake?” She lifted a thick brow. In comparison to her light hair, her eyebrows were much darker. Then her eyes fell on my fingers, still on my lips.
They came down in a rush. “Want some?”
“Hello.” She rolled her eyes. She looked even more eclectic with her hair in Princess Leia style buns on each side of her head, a bunch of tiny neon-colored plastic clips—flowers and snails—adding support in the heavier spots. The color of her lips matched her name, just a bit lighter. “You know I do.”
While she cut herself a piece of cake and started to eat, Penny had started talking to someone behind her. A bit of a tug of war had started to take place between Penny and whoever it was she tried to pull forward. The two girls laughed a bit, but finally the girl stepped up.
Penny called her Jane. She didn’t look like a Jane to me. More of a Jolene. Or even a Scarlett. Her hair glowed as red as fire, her eyes as green as moss, and her skin was as white as snow, apart from the cherry tint of her cheeks. She had volume to back up her pretty features. Her smile came across as shy.
“Hello, Brando,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Janet.”
“It’s Jane.” She smiled, like it was some kind of private joke.
He nodded once more. “Jane.”
Stop the music. Stop my beating heart.
Violet froze with her fork in midair.
Penny and Amy—her name suddenly came to me—flanked Jane on either side, their shoulders bumping into hers every so often.
Jane reached into her back pocket and pulled out two suckers. She offered them to him. “I wanted to give you these last night.”
Jane was here?
Violet stuck me with her fork. I jabbed my elbow into her side.
He took the suckers from her, sticking them in his pocket. “Thanks.”
“So…” She ran a hand through her hair, causing it to wave a bit at the top—more glamorous than it had been. “Do you wanna come with us? It’s cold out. Colder than last night.”
Tonya Harding—Jane—had just clubbed Nancy Kerrigan—me—on the knee with a police baton. Except both of my knees seemed slack; I offhandedly wondered how I stood upright. It possibly had something to do with the counter behind my back, but the scene was too riveting to check.
The food consumed earlier seemed stuck in my throat, about to make a comeback. My head whirled with innuendos and accusations.
Pandora’s effing box had been opened.
Jane was here. Brando was here. He wasn’t with me last night, as Jane so politely pointed out.
“And so it begins,” Violet whispered from the side of her mouth.
I nudged her. She nudged me back. I couldn’t read her or understand what was going on inside her mind. Especially since my mind had turned red from fury, disgust, and hurt.
It belatedly dawned on me that her mind was going through a similar color crisis, but I was too focused on my own issue to pull her aside and talk to her about it.
“It’ll be fun,” Jane said, clearly trying to encourage him.
Brando turned to me. Then he turned back to face them. And then he turned back to face me. His eyes narrowed when our eyes met.
“Guys are so clueless.” Violet scowled at him. She threw her plate in the sink. “I’m sick of cake! Sick of sweets!”
Penny, Jane, and Amy laughed. This time Amy peeked her head inside of the door.
“Oh, look, she cooked for him.” Her voice was patronizing. “Is that chicken potpie? I think my grandma used to cook the same thing for my grandpa. Bless her old heart.”
“Well, at least she can do more than scarf down candy and drink booze,” Violet snapped, but she snapped at Penny. “Have you seen her dance? She’s only eighteen and yet her name is known to all of the most prestigious dance