Page 58 of In Your Wildest Dreams
“Is everybody okay?” Tyler turns in the passenger seat to look us over.
“Yeah. We’re fine,” Grace answers. “What’s going on?”
“There was a fight,” Tyler says. “Couple of guys got into it and then their friends jumped in. Turned into a brawl in a hurry.”
“How did you find out what was going on before us?” Ev sits forward, staring between her brother and Jack. “And how did you get here so quickly?”
Tyler glances at Jack, who says nothing, before replying, “Jack heard it from a friend.”
“A friend?” Everly’s voice is full of suspicion.
“I know the guy that runs the place.” He keeps driving while Grace, Ev, and I relax into the back seat.
My heartbeat slows, but I’m still antsy. So is Grace, if the death grip she has on her seat belt is any indication.
“Are you okay?” I ask Everly quietly.
“Yeah,” she says, not at all convincing, then lets out a long breath. “Yeah. That was nuts. I’m totally sober now and going to be home before midnight.”
“You got drunk at Club Midnight?” Jack asks, glaring back from the rearview mirror.
“Tipsy.”
“How? You’re underage.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sneaky. It was only a few shots.”
Jack curses under his breath.
Tyler turns around again and before he can say anything, Everly holds up her hand. “Don’t say it.”
“What?” her brother asks defensively, fighting a smile.
“If you’re about to scold me for underage drinking or tell me I should have let you throw me a party and this wouldn’t have happened—”
“That’s not what I was going to say at all.” The expression on his face is full of sincerity. “I’m sure I would have tried to sneak drinks at the club when I was twenty too.”
Jack pulls into a gas station and parks in front of the storefront. “Be right back.”
“I’m sorry your night got ruined, Ev,” Tyler says. “That majorly sucks. I’m glad you’re okay.”
Her shoulders relax. “Thanks for coming to get us. Were you really asleep?”
“Yeah, I passed out early.”
“You’re the oldest twenty-five-year-old I know,” Ev teases him. “I should have invited Piper to come out with us.”
“Yeah, about that.”
Jack returns with a tray of to-go coffees in one hand and a brown paper bag tucked under the other. He opens the back and sets it all inside, except the coffees, which he passes up to us.
“What’s this for?” Ev asks him.
“It’ll help you sober up. Try not to spill it all over my back seat.”
“God. Just when I think you’re being nice, you ruin it by opening your mouth.” Ev takes the coffee with a huff.
He shuts the back without another word, but then two seconds later, he opens Everly’s door and tosses a sweatshirt at her. “And put that on. I can’t focus with your teeth chattering in my ear.”
