And so Sawyer found himself watching his sister star in the story of Medea, the spurned woman bent on revenge against her cheating, no-good husband, with Evie Abbott sitting next to him.

When his sister lamented, “‘Of all creatures that can feel and think, we women are the worst-treated things alive,’” he started to get a little uncomfortable. He shifted in his chair to put some distance between Evie and himself.

She moved over to compensate. He could feel her looking at him. He could feel her smirk. She was effing with him.

When Clara shouted, “‘You vile coward! Yes, I can call you that, the worst name that I know for your unmanliness!’” he moved over again.

Evie followed.

Maybe, instead of murdering her children to get back at her husband, Clara/Medea should come out into the audience and put him out of his misery instead.

“Will you get off me?” Law not-so-subtly whispered as he shoved Sawyer. “I love you, man, but I don’t want to cuddle with you.”

Well, crap. He looked at Evie, who was gazing at him and looking extremely amused. She must have seen something in his face that made her take pity on him, because she whispered, “Relax. I’m not going to murder anyone. Probably.”

He rolled his eyes. But he made himself as small as possible, positioning his body in the exact center of his chair so that no part of him touched any part of Evie while he watched his sister commit righteous bloody murder to avenge all womankind.

Eve led the standing ovation.

Wow. People teased Maya about her intensity. She even made fun of herself sometimes—she wasn’t above mocking her own single-minded devotion to her theatrical pursuits. But that had been one impressive play. Yes, it was a little handspun, with its togas made from bedsheets and its particleboard set. But everything else, everything important—the script, the acting, the pacing—had been first rate.

Eve also had to give herself a standing ovation for her acting skills.

She’d decided after yesterday’s weirdness, after beard lusting and maybe-possibly-almost kissing, that she was not cool with the new awkwardness that seemed to be settling between her and Sawyer. So she’d decided to just be done with it. Perform the role of not-awkward friend as fully and enthusiastically as she could. Which, she had decided from watching Sawyer with Law and Jake, meant giving him crap.

And it was working. On her, anyway. She’d started out acting, but ended up having genuine fun harassing him during the play. Genuine, friendly fun. He didn’t seem like he was having as much fun as she was, though. Ha.

She turned her attention back to the stage, where, after several curtain calls, the actors dragged Maya up on stage. Eve sneaked a glance at Law. She was pretty sure he was clapping louder than any of them.