“Don’t you dare. You just had your first kiss! And it sounds like it was very steamy.”

“But I don’t know who it was with.”

“A dirty kiss thief.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

I hit her arm.

“And it’s an easy solution. You just have to make out with everyone on the football team now. To see who kisses like your kiss thief.”

“That’s your solution?”

“Yeah. Maybe we can organize a kissing booth at the first football game next weekend? That would be so fun.”

“Never.”

She laughed. “Well, we might not have to. Jacob is walking over right now. We can just ask him if it was him.”

I stared in horror at Jacob walking through the crowd toward us.

He smiled at me. The way he always did. The smile gave nothing away. Not a single thing.

I ducked behind Sophie. “We can’t just flat out ask him if he just kissed me!”

“Why?”

“Because I should know! And what if it wasn’t him?” Seriously, who the hell had just kissed me? “He’s going to think I’m such a slut. I need to get out of here.”

“What?”

I didn’t wait for her to try to stop me. I ran in the opposite direction of Jacob. And I kept running until I reached the red and white striped curtain. I pushed it to the side and looked over my shoulder, back at the party. Axel had his gloves up, covering his face, as he stared at me leaving.

That’s what he’d wanted. For me to go home.

I felt my lower lip tremble.

Axel definitely hadn’t kissed me.

Knowing my luck, it had probably been the drifter.

***

The Uber dropped me off in front of our apartment building. I had no idea how I was going to successfully sneak back into the apartment without RJ’s help. If I just waltzed right in, Briggs and Porter would know. They’d definitely tell my parents.

I only had one option. I hit the button for the floor beneath ours and shot Liam a text to let him know I’d be waiting outside the Russian’s apartment for his help.

My phone buzzed with his response: “There’s a key under the mat.”

Was he serious right now? That was the most obvious place to hide a key. But sure enough, when I lifted the mat, there was a shiny golden key. I picked it up and slid it into the lock.

Whoever this Russian chick was, I was very grateful for her. But she should have picked a better person to housesit for her.

I closed the door behind me, kicked off my high heels, and grabbed them in my hands. I wanted to feel some semblance of relief. But my stomach was in knots. How could I not know who my first kiss was with?