“Whatever,” I say childishly, but I just don’t care anymore.

“I’m fucking serious, Starling, if you try to run, I’ll find you and when I do, I’ll lock you down so fucking tight what you’re feeling right now will seem like flying.”

“Yeah, yeah. I promise not to try and escape tonight, warden. I’ll be a good little inmate, Scout’s honor.”

He scowls at my tone, but really, what else can he do to me that he hasn’t already done? Taking my hand tightly in his, he climbs out of the cart first, then pulls me out, dragging me into his side and wrapping a hand firmly around the back of my neck. It’s a proprietary move and I hate that I like it, almost as much as I loathe it.

“What do you want to drink?” Evan asks me.

Ignoring him, I force my face into a bored expression and glance at the party raging around us.

“Starling, can we please just try to be friends?” Clay asks.

Turning my attention back to the three men standing in front of me, I blink slowly. “No.”

“This is so fucked up,” Hunter growls angrily.

“She’ll come around,” Sebastian says, his grip on me tightening.

I laugh dryly and shake my head. “Give me one good reason why I’d want to be friends with any of you after you’ve done this to me?”

“Because we’re all you’ve got,” Clay murmurs quietly.

I laugh again, the sound bitter and angry. “I have plenty of practice at being alone, I’d rather have no one than any of you.”

The three of them look… hurt? But why? It’s not like we’ve ever been close, I’d never even spoken to any of them before Sebastian bulldozed my life and destroyed it.

Evan scowls, then turns and marches away. “This is so fucked.”

Pulling my cell from my pocket, I tap at the screen and open up the book I started reading on the plane.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian demands.

“Reading.”

“We’re at a party.”

“So?”

“So, you don’t fucking read at your first college party. Tell me what you want to do. Drink? Dance?”

“You wanted me here, so here I am. You can force me to be somewhere, but you can’t force me to enjoy it.”

“You’re in college, you should be ten shots in, making friends with perky blondes or some shit.”

“You want me to make friends,” I scoff. “Why? So you can use them to punish me when I piss you off? Yeah, I learned my lesson, I’m good. I’m not going to run, so go do what you need to do and I’ll read my book, you can come find me when you’re ready to go.”

His brow furrows and he looks genuinely baffled by me, like he has no idea what to do.

“Here,” Evan says, returning with five bottles of beer in his hands.

“I’m good,” I say, not lifting my gaze from my cell.

“You want something else? I’m pretty sure they had wine coolers and some tequila.”