Sweet Peril

Looking around at their flat, I was surprised by the immaculate severity of the decor. Not that I hadn’t expected it to be posh, but I hadn’t expected everything to be so white. The puffy couches and chairs and tables were all stark white or light ivory. Even the paintings and pictures hanging on the walls were in black and white. How ironic that the two most colorful girls I knew lived without color.

Ginger propped herself against the doorframe that separated the kitchen from the living area.

“Talked to Kaidan lately?” she asked, acknowledging me for the first time.

My stomach tightened. “I talked to him once. Why?”

“As if you don’t know.” Ginger’s eyes narrowed with distrust as she studied me.

My stomach compacted into a firm ball of nerves. “I don’t know.” I looked over at Marna. “Tell me.”

“Everything’s fine, luv,” Marna said, but I wasn’t convinced. Something was up. The electric kettle clicked off in the kitchen, forcing Ginger to break her death stare. I grasped Marna’s wrist.

“What’s going on?” I whispered.

She glanced nervously between me, Kope, and the open doorway, where her sister wasn’t available to instruct her. Fear caused my hand to tighten on her wrist in an urgent plea, and I dropped it, afraid I’d cut off her blood circulation if I kept it up.

“He and Blake are friends,” she whispered. “They’ve gotten chummy, and we talk to Blake when our fathers are both out of town.” I nodded for her to continue. She sent another peek toward the kitchen. “It seems that Kaidan . . . isn’t working as hard as usual these days.”

“Oh, cut the shite.” Ginger came in and slammed the small tea tray on the table, making the cups rattle. “He’s not working. At all. He’s faking it. Like her.”

She stared right at me with a hand on her hip.

“What do you mean . . . ?” He’d definitely had to work with that nasty Marissa when he’d come to Atlanta. My skin prickled and I felt edgy.

Ginger’s lip curled as she asked, “What do you think I mean, you stupid little—?”

“All right! I get it!” I shouted. “You can stop talking to me like that!”

Her eyes were full of anger. My pulse raced. Was it possible? Had Kaidan been avoiding work in L.A.? But that was so dangerous! And brave. So stupid and wonderful. The most selfish part of me rejoiced, but then I remembered what it could mean for him and terror struck. It wasn’t like Kaidan to risk getting himself killed.

“It doesn’t make sense,” I whispered. “Maybe he just doesn’t work as hard when he’s hanging out with Blake or something.”

“Are you deaf? He’s not working unless spirits come around, and even then it’s half-arsed!”

I tensed, sick of her snide tone.

“That’s enough!” Marna said, but her sister ignored her.

Ginger’s soft voice was laced with cruelty, and she never took her eyes from me. “Admit it, Anna. You’re pleased about this.”

A bolt of anger ricocheted inside me and I closed the space between us with clenched fists. My heart pounded at the prospect of a confrontation, but this had been a long time coming.

“I’ve put up with you saying a lot of things to me, and about me, but let’s get one thing straight. I would never want Kaidan to put himself in danger. He has nothing to prove to me. He doesn’t even talk to me! I understand that you resent me, Ginger, because I haven’t had to go through everything you have. But believe it or not my life isn’t perfect, and neither am I.”

“Right.”

“Geez, Ginger! What do I have to do to prove myself to you?”

“Tell me one mistake you’ve ever made in your perfect little life,” she challenged.

Ugh. Fine.

“Okay. For one, I fell in love with Kaidan and showed him my colors.” I sucked in a reflexive breath at my own declaration.

Ginger smiled victoriously, and Marna’s body jumped with a giant hiccup. In my peripheral vision I saw Kope shove his hands in his jeans pockets and stare down at the white carpet.

“That really was quite stupid,” Ginger said, “but we’d guessed as much already. If that’s your only so-called mistake—”

“Aw, Gin,” Marna started, but I shook my head, not willing to be sidetracked.

“No, that’s not it,” I started. “When we went on that road trip last year . . .” Was I really going to admit this? Her eyebrow rose in eager anticipation. Taking a deep breath and fully aware of Kope’s listening ears, I told my biggest secret. “I wanted to . . . be with him. You know. But he said no.”

Oh, my gosh. I wanted to curl up under the table away from their stares. Ginger’s mouth and eyes rounded and she let out a snigger. I didn’t dare look in Kope’s direction, but I could see he’d frozen in place. After a moment Ginger dropped the act and eyed me with seriousness. We’d both been rejected by Kaidan. That had to put us on more equal ground. And even if it didn’t, I was done being bullied.

“This isn’t about Kaidan,” I told her. “It’s about us. I’m tired of how you treat me. And you wanna know what’s really sad? Even though you’ve been nothing but hateful to me since the day we met, you have no idea how much I want your approval and how many things I envy about you.”

She scoffed. “What things might you envy about me? Could it be my arsehole father who refuses to let us attend university because they don’t offer slut degrees, even though I could teach the bloody classes myself? Or maybe it’s the record number of marriages I’ve ended this year?”