“Drifting,” he said, meandering around the kitchen as he talked. “You’ve probably seen some videos Vincent posted.”

I hurriedly sipped my coffee so he wouldn’t see my guilty face. He couldn’t possibly know how hard I used to stalk their social media, could he? But he was smirking at me as I lowered the mug, and I said, “Is this an invitation, or an order?”

“Let’s say…an invitation you can’t refuse,” he said. “We’ll pick you up in the morning.”

I did want to get out of the house. But holy shit, having them show up here to pick me up meant having my mom see them. If she didn’t already have plenty to complain about, she definitely would then.

But I couldn’t always cater my life to my mother.

“All right,” I said, bracing my elbows on the island and leaning forward toward him. “As long as I don’t have to dress as a cat again.”

Despite my misgivings, my mom was in a good mood when she and my dad got back the next morning. She was sunburned as a lobster, but that only made her cheerier as she gushed about how tan she was going to be.

But of course, all that cheeriness flew straight out the window when she spotted my ride arrive.

I’d warned my parents I was going to be spending the day with friends, but I hadn’t specified which friends.

“Jessica!” Mom hissed my name as she marched into my room. I was in front of the mirror, blending out my eyeshadow as she came over to me and perched one hand on her hip. “Who did you invite over here?”

“It’s just my ride,” I said, putting away my palette and brushes. Loud music was thumping from outside, and I wondered whose car it was, my stomach light with excitement. I didn’t know what to expect from today, but I was looking forward to seeing something new.

But mostly, I was excited to spend all day with the four men who’d been consistently blowing my mind for the last couple of weeks. The Fairgrounds were about an hour’s drive away from us, which meant I didn’t even have to worry about bumping into anyone who knew me.

It would be the first time I was going out in public with all four of them. The idea was as intimidating as it was thrilling.

I had to deal with Mom’s judgment first though, and she was not pleased.

“No, absolutely not.” Mom shook her head, her lips pursed as she turned on her heel. Her feet pounded down the hallway as she called back to me, “I wasn’t born yesterday, Jessica.”

The doorbell rang, and I hurriedly grabbed my bag, going down the stairs two at a time. “I’ll get it!”