I squint, tipping my head. “I’m pretty sure one of them is wearing fall Givenchy.”

“I’m not talking money.” He shrugs. “But while you are, they don’t come from it. Those assholes are going nowhere quick. They’re hardly passing, couldn’t even make the grades enough to stay on the team. They’re future felons, one already spent a summer in juvenile hall. They’re around fucking things up and pretending they don’t wish they were more like us, but then show for our parties and fuck with girls they have no business with. They’re wasted air around this place, doing who knows what to afford to stick around. I don’t know why anyone wastes their time with them.”

“Maybe we should ask Ken’s girlfriend?” I joke.

Cali laughs, choking on her drink.

He cuts her a quick glare. “Like I said, they fuck with girls they have no business with, playing their stupid games.”

I keep my eyes on Scott.

So, he hates that they don’t care to be in the cool kids’ club. Noted.

I shift, positioning myself in front of him and a smirk hints at the corner of his lips. He takes my move as invitation to slip closer, his drunken gaze falling to the opening of my robe as if he has plans to unravel it.

As if he expects I’ll allow him to.

Scott Gentry is the picture of privilege.

“What games?”

His brows furrow slightly, but he shrugs. “People call it ‘blackout.’”

“Blackout?”

“They show up, the power goes out. Blackout,” he explains, half in the conversation, half perving on me, his tongue unabashedly gliding along his lips for all to see, then his eyes come back to mine. “The gist, the lights go out and shit happens but it’s not every time. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a need to be remembered upon exit and they get their little fifteen minutes where they matter.” Displeasure drips from his clipped tone. “Other times they fight, snag a girl to hook up—”

“Steal,” Cali interrupts, full of sass, and pops an overly embellished brow.

I bug my eyes at her playfully.

“One time, the power didn’t even come back on.” Jules skips up, snagging the bottle from Cali’s grasp. “A flame lit up the place instead.”

“A flame?”

She smiles. “They literally lit Kay Kerr’s parents’ prize Bonsai on fire, and Kay couldn’t even rat them out because she wasn’t supposed to be in town when it happened.”

My tongue slips between my teeth. “That’s a drag.”

“Yep. Now let’s forget about the shadows in the back. Quit babysitting your drink, we went easy with champagne tonight.” She looks to my flute. “And you, my dear, are far too sober.”