Ethan turns back for me, saving me from responding, and throws an arm over my shoulders as we enter a room full of mirrors.
“Whoa,” I say, pausing, not knowing which way to go.
“A mirror maze!” Chloe exclaims, stating the obvious.
It’s dark, nothing but glowing, neon lights to illuminate the floor in front of me.
“This way,” Nick says half a second before walking face-first into a mirror. “Fuck!” he shouts, bringing his hand to his nose as we all laugh hysterically.
“This way,” Ethan repeats, his voice mocking Nick’s.
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Leave the navigating to the women,” Savannah says, turning the corner with a palm thrust out in front of her, feeling for mirrors.
The room seems impossibly large, and the more we walk, the more I lose my sense of direction. My white shoelace glows in the neon lights, slapping against the floor, and I stop to tie it. When I stand, Ethan, Chloe, Sav, and Nick are nowhere to be found. My footsteps cautious, I follow the sound of their laughter. I see one of Chloe’s blonde curls turn a corner half a second before a hand wraps around my wrist.
I scream as I’m pulled backward inside a secret door behind one of the mirrors. The door slams shut, eliminating all light, as a hand covers my mouth.
“Relax.”
Sebastian. I recognized his scent before he even spoke.
“What the hell, Sebastian?” I ask after he uncovers my mouth. My heart is beating so fast and hard, I’m almost positive he can hear it. It feels strange referring to him by his name. Intimate somehow.
“My friends call me Bastian.” I can’t see the look on his face, but I bet if I could, I’d see that cocky expression in place.
“How about I call you Bastard?”
“Well then, technically, you would be right. You following me now, Princess?”
“You wish,” I bite out, trying to make out his features in the dark space to no avail.
“You’re in my stomping grounds now. Not the other way around. You come for the show?”
“Believe me. I’m here against my will.”
“Still think I did it, huh,” he muses, deducing as much from my tone. I don’t respond. I don’t know what I believe anymore. “You said it happened the night after we were arrested?” he asks. I nod even though he can’t see, but he must sense it because he continues. “I don’t have parents with deep pockets to bail me out. We didn’t even see the judge for two days, Evan. I was still in jail.”
“What?” I whisper, disbelief lacing my tone.
“You heard me. I’m not a nice guy, but I’m not your bad guy.”
“Then, who…” I trail off. None of this makes sense.
“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Sebastian says, his body closing in on mine. I feel a hand drag up my thigh, and his lips graze my neck, gliding up to my ear, down my jaw… “You eighteen yet?”
My stomach tightens with that mixture of fear and excitement. The kind I haven’t felt since that night in Nantucket.
“No,” I say through clenched teeth, my body melting into him of its own volition. His hand squeezes my waist right before his lips touch mine. I part them, waiting for him to slide his tongue inside.
“Pity,” he says against my mouth as he stuffs something into my hand, then closes my fist around it. His tongue darts out to lick at my lips in a taunting move. “See you next year, Princess.”
And then he’s backing out of the hidden room.
I feel my cheeks burn, a heady mixture of lust, embarrassment, and frustration coursing through me. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand before I shove the door open, turning in circles to figure out which way he went, but he’s already gone.
“There you are,” Ethan says from somewhere behind me. “Quit fucking around.”