The Rules by Nancy Holder Read Free Book Online

clutched her neck.
    “God, I’m burning up.”
    “Don’t think I don’t know…,” he began. Then he stopped himself. Why go there? What was the point? He was not looking for a confrontation.
    She looked genuinely confused. “Don’t know what?”
    Maybe she wasn’t in on the plan to boot his ass out of the band. Hiro and Mick thought they were so cagey, but he knew they were trying to figure out how to get rid of him. Well, cage
that,
douche bags. Let
them
get decent equipment and write great songs (and if he heard the word
plagiarize
one more time…He had
sampled
—everyone sampled) and find half-talented musicians who didn’t have
issues.
Well, okay, he sure as hell had blown
that
part. Hiro and Mick should be bowing down and kissing the toes of his Converse sneakers. They had been
nothing
when he found them. Less than dog crap. He had practically tutored Mick in how to sound like Eddie Van Halen. And now they thought they could make secret deals behind his back? He could replace them in two hours.
    Just watch me.
    “Drew? What do you know?” she asked anxiously.
    Stacy. Sweet. Naive. Stoned. He reached out and tousled her hair. Then he took her tumbler and said, “Let’s try some good old-fashioned water, okay? August brought a ton of water bottles. He’s got all kinds of munchies. Get something in your stomach.”
    “You’re so good to me, baby,” she purred, putting both her arms around his neck. “Why’d we break up?”
    “We were never actually together,” he said, easing her arms away. “So we couldn’t really break up.”
    She let her head fall back so she could smile up at him and nearly lost her balance. She ran her fingers down the side of his face. “Your eyes are jittering. They look like kettle corn kernels about to pop. What did
you
take?”
    “Stuff I can’t even pronounce,” he said. “Good stuff.” It took the edge off. Made it possible to function. But he was still damn edgy. He needed some more.
    “Share,” she said, pouting.
    “Water,” he said. “I will get. You will drink. A lot. Promise?”
    She crossed her heart. “Enough to drown in,” she vowed. She looked out at the ocean, then turned and peered up at the bell tower. “That thing looks like it’s ready to fall over.” She slid back into Drew’s arms and laid her head on his chest. “Someone’s going to die tonight, Drew. I just know it.”
    She was freaking him out.
    “Well, let’s make sure it’s not us when this deck collapses,” he said, and led her back toward the warehouse.

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
    ROBIN’S RULE #2: Don’t do anything you’ll regret later.
    “Why didn’t you tell me I wasn’t actually invited?” Robin knew she was yelling but she seriously doubted anyone but Beth and Thea could hear her.
    “I invited you,” Beth said coolly.
    “This is August’s party,” Robin insisted, and Beth pursed her lips.
    “Would you have come if I had told you?” Beth asked, as if that would prove some kind of point.
    “Are you kidding? Now I’m stuck here with no way to call someone to come pick me up,” Robin shot back, and Thea started biting her thumbnail—her nervous habit.
    Beth gently pushed Thea’s hand away from her mouth. “Oh my God, sweetie. All August was worried about was the logistics of the hunt. It’s not as if he doesn’t like you.”
    Robin opened her mouth for a retort, but Beth obviously didn’t want to hear it. “At least you could have thanked him,” Beth said.
    “Oh,
right.
For his good manners. Sure.” Robin narrowed her eyes at Beth and turned to do just that.
    Immediately, Beth grabbed her wrist, digging her nails into Robin’s arm. Painfully.
    “Wait. I’m kidding.” Beth smiled her plastic smile, finally letting go. “I
am,
okay? You don’t need to apologize to him. We’re here. He said yes. Everything is fine.”
    Robin didn’t like Beth’s version of “fine.” Beth had kissed up to August and every single person here and it had sickened