“Ah, don’t I satisfy you, baby?” Arnie sounds wounded as we pull out of the parking lot.

Aurora pulls her sunglasses down. Her blue iridescent contacts glimmer in the sunlight. She places her hand to her glistening red lips and fakes a yawn. “From what I can remember, you were vaguely entertaining.” She winks at me and we share a quiet giggle at Arnie’s expense.

I’m engrossed in Aurora’s retelling of the last time she had her nails done. Apparently, the incompetent salon was out of her favorite shade of polish and thought they could slip one by her. “It definitely had more of a carnation pink than the bubble gum pink I usually get,” she recounts. I hide my chewed nails between my thighs. “There is a great day spa in Eureka, I can’t remember the name.” She looks in the air as if it’s dangling there waiting to be pulled from a shelf. Her story is interrupted when Nick turns off the car. I look out the window and realize that we’re in Matt’s driveway.

“Sorry to break up the princess party, but we’re here.” Arnie pushes the seat forward so we can get out.

I haven’t seen Matt since Saturday. The day Nick found us sleeping together. The day the bikers chased us from Lost Coast. The day Nick told me he sold thizz. It was a trifecta of fucked-up shit. I don’t know if he’s kept his distance because I found out he’s a liar or if he’s freaked out about what almost happened between us. I’m not mad that Matt was lying to me. He was keeping Nick’s secret the same way I asked him to keep mine from Nick. As for how I acted in his room, I’m blaming that on thizz. The electricity that passed between us when he held my hips, the way my body tingled when I cuddled beside him on his bed—it was all brought on by thizz. I didn’t feel anything other than utter humiliation once I was sober. I don’t want to ever be alone with him again. I can’t be. Ever.

I’m standing in back of the crowd while Arnie jabs at the doorbell likes he’s playing one of his video games. Hopefully, he won’t see me back here. He’ll be too busy with their meeting to notice me. Hopefully. Suddenly the door flies open and Matt stands in his doorway—shirtless. His sweatpants hang low on his waist and his hair is disheveled like he just rolled out of bed. Aurora sucks in a breath in front of me. She’s wearing sunglasses, but I know exactly where her eyes are focused. I check my chin for drool.

“What the fuck, sleeping beauty?” Nick breaks the silence.

“Hey,” Matt runs his hand through his hair as Arnie pushes past him into the house. Matt turns quickly and follows him inside.

Aurora walks in ahead of me and stops in front of Matt to introduce herself. He’s standing in front of his bedroom door, guarding it like he has something precious hidden inside.

“I’m Aurora, it’s nice to finally meet you,” she says then plants a kiss on his cheek. Matt mumbles nice to meet you as Aurora follows Arnie into the living room.

I’m trying to decipher Matt’s strange behavior when I notice a faint red streak across his mouth. It isn’t from Aurora, her lipstick is flawless. “Are you ok?” I ask as he continues to shield his door.

“Uh, yeah I’m fine.” He crosses his arms in front of his bare chest. I sense his embarrassment and divert my eyes from his body. Which is so naturally perfect in every way.

“Dude, what the fuck?” The sound of Nick’s voice startles me and I step aside. Matt reaches for the handle and stops Nick from turning it. He opens his mouth to object but it’s useless—this is Nick. Matt reluctantly moves his hand and his eyes drop to the floor.

“Hey!” A curly-haired girl is sitting in Matt’s bed. Another head appears from under the covers. She looks at us then turns over, taking the blanket with her, exposing her friend’s breasts.

“Oopsie.” The girl laughs as she covers up with a pillow.

I walk down the hall and into the living room in shock. The girl looks familiar. I’m trying to place her when I step on something squishy. Arnie is tossing grapes into the air and catching them in his mouth like a trained seal. Grapes pepper the ground near his chair.

“What’s up with Matt? Is he watching porn?” Arnie jokes as he throws another grape in the air and catches it in his mouth.

“Dani, I remembered the name of the spa. It’s Lady Luxe, have you heard of it?” Aurora is rambling about getting her roots done while Arnie flips the channels on the TV—both of them oblivious to what is happening a few feet away.

I remember the girl. She was at K’s party. The girl with the cups in the kitchen. What was her name? Alisa something. Martinez, its Martinez. The other one is her cousin. “Oh. My. God!”

“He was watching porn! That dirty bastard.” Arnie hurdles the coffee table in one leap on his way to Matt’s room.

“No,” I correct him. “He’s not watching porn. Well, I guess you could say that if he was just watching, but I’m sure he was participating.” Arnie stops his pursuit to listen to my incoherent rambling. “Matt isn’t watching porn, he’s making porn.” I sit on the edge of the sofa and pluck a grape from the bowl on the table. I bite into it, allowing the cool juice to moisten my dry mouth.

“What do you mean?” Now Aurora is intrigued by my evasive remarks.

I swallow the grape and pop another in my mouth. “Matt is in there with the Martinez cousins.”

Arnie lets out a loud whooping laugh as he enters the hallway. “That’s my BOY!”

Aurora sits beside me on the sofa and takes a grape from the bowl. “You should really get your nails done.”

My parents and Ashley went to visit my grandmother in Sacramento for spring break, so I have the house to myself. I really wanted to go. I haven’t seen my gram since Christmas, but Nick needs me here. This shit with the Devil’s Gold is heating up. It’s been three days since our meeting with Will, and he still hasn’t made a deal with those assholes. Which is why I think Nick’s a fucking idiot for letting Dani ride with him on a run this morning. His number-one priority shouldn’t be locking down territory, it should be her safety. It was just a drop at a fraternity, but you never know what could happen.

I walk outside to check the mail. If I don’t get into Stanford, joining Nick’s crew was for nothing. I have to get in, and when I do, the money I’ve earned will help me survive. Because that’s what this is all about—survival. Surviving high school, surviving Nick, hell, even surviving Dani. I can’t shake her no matter how hard I try. I haven’t seen her all week, but it doesn’t stop me from dreaming about her every night. Her hair, her eyes, her lips, and the way she smells like burnt coffee and lavender. I caught myself sniffing my mom’s coffee cup the other day just to get a whiff of something that reminded me of Dani. Which is exactly why I have to stay away.

I walk to the end of the driveway and open the mailbox. I pull out three envelopes, none of them from Stanford. As I’m walking back to the house, a white car pulls up behind me. I pick up the pace. I don’t think the Devil’s Gold knows anything about me or where I live, but you never know. I hop onto the porch and push open the door. I’m about to close it when someone calls my name. It’s not the voice of a biker or a hit man. It’s a chick. I open the door and find Alisa Martinez’s curly head hanging out the passenger window. We hooked up at K’s party, after Dani and Nick left. I haven’t seen her since. She goes to St. Bernard’s, so I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about her following me around at school. I never even got her number. That was kind of a dick move, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“I thought that was you!” She tells her cousin Amy to pull over, then gets out and skips to the front door.

I’m so fucking happy she isn’t some asshole trying to shoot me, I overlook the fact that she was probably stalking me and invite them in. Alisa looks like one of those hot chicks in a rap video, and her cousin is just as built. After a few shots of rum and a joint, I’m feeling pretty nice. I don’t need the thizz, but I give the girls one when they ask. Half an hour after the pills kick in, the three of us are tangled up on my bed. A few hours later I wake to the sound of bells and Alisa shaking me with her foot. “Get the door,” she mumbles from somewhere under the covers.