Sweet Deceit (Privilege 4)

Ariana was impressed. An hour ago Lexa had been shaking in her stilettos, but she seemed to be bouncing back quickly. Maybe she really was her father’s daughter. Maybe she’d realized that there was no use dwelling on Kaitlynn’s death. That the past was in the past.

Lexa grabbed her purse, paused in front of Ariana, and gave her one last hug. “Talk to you later?”

“Yeah,” Ariana said.

She watched Lexa as she wove her way through the boisterous crowd. They shared a huge secret now, and she was impressed with how well Lexa was handling it. But then, she supposed one didn’t get to be president of a hallowed secret society like Stone and Grave without possessing some serious strength of character.

With a content sigh, Ariana turned toward the bar again. She picked up her martini glass and looked at her odd, white-faced, black-eyed reflection in the mirror behind the bar. For the first time all night, she allowed herself one big, genuine smile. As a girl in a flapper costume claimed Lexa’s empty seat, Ariana lifted her glass to herself in a toast.

Here’s to your future, Briana Leigh Covington.

She brought the rim of the glass to her lips, and a dainty, red-fingernailed hand fell on her arm. The alcohol splashed over the edge onto Ariana’s lap.

“Omigod! It can’t be. . . . Ariana?”

Ariana’s heart turned to stone inside her chest. She knew that voice better than she knew her own. Slowly, she lowered her glass. Her pulse pounded so hard she felt all the blood rush out of her head and into her fingertips and toes. When she turned to the right, she found herself looking directly into the wide brown eyes of Kiran Hayes.

“Holy crap! It is you!” Kiran threw her skinny arms around Ariana’s neck and practically fell into her, clearly drunk off her ass. “Dude!

What’re you doing here?” she wailed. “I thought you were supposed to be, like, dead!”

A couple of guys turned to look and Ariana bit her lip hard, then smiled at them, rolling her eyes. “She’s totally wasted.”

The guys laughed and turned away. She gripped Kiran’s shoulders and pushed her back so that they were facing each other once again, then forced her features into an excited smile.

“Omigod, Kiran! I have so much to tell you!”

Then she hugged her old friend again and closed her eyes. This one was going to hurt.

CLARITY

“Omigod, if you buy me one more drink I’m not even gonna be able to walk out of here,” Kiran said, leaning the full weight of her body into Ariana’s shoulder. Her heeled shoes dangled from her fingers and her eyes were at half-mast. “No more alcohol for Kiran!”

“Wow. I don’t remember the last time I heard you say ‘when,’” Ariana teased with a laugh, swallowing back a lump of something that felt a hell of a lot like guilt.

“I know, right?!” Kiran blurted, her breath so rank Ariana almost fainted. “I’m so not that self-control girl. Unlike you!” She shoved Ariana hard, but Ariana didn’t move. Instead Kiran was the one who almost fell over.

“Okay. I see your point,” Ariana said, struggling to hold her limp friend up. Luckily she only weighed about ninety pounds. “I guess we should go.”

Kiran smiled and flung one arm over Ariana’s shoulders. “I’m so glad you talked me out of going to that Ford party,” she said, rolling her hand around as they struggled for the door. Even in her inebriated state, Kiran caught the appreciative leers of more than one hot guy along the way. “It was gonna be all fat politicians trying to grope me anyway. Soooo pointless.”

“Seriously,” Ariana said, nodding her thanks to the ninja who held the door for them. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“I don’t know how you do it!” Kiran said with a laugh. “I mean, faking your own death? That’s so cool. Do you know that I was at your memorial service? I totally was. And everyone was crying and stuff. It was intense! You should’ve been there.”

Ariana smirked.

“It must be so weird, though . . . like, not being able to talk to your old friends. But you can talk to me now!” She attempted to stand up straight and tripped, bracing herself agains

t a lamppost. “I wanna say something.”

Ariana took a deep breath and counted to ten as a group of college kids checked out Kiran, laughing at her serious wastedness. Every person that noticed the two of them was a potential threat.

“What do you want to say?” Ariana asked, hooking her arm around Kiran’s waist and hurrying her across the street.

“I wanna say that I’m glad you got rid of Thomas Pearson,” Kiran said, gesturing with her clutch purse. “I mean . . . honestly? I never liked that guy. What a total jackass.”

Ariana forced a laugh as she and Kiran hit the sidewalk on the far side of the street. Luckily, there wasn’t a ton of traffic. It was getting late, and most people had either turned in for the night or were still out celebrating at their Halloween parties. She cut left to walk along Key Bridge, knowing that she was going to have to get this over with as quickly as possible. If a police cruiser came by, not only would her hastily constructed plan be foiled, but she and Kiran would probably end up being hauled off for drunken disorderly behavior. Resolved, Ariana ducked her head and clung to Kiran’s side as if she’d never let her go.