Leo didn’t move. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

There was that gargoyle smile again. “She thinks she is,” Jack said.

Susan’s eyes burned. She’s not my girlfriend. She told herself that this was part of Leo’s act. He lied for a living, didn’t he? He’d told her he was working for the DEA. He was probably trying to protect her. So why wasn’t he coming down the stairs to get his father off her?

“I don’t want her here,” Leo said.

“It does make fucking Star later awkward,” Jack said. Susan forced herself not to react to his goading. She wasn’t going to give Jack the satisfaction. She just wanted to get out of here.

“I want her taken home,” Leo said.

Finally.

But Jack’s fingers tightened over her shoulders. “She’s all dolled up,” Jack said. The playfulness had left his voice. “She’s here, and she’s staying the night.”

Susan couldn’t stand the smell of him, the cigars, the cologne, the brandy. “I can’t spend the night,” she said. She had plans. She had to wax her legs and watch Law & Order.

Jack’s blue eyes settled on hers. “I wasn’t asking,” he said. She was chilly, but his touch wasn’t making her warm—it was more like he was sucking the heat right out of her. He gave her another smile, this one more shark than gargoyle. “If everything goes well, you’ll be home tomorrow in time for brunch. In the meantime, enjoy the party. Have you tried the mini-quiches?”

Susan looked up the stairs, searching for some sort of guidance from Leo, but he remained a silhouette in the dark.

“We should get back to our friends,” Jack said to her. “Let Cooper know if you need anything.” He turned and climbed up the first part of the stairs to where Leo was standing. When he reached his son, Jack settled his hand around the back of Leo’s neck. The gesture made Susan shiver. She didn’t know what sort of fucked-up game Leo and his father were playing, but she was pretty sure that Jack had just tossed her on the table and raised the stakes.

“Susan,” Leo said. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Can I come with you?” she called.

Jack Reynolds chuckled in the dark. “She’s a hoot,” he said.

“Yeah,” Leo said quietly.

She watched as Jack steered Leo around and then escorted him up the rest of the stairs. She was on an island. Without cell reception. Dressed like a Mardi Gras Christmas ornament. And her boyfriend was acting like the Manchurian Candidate. This was so fucked.

A gust of wind blew off the river, and dried leaves rained from the trees. She wondered if Cooper had been telling the truth about the pythons.

The party sounded louder, like people were drunker, but she could still hear the sound of Cooper breathing.