Her hand slides along my waist, and I snatch it before she clings to me. She can’t drown her anxiety with her vice.
I know this better than anyone.
“Okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she nods more resolutely.
I leave her side to go stand next to Connor by the sinks, our backs facing the girls while they change. I imagine Rose pretending to be my girlfriend the moment we exit the bathroom, and I just shake my head at the mayhem. “Rose and I are going to kill each other five feet out the door.”
“On the bright side,” Connor says, “Emma Frost doesn’t have a weapon.” He unfurls the whip and snaps it in the air. “That could’ve been your ass.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I banter.
He grins widely, looking less like Batman and way more like Connor Cobalt. “So much it hurts,” he replies. “Just make sure you walk next to Rose and not ahead of her when you leave. She hates that.”
Are you shitting me? “Anything else? I’m trying to avoid my heart being ripped out and fed to baby demons.”
“I heard that,” Rose retorts.
I almost spin around.
But she shrieks, “Don’t you dare look, Loren! I’ll literally stab your eyeball with my needle!”
“She’s topless,” Lily clarifies with a grunt, like she’s struggling to put on her boots or pants.
I glare at the ceiling. “I’m definitely going to die today.”
“You won’t,” Connor says. “You’ve lasted this long.”
“True.” I let out a sigh and then nod to him. “I’m surprised you’re not going to try and catch a peek.” As far as I know, he’s never even seen Rose naked. They get off by talking more than they do by fooling around—it’s kind of nuts.
“I know better,” he tells me, taking his mask off, his wavy brown hair still contained, not even close to being unkempt and out of control. I pull my red visor to the top of my head and think back to how Rose described him. He has more power in his eyes without the mask, I realize.
“We’re finished,” Rose declares.
We both turn towards the girls who stand beside the stalls. My gaze immediately falls on Lily, standing with way more confidence in her black leather jacket and pants, less revealing.
I smile at how cute she looks in cat ears and a simple black eye-mask.
“Is anyone going to say something?” Poppy wonders.
Lily and I break our gazes at the same time, and the moment I see Rose, my jaw just f**king drops. I laugh. “Damn, Rose.” She sewed the strings back on the corset, but it’s much smaller on her chest, pushing up her br**sts, and the silver spandex shorts might as well be underwear, riding up her ass. “You’d make a perfect Cowboy’s cheerleader.”
“Shut up, Loren.”
“You’re a terrible blonde though.”
She actually flips me off.
I probably deserved that one.
Connor hasn’t said a word, but I read the expression on his face really well this time. His eyes graze every inch of her, full of lust, like he’s saving the image for later. Might as well. Who knows when Rose will be comfortable enough to have sex?
“Do you have something to say?” Rose asks, raising her chin like she’s ready to combat him.
“You look beautiful.” The sincerity is clear in his voice.
Her shoulders drop, caught off guard.
Lily approaches me and holds my hand about the same time that Rose walks up to her boyfriend.
“You know what?” Lily says, her lips curving upward.
“What?” I ask, her smile making me smile.
“Catwoman is awesome.”
I’m not sure if she means Rose or the costume. Most likely both.
Right now, I kind of have to agree. Rose is strong. But so is Lily. She possesses this rare courage. It’s quiet and unassuming, but it still exists. It’s still just as worthy.
I rub her back and realize that Rose has her arms wrapped around Connor’s neck. One of his hands dips to her ass, and she lets it sit there. One minute they’re fighting. The next minute, they’re like this. I can’t keep up.
I strain my ears to catch their murmured words. “I want to move in with you,” Connor whispers under his breath.
My first thought: If he lives at the Princeton house, he’s going to discover that I’m f**king Lily a lot more. Not: Thank God I won’t be the only guy under that roof.
The addicted side of me trumps every moral part.
I’m a f**king terrible friend.
“You can’t,” Rose replies. “Your commute to Penn is too far…and Lily and Lo…”
“The commute is manageable, and Lo and Lily love me.” He pauses. “Do you?”
“Don’t manipulate me,” she whispers.
“I’m not trying to. I just want to be with you more than I am now. I’ll wait a few months if that’s what it takes.”
She nods. “Okay.”
Poppy clears her throat. “I hate to interrupt, but Sam just texted me and said the crowds are starting to gather around the bathroom.” Her eyes meet mine. “They’re waiting for you and Lily.”
Great.
Rose disentangles from her boyfriend and goes back into commander mode. “Lily, go with Connor,” she orders like she’s preparing for war.
I just hope there’s no friendly fire.
* * *
“For Christ’s sake, give her space,” I say, trying not to touch Rose. She’s having a hard time shielding her face from cellphone cameras. She uses the blonde wig to hide, which helps some.
We just need to reach the elevator. Connor already texted me and said they’re waiting in line for the panel with Poppy and Sam.
No one noticed Lily dressed as Catwoman.
“Are you in love with Loren or Ryke?” people keep asking. Through my visor, everyone and everything is tinted red.
Rose surprisingly keeps quiet. She must be literally biting her tongue to stop from lashing out.
“Are you in a fight?” someone asks. “Why aren’t you holding Lily?”
“Yeah. You always hold Lily!”
Shit.
Rose glares at me out of the corner of her eye. This is a girl who I’ve never even hugged before. Fuck, besides Connor, I’ve only ever seen her hug someone maybe three times in my entire life.
“She’s sick,” I say sharply, my voice like f**king knives right now. “So you should all back up in case you catch it.”
The crowds start rocketing backwards like I said she had the bubonic plague. Jesus Christ.
“Does she have herpes?” someone asks.
Anger twists my face, my jaw clenching. “No,” I sneer, trying to find the source of that voice. My heart beats rapidly.
“You sound awfully defensive.”
I stop dead in my tracks, the cameras clicking, and now the real press shows up, pushing through glass double doors, padding along the ugly hotel carpet. About to bombard us.
“Come on, Loren,” Rose says under her breath. She grips my forearm tightly and literally pulls me into the elevator. Before the doors shut, two people sprint towards us, a girl cradled in a guy’s arms. I repeatedly push the button to close the metal doors. But I stop the moment they slip inside, when I recognize the girl with the bright orange wig and the guy with the green leather jacket.
“Finally we f**king found you,” Ryke says, his arm underneath Daisy’s legs and against her back. At first I think they’re playing around, but Daisy wears a faint, pained expression.