By the time I walk into the kitchen, Kendrick and Nicole are already sitting at the table and pretending to love each other. A hint of sexual tension floats around the room, but I try my best to ignore it. These two clearly have a lot of unfinished business. And by unfinished business I mean that they still want to rip each other’s clothes off. I sit next to Kass, but also the farthest I possibly can from the fake lovebirds, and pour myself a glass of water.
Ding. My phone goes off again. I look down to the message that popped up on my screen.
Haze: Challenge accepted.
Wait, what?
My blood turns cold, and the oxygen leaves my lungs when the worst sound I’ve ever heard rings out in the room.
A knock on the door.
“Are we expecting someone?” Maria gets up.
Kendrick shakes his head.
“Sit down, Mom. I got it.” Kass motions to her mother, beating her to the door. She’s in a good mood today.
Something tells me she won’t be for much longer.
She swings the door open, and the expression “color drains from her face” has never been more accurate when she sees the person standing on our porch. I can tell that she considers closing the door, but the unwanted guest stops her, stepping inside.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.”
When we trade glances across the room and he assesses me, I swear I can hear my heart explode.
“I hope you didn’t start without me.”
It’s official.
Tonight is the night Haze Adams dies.
I squirm in my chair as Kendrick glowers at Haze with a tight jaw that’s twitching with fury. If you could stare at someone to death, he would be six feet under by now. Kass is probably the least shocked one in the room as she k
nows Haze and I have been… I’m not sure what the hell it is we’ve been doing, actually.
As for Nicole, she’s just sitting there, confused.
My aunt frowns, the wrinkles on her face making themselves known. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
Haze peels his eyes away from me, his gaze traveling to my aunt.
“Of course, where are my manners? I’m Haze.” He holds out his hand, which Maria shakes with hesitation.
He looks at me, and I know from the way his eyes light up that he just had an idea. The worst idea of all fucking time. My first instinct is to get up, ready to pounce, as if it’ll somehow stop him from carrying on with what he clearly intends to do. But it doesn’t.
The words come rushing out of his mouth.
“I’m Winter’s boyfriend.”
I’m going to hurt this boy.
Multiple emotions take over my aunt’s face. She’s confused, then happy, then confused again, and finally, she’s relieved. Wait, relieved? I get up, walking toward them to somehow stop this big problem from turning into a straight-up disaster we can’t get back from.
“Honey, why didn’t you tell me?” She pulls me into a loving embrace. “I knew something was going on. That’s why you were so secretive. You’ve met your first boyfriend.”
Two problems with this sentence.
One: She’s wrong. But, just like she did with Kendrick, she’d rather believe that there’s a reasonable explanation for the change in my behavior. I think me getting a boyfriend is the better option as the other one is that I somehow got involved in Kendrick’s mess. Which I did. But she can’t know that.