But it mattered to Maisie, apparently. She’d heard it and remembered it and now she thought he was great close up, too.

He wondered if she’d still think that in a week, or a month, or a year. Probably not.

My god, you looked like so much more fun in the tabloids, an exasperated girlfriend had said to him once, voicing the exact thing that he’d felt from several girls before her.

Of course, no one here had access to those tabloids. And there was a little nagging voice in the back of his head, saying that all those ex-girlfriends would probably really like this more honest version of him.

“Lennon.” Maisie’s voice pulled him out of his own head.

He straightened. “Sorry.”

Anna pointed to the pale, freckled redhead to her left. “This is Ivy. We’re going to make sure you don’t die.”

“Great,” he said. He didn’t know whether to be impressed by or terrified of the number of weapons both Anna and Ivy had on their bodies. Guns, knives, smoke bombs, real bombs—they looked like they were going to war.

Beto walked out of the building, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder.

“Did Val threaten to kill you in a really gruesome way if you betray us?” Ivy asked cheerfully.

He swallowed. “Yes.”

Anna smiled. “Perfect. Then we’re ready to go.”

MAISIE

ANNA LED THEM to a truck and climbed into the cab with Ivy and Beto. Maisie jumped into the truck bed with Lennon, and she glanced over at him as they started to move.

He’d had a distant look in his eyes since their conversation earlier, and she wasn’t sure what it was about. So much of him was still a mystery. She’d thought she had him pegged right away—rich, spoiled kid from the other side of the wall, terrified and disgusted by all of them—but she had to admit that her assumptions about him were probably wrong. She had no idea what was going on inside that head.

She inched closer to him. Her shoulder brushed his, and he looked over with a small smile.

God, that smile. She watched the way his lips curved up with more than a little interest.

“You okay?” she asked.

He nodded. Her hair blew across her face, and he reached over, his fingers brushing her skin as he tucked it behind her ear. He lingered for a moment longer than necessary, making her heart skip a beat.

“Nervous?” She couldn’t help prying.

He shook his head, and then laughed as he seemed to reconsider. “Well, yes. I think I’ve been nervous nearly every moment since getting dropped in here.”

“Sure.”

He drew his knees up, slinging an arm across them. “It was really nice, what you said. About me being okay close up, too.”

Her cheeks warmed. She almost hadn’t said it. But his words had popped into her head, and she couldn’t let him think that about himself. Especially when it wasn’t even close to true.