Briggs and Porter were our security guards. But they loved me. I was sure if I asked nicely…

“Or you could just accept the fact that you’re grounded and behave so one week doesn’t turn into a month,” Axel said.

“Don’t you want her to come to the party?” Sophie asked.

God, Soph.

Axel just shrugged in response.

Shrugged.

My heart dropped.

Asshole.

“It wouldn’t be the same without you, Scarlett,” Jacob said.

I smiled up at him. “Thanks, Jacob.”

He turned to RJ and Liam. “Let me know if you guys need any extra help.”

“We’ve got this,” RJ said. “It’s a classic Hunter Hunter mess around.”

Oh no. Last time there was a Hunter Hunter mess around we almost got arrested.

Chapter 8 – What. The. Actual. F Did You Do?

Friday

I wasn’t sure why RJ had given me the blueprints he’d unearthed. I seriously did not need them for anything “in the future”, as he put it. And the blueprints felt like contraband in my backpack. Maybe they came in handy for him, but it wasn’t like I could lay them out on my bed and study them. Our security team would see them on the cameras. I shouldn’t have let RJ convince me to take them. And I swear it was like my dad knew that I was planning on sneaking out. He kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

“Pumpkin?” my dad said.

“Mhm?”

“I am sorry that you’re missing the party tonight. But like your mom said, there really will be other ones.”

“I know,” I lied. I was starting to feel a bit sweaty. I wasn’t a good liar. But there wouldn’t be any other parties like this one. It was my last first party of the year while I was at Empire High. It was a big deal to me. Which is why I was going.

“How about the four of us have a movie night?” my dad asked. “We haven’t done that in ages.”

Liam laughed. “You three have fun. I’m going to the party.”

My dad looked over at him as we pulled to a stop at a red light. “I thought it was just for upperclassmen?”

“It technically is.” Liam shrugged. “Wait, why do you know that?”

My dad laughed. “I may have been invited too.”

I groaned. “Gross. Who? Seriously, who? Which one of my classmates invited you?”

“A couple of them did actually.”

Liam laughed.

“It’s not funny,” I said. “It’s so messed up. Dad, really, why are you doing this to us? We hang out plenty. We don’t need to do it at school.”

“He’s not doing anything to me,” Liam said. “Because unlike a certain somebody, I follow the dress code.”

“Liam, you’re dressed like a slut.”

“Scarlett, that’s the second time this week that you’ve called your brother a slut. Enough, okay?”