Page 58 of Alphas Like Us
“Are you drunk?” Charlie asksoutright.
“I had a Four Loko.” Green marker scribble runs down her arms and stains her cheeks. Her light brown hair is a matted mess. “The world isspinning.”
I’m not used to Luna drinking beer or liquor. At all. But I’ve never seen her exceed one drink. Sometimes I hate that I’m so fixated on alcohol, but it’s always in my face. Always brought to my attention by the media, by my family history, and I just can’t ignoreit.
What’s even in a Four Loko? Is that abeer?
I try to crack a knuckle—realizing, I can’t even dothatwithout the use of my right hand. “You’re not going out, areyou?”
“Nopity.” Luna drifts to the windowsill. “I’m home for the night. Per Farrow’srequest.”
So my boyfriend hasn’t been completely quiet. It’s clear he’s had some conversations with my family while I was asleep. It makes me feel like I was awake. Like someone grabbed my wheel and steered. Keeping everything upright when I couldn’tmove.
I feel myself start tosmile.
“Maximoff and Farrow!! Sitting in a tree!” someone yells from outside my window on the Philly street. “K-I-S-S—” Giggling eruptsoutside.
“How many times does that happen?” Beckett asks, giving the window awhat the fuckface.
“Every single night,” I answer withindifference.
I’m trying my best not to let this fact grate on me. The public enthusiasm surrounding my relationship is a product of fame, and I don’t want to be irritated that people shout at my window. But this involves Farrow, so it’s harder to letgo.
Beckett glances at Charlie. “Remind me to never fall inlove.”
He grins. “Already in my calendar for the rest of yourlife.”
Luna sinks down on the windowsill. “So…maybe I’ll fall head-over-heels and out-of-orbit for my date nextweek.”
The air strains. Everyone is staring at my sister like she’s actually flown into another fuckinggalaxy.
My gaze sets sternly. “By date, do you mean the auction, and by auction, do you mean that sixty-year-old man who bid onyou?”
Luna burps into her fist. “Yep.”
“No,” I snap, a different kind of pain clawing mymuscles.
“It’s not adate, Luna,” Jane says, the black cat cradled contently in her arms. “It’s simply an obligatory function where you don’t need to even speak. It can be a silenthour.”
“We don’t know how long it’ll be,” Charlie corrects. “It could last tillmorning.”
My sister has her eyes set on me. “So if you’re going three-fourths Loren Hale right now, I should expect a pretty harsh reaction from him?” Lunaasks.
I’m completely rigid, my jaw sharpened. “Yeah, don’t call it a date around Dad.” Jesus. What am I doing with this fucked-up auction? Why am I letting Ernest Mangold control my sister’s fate? It’s all wrong. It’s allcursed.
The porn star—fuckthat.
Fuckthis.
“Moffy.” Luna stands, clutching the curtains to steady herself. “I retract my statement. Notta date. Just a meeting. Like a business thing.” She tilts her head. “Better?”
“I don’t know,” I say. I lean back, my mind still reeling. None of this is okay. It’s not, but I need time to think about the auction. Right now, my pain has taken the front seat, and I need to find my fuckingphone.
10
FARROW KEENE
“Shotgun him,”Donnelly suggests to me, his ratty Van Halen shirt almost a decade old. That blue-eyed shameless motherfucker leans on the stove of the crampedkitchen.
