I nestle in, leaning my head on his shoulder. “This isn’t a test, you know.”

“I know,” he says, but it doesn’t sound like he believes me, and there goes his knee again.

I put my hand on it to stop it. “They just want to get to know you a little.”

“Why again?”

“Because you’re important to me.” I chuckle. He’s made me say this three times already today.

“I will never get tired of hearing that.”

“Good, I hope you don’t.”

He leans in and kisses me . . . at the exact moment when Jayla and Nikki yank open their doors and drop into the front seats.

“Okay, lovebirds,” Jayla says, “keep it PG back there or I’ll split you up. If there are any suspicious stains, my dad is not gonna believe I didn’t put them there.”

“Oh my god, Jayla,” I say, kicking the back of her seat.

“I’m just sayin’.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Ridley

JAYLA’S HOUSE IS nice. It’s big, not as big as my dad’s, but more importantly, it’s warm. Lived-in. A family stays here. A tiny dog greets us at the door, a teacup Yorkie named Cooper, Jayla says, and he continues hopping up and down around us as she leads us downstairs to a finished basement. This is obviously the hangout spot; couches and beanbag chairs take up most of the floor space, with an occasional textbook littering the floor. There’s a giant TV against one wall, with every gaming system you could imagine underneath.

I wander around while everyone argues about pizza toppings and Nikki and Jayla fight over who gets the shower first, just taking it all in. Cooper follows me, sniffing at my pants. There are pictures everywhere: tiny Jayla missing her front teeth, middle-school Jayla in what looks to be some kind of play, all the way up to co-captain-of-the-soccer-team Jayla. Professional portraits of the whole family line the walls, probably done because they wanted them, not because they needed them for a press release. But it’s the candid photos that really get me: Jayla and her brother, the kids and the puppy, Jayla racing her brother on a bike, Jayla—

“Hey, whatcha doing?” Peak asks, and I jump, lost in my own head.

“Oh, just . . .” I trail off, waving my hand around at all the pictures.

“Yeah, my mom is basically the paparazzi when it comes to me and my brother,” Jayla says, walking by. “Embarrassing.”

“It’s cool,” I say, and she looks at me like I just said the sky was green.

“Right, well, I’m gonna go hit the shower, so make yourselves at home. But not as at home as you did when Kai was here.” Jayla narrows her eyes at Peak before disappearing up the stairs.