Chapter 69

EMILIA

“That’s everyone,” Tonia says, ticking the last name off her clipboard. She looks up, gives her boyfriend and Céline a long, tight-lipped glare, and sighs like she’s been holding her breath all day.

“Did you see that?” I whisper to Lacey, who’s standing beside me and Liam. As expected, the red plastic cup she’s holding smells like cheap beer up close.

Lacey nods. “I’ll ask her about it later. They ditched me halfway again. I had to find my way back using straight-up muscle memory.”

“Impressive,” Liam mumbles. “Didn’t know being buzzed improved your internal compass.”

I pinch his arm. He barely reacts but throws me a sly smile. Lacey doesn’t notice a thing, just shrugs and takes another sip.

“If I had to guess, I’d say Tonia’s finally figuring out that three’s a crowd,” Lacey says, wiping her lip with the back of her hand.

I hum, distracted. Cameras are everywhere. I spot one guy pretending not to point his lens directly at us, but he’