Page 153 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

Naomi’s jaw tightened. “You’re all just taking her side because—”

“Because you’re full of shit and obsessed with Jackson,” Cassidy cut in. “You’ve been obsessed with him for years, and now he’s with Harper. That’s why you’re doing all this. Pathetic.”

Naomi stood there, cheeks flushed. No one stepped up to defend her.

I said nothing. I just watched her until she looked away first.

“You’ll see I was right about her,” she muttered, loud enough for half the room to hear. Then spun on her heel and stalked toward the kitchen.

The music picked back up a few seconds later, slower at first, then building again.

Jackson leaned closer, lowering his voice. “You should have told me about him.”

“About Chad?”

“Yeah.”

“I forgot he existed.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “He won’t come near you again.”

Cassidy appeared at my side, still limping but grinning. “Okay, the public execution is done. I’m stealing Harper.”

Jackson’s arm immediately tightened. “No.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’m taking her six feet away, not to another country.”

“Five feet.”

“Possessive. Got it.” She winked at me. “Come on.”

We danced despite her wrapped ankle. She moved carefully but refused to sit down. I kept one eye on Jackson the entire time. A steady stream of women had been approaching him all night, asking for dances, inviting him to the hot tub, trying to pull him upstairs. He shut every single one of them down without looking away from me, standing at the edge of the dance floor with his arms crossed and that steady, possessive intensity fixed on me the entire time.

The house had gotten hotter as the night went on. The crowd was thicker now, and sweat dampened the back of my neck, sticking the costume to my skin.

Rick wandered up beside Jackson. I caught their exchange with my shifter hearing.

“You’re looking at her like she’s about to disappear the second you take your eyes off her,” Rick said.

“Fuck you,” Jackson replied, not looking away.

Rick laughed. “Nah, I’m good. Don’t want her leftovers.”

Jackson didn’t smile.

Jason snorted into his drink. “Leave him alone,” he said. “He’s got mate-brain.”

“Mate-brain isn’t a thing.”

“It is now.”

I was still watching Jackson when Naomi sidled up to him from the side, a drink in one hand and a smile that was far too sweet after everything that had just happened. She leaned in close, ignoring that I was only a few feet away.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” she said, voice low and intimate. “That couldn’t have been easy to hear.” Her free hand moved toward his, fingers brushing the back of his wrist in a deliberate touch.

Jackson stepped back immediately, pulling his arm away. “Don’t.”

My vision went red at the edges.