“Uh...” I looked around as if I’d find my answer there while I clutched the two halves of the towel together. Were Stacey and Layla hanging out again, and Roth was once more bored and in need of company? “Not particularly. You?”

There was a deep, rasping chuckle. “About to be. So are you.”

“I am?”

“Yes. I’m coming to pick you up. We now have plans.”

“We do?” I blinked once and then twice at my fuzzy reflection in the bathroom mirror. “I just got out of the shower.”

“Well, you’re going to need to put some clothes on, because I doubt Layla will be thrilled if I pick you up and you’re naked as the day you were hatched out of a little Trueborn egg.”

I was so not hatched from an egg, and he knew that.

“Is...?” I trailed off, suddenly unable to say her name as I stared into the mirror. I squeezed my eyes shut tight.

Layla.

Layla.

Layla.

A flash of envy mixed with anger in my chest, and I hated that I felt that way. That I was being so dumb about her past with Zayne.

When I reopened my eyes, she hadn’t appeared like some new, updated and totally personalized version of Bloody Mary.

I wrinkled my nose at my reflection. There was something seriously wrong with me. I knew what it was. The green-eyed monster. Jealousy. And why was jealousy a green-eyed monster? Why did people say “green with envy”? What was wrong with the color green? Was it because some money was green? I really needed to google this, as—

“You still there?” Roth’s voice snagged me from my thoughts, thank God. “Or did you hang up on me? That wouldn’t be nice. My feelings would be hurt.”

“I’m still here. Is Layla with you?” I asked.

“No,” he answered. “She can’t be a part of this.”

I turned from the mirror, hand tightening around the phone. Peanut reappeared suddenly through the wall, pirouetting like a ballerina across the bedroom and through the bed.

“What makes you think I want to be a part of whatever this is?” I demanded.

“Because you owe me a favor, and it’s time I collect.”

When I’d thought about exploring the city, this wasn’t what I’d had in mind.

But here I was.

Leaning against a wall, I squinted from behind my dark sunglasses. While I waited for Roth, a steady stream of people passed me, each one seeming in a hurry to get wherever they were going. Since I had no idea what Roth was up to, I’d decided curbside pickup was the best.

A huge part of me was regretting it, because I’d been outside for only a handful of minutes, and I felt like I was melting.