frozen as he slowly looked me over and quickly discarded what he saw. “Think of your time here as a temporary upgrade in your mother’s benefits package.” His smile was predatory. “You know…for all the overtime.”
Did he really just call Rosalyn a whore?
I felt tears sting the back of my eyes even as I gripped muscular shoulders and shoved my knee between his legs. I didn’t wait to see if he went down, but his grunt of pain followed me out of the kitchen, so I ran like hell for the front door.
I was once again at the mercy of my emotions. I thought I’d just walk out of Blackwood Keep and never look back. No big deal. Two or three hours later, however, I realized I was as far from the exit as I could get when I wandered onto the beach.
Exhaustion had me accepting defeat quicker than I’d like, but I’d deal with that in the morning, too. My legs felt like twigs, and each step was more painful than the last. I had only begun to consider sleeping on the beach when I smelled the smoke.
It was the sound of Maroon 5’s “Animals” that had me limping across the sand, and when I cleared the dunes, I spotted a group partying around a bonfire. Solo cups littered the ground around them, and I didn’t bother questioning if those coolers contained alcohol.
All but one seemed to be having a good time. He sat far enough from the flame that I couldn’t see much of his face, but I could tell he was brooding as he stared at the water. A girlish scream tore my attention away, and I watched as a guy holding a cup with liquor pouring over the rim gave chase to a leggy blonde.
“Fresh meat!” Heads turned, and I realized I’d been spotted. The guys began to hoot and holler while the girls sized me up. I was still mostly in the shadows, but it wouldn’t matter how I looked. The guys were drunk and horny, and to the girls, that alone made me competition. I backed away when a bare-chested blond in red board shorts and his darker, lankier cohort eased closer. “Don’t be shy,” board shorts cooed. “We don’t bite.” Their wolfish grins said otherwise.
“Yeah, come party with us.”
I snorted. “You two sound like you belong in a bad vamp movie.” I ignored the snickers and focused on keeping space between us. My pursuers didn’t seem offended, but that was likely because they were completely stoned.
“I’m starting to think you’re the one who bites,” board shorts said with twinkling blues. “For future reference, I’m single.”
“Thanks for the invitation, but I’m just passing through.”
“Not without a beer, you’re not.” He was close enough now to grab my hand, and against my better judgment, I let him pull me toward the bonfire. When I stood amongst their circle, someone handed him a beer, which he then shoved in my hand.
“Got a name?”
“Four.”
He barked a laugh and then cocked his head. “That’s not a name, girl. That’s a number.”
I was careful not to look him in the eye as I shrugged. “Well, I’m Four,” I repeated. He wasn’t the first to find my name strange. No one knew why Rosalyn named me Four, and for her sake, I kept it that way.
“It’s cool. I’m Drake, and this”—he pointed to his friend with the mop of dark curls—“is Ben.”
I nodded and looked around at the rest of the group who had lost interest and returned to partying. There were maybe fifteen people, mostly male and my age.
“You’re not from around here.” Drake hadn’t bothered posing it as a question.
“What makes you so sure?”
“Your lack of entitlement.” I lifted my unopened beer can in salute. “And no offense, new friend, but those are the shittiest pair of chucks I’ve ever seen.” The stoners peered down at my dirty green and white sneakers, but there wasn’t even a hint of malice.
Feeling self-conscious, my feet shifted in the sand as I muttered, “I think they have character.”
The two of them chortled, and then Drake smoothly wrapped his arm around my neck and drew me even closer to him and the fire. The flames licking at my face, arms, and legs kept me from pushing away. It felt good against the chill at my back.
“So is everyone in Blackwood Keep rich?”
“No, but people who come to this portion of the beach usually are. Everyone thinks we’re snobs.”
“Aren’t you?”
He snorted and squeezed