made it through another hour of the pool party before
I abandoned ship. A quick survey of the surrounding area told me that my only options for fresh air were an expanse of vibrantly green grass, where people were honest-to-God playing lawn games, and a back alleyway that led to the dumpsters.

I chose the dumpsters. Imagine my surprise when I found Dumpsterville occupied.

“Sorry.” The boy leaning back against the building immediately straightened. His phone went into his pocket, and his eyes went to a point over my right shoulder.

“What are you apologizing for?” I asked.

The question surprised him into meeting my gaze. It took me a moment to realize that I recognized those eyes.

The valet. He was wearing different clothes today—navy-blue swim trunks and a formfitting shirt emblazoned with the club’s crest.

“Lifeguard?” I asked.

“Filling in for a friend,” he replied. “Don’t worry, I’m certified.”

“Really not my number one concern at the moment.”

He managed a small smile. “New around here?”

“What gave me away?”

“Besides your accent, your clothes, and the fact that you’re comfortable not smiling?” He leaned back against the wall, keeping his shoulders squared toward mine this time. “Absolutely nothing.”

That might have actually gotten a grin out of me, but the sound of the door to the alleyway opening and closing interrupted the moment. The valet glanced toward the door. I took note of the motion. Growing up above The Holler had given me a sixth sense for bar brawlers. In a polo shirt or lifeguard uniform, it didn’t matter. This was a guy used to keeping his back to the wall and his eyes peeled.

He wasn’t built for walking away from a fight.

What fight? I wondered. I turned to look at the person who’d joined us and found myself facing Walker Ames.

“I should go,” the valet said. He walked past me, then attempted to pass Walker.

Walker sidestepped. “Nick,” he said. “It is Nick, right? Got a minute?” Walker didn’t wait for an answer. That was what happened to people who grew up in a world where the answer was always yes. “We need to talk.”

“I need to get back to work.” Nick’s blank expression never wavered. He was like stone.

Walker just kept chipping away. “This will just take a second.”

Nick glanced back at me. Clearly, he wanted me to get lost, but the two of them were blocking the only exit.

“Is she with you?” Walker demanded.

“Who?” Nick said. He gestured toward me. “Her? We just met.”

Walker’s eyes flicked to mine. Clearly, he hadn’t taken note of my presence until that exact moment. “Could you give us a second, Sawyer?”

Now it was my turn to lean casually back against the wall. “Take all the time you need.”

I saw the barest hint of amusement on Nick’s face.

Walker’s next word banished it. “Campbell,” he said, turning back to the other boy. “Is she lying low at your place?”

Nick stared Walker down. “I think you must be confused.”

“And I think that you’re my sister’s type,” Walker countered. “Look, who or what my sister does is none of my business. I just want to know if she’s okay.”

She’s fine, I thought, and given that she didn’t go home after she busted out last night, I’d give it eighty-twenty odds that she’s up to something.

“I have no idea where your sister is,” Nick said clearly.

Walker took a step toward him.

This will not end well, I thought. Walker was taller than Nick, broader through the shoulders. Nick was almost certainly a better fighter. Even though his veneer of calm hadn’t cracked yet, the part of me that had grown up bar-adjacent said that it could.

“Leave him alone,” I told Walker. To my surprise, someone else said the exact same words at the exact same time.

“Miss me?” Campbell stepped into the alleyway and placed a kiss on her brother’s cheek. She didn’t look like she’d spent the past two days duct-taped to a chair.

She looked like she’d been to some kind of spa.

“Campbell.” Walker turned his irritation on his sister, Nick instantly forgotten. “Still in one piece, I take it?”

“Aren’t I always?” Campbell returned lightly. “You can go, Nick.” She didn’t even look at him as she issued the dismissal.

Nick didn’t seem to mind. An instant later, he was gone.

Campbell is here. Campbell is smiling. This cannot possibly be good.

“Sawyer, this is my sister.” Manners dictated Walker introduce us. “Campbell, this is…”

“Sawyer Taft,” Campbell finished with a smile every bit as charming as her brother’s. “I know. Lily introduced us this weekend.”

“You were with Lily?” Walker asked his sister. “She didn’t say anything.” He turned to me. “You didn’t say anything.” He shifted narrowed eyes back toward his sister. “Since when do you and Lily hang out?”

Since she KIDNAPPED me.… I waited for Campbell to pull the trigger.

Except she didn’t. She also didn’t say anything—not a word—about Secrets on My Skin.

Instead, Campbell gave Walker what I could only describe as puppy-dog eyes. “Look, big brother, I’m sorry about the past couple of days. Would you believe it if I said I’d had my heart broken?”

That was all it took to throw Walker back into protective mode. “Did someone—”

Campbell didn’t give him a chance to finish the question. “It doesn’t matter what someone did or did not do. As previously discussed, my physical and/or romantic relationships are none of your business.” She softened her tone. “I needed some space, Walk. I needed Mom not to be breathing down my neck. And…” Campbell looked toward me, and I saw something downright chilling masquerading as fondness in her sparkling green eyes. “I needed some girl time.”

“Girl time?” Walker repeated.

“Lily let me crash in her pool house for a few days,” Campbell said, twirling her auburn hair around her index finger, watching my reaction as much as her brother’s. “I would have told you, but Ms. Perfect is a bit of a sore spot for you these days.”

“Don’t call her that,” Walker said immediately.

Campbell arched an eyebrow at him. “See?”

“You and Lily aren’t friends anymore,” Walker responded. “You haven’t been friends since middle school. You don’t have girl time.”

“Don’t we?” Campbell asked innocently. “Go ahead, Sawyer.” She turned the full force of that innocent expression on me. “Tell my brother where I’ve been the past few days.”

Or do you want me to? Campbell was as adroit at silent threats as her cousin Boone was at warnings.

“She’s really been at Lily’s?” Walker asked me. “For the past two days? You knew she was there, and you knew I was worried, and you said nothing?”

I could have denied it. I could have played dumb, but Campbell was holding all of the cards here. The plan had been to let her go after we’d finished digging up dirt.

“Campbell was with us,” I told Walker, deeply suspecting that I would regret playing this game. “She asked me not to say anything.”

All smiles, Campbell walked over to me and hooked an arm through mine. “Sawyer and I are becoming fast friends,” she declared.

Walker clearly didn’t believe that, but just as clearly, he was done talking—to both of us. As he retreated inside, I stepped away from Campbell’s hold.

“I thought you didn’t have friends,” I said lowly.

“I don’t,” Campbell replied, pleased as punch. “I have alibis.”