Page 29 of Luna Trials
“I think it does. Didn’t you listen to me the other day? You can’t make enemies if you keep your head down. That’s like prison rules 101.”
“I’m not in prison!” This was a resort in the mountains for Goddess’ sake. “And literally all I’ve done since I got here was sign some forms and eat breakfast. I didn’t do anything.”
“What did you have for breakfast?”
My mind instantly conjured an image of Ranger with his dark eyes and growly voice that sent waves of heat flushing my skin. It was too hot in here.
I looked around for the thermostat. “Bacon and sausage and French toast.”
“Keep talking dirty to me,” Clara panted. “Was there powdered sugar? Real maple syrup?”
“Why are we talking about syrup?”
“Sorry.” She laughed. “But this is even better than reality TV. I get to live vicariously through you. How much can you tell me about the show?”
“Not much.” I thought back over the contracts I signed. If Fallon and Edith were right, I wouldn’t even be able to watch the show when the rest of the world did. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. “Are they letting you guys see it?”
“Bishop is already trying to work his magic.” Clara muffled the phone as she spoke to someone.She was probably holding up the line. “They’re saying you are gunning for the sweetheart position this season.”
“I’m nottryingto get any position,” I explained. “And I am most definitely not sweet.”
“You are kind of sweet though.” Clara was two seconds away from losing my only real friend privilege. “But you know what I’m sick of?”
“Orange jumpsuits and white bread?” I guessed.
“That and the whole women have to be either sweet or tough idea. Why can’t females be both? There is a middle ground. You can bake cookies with arsenic in them. Knit cozy blankets and also stab someone in the eye with your needle,” Clara said in all her infinite wisdom. “You, my friend, are a prim little missanda badass bitch.”
“I think there was a compliment in there so thank you, but I’m a wolf. Being sweet would get me killed.” I shouldn’t have to lay this out for her. She was the one with a criminal record.
The front door to the hotel room swung open.Great.I definitely didn’t want to deal with Stef right now.
I took the phone off speaker and pressed it to my ear. “I’ve got to go do this makeup thing.”
“Fine.” Clara sighed. “Hannah needs to call her lawyer anyway. But listen, don’t piss anyone off yet. I’ll see what I can do to help you from here.”
“What exactly are you going to do from jail? You know what? I don’t want to know.”
“You probably don’t.” She giggled. “Keep your phone on you this time. You know how hard it is to get a call out. And don’t sleep with any more reporters.”
“I didn’t s–”
The line went dead.
Instead of throwing the phone across the room like I wanted to, I tucked it in my back pocket.
This was fine. It was all a big misunderstanding. I wasn’t worth the attention. The truth would come out eventually and the media would be disappointed. They’d move onto shinier and flashier things soon. And maybe this was a good thing. I needed the public support to pass the Luna Trials, right?
Everything would work out in the end.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Stef sat perched on the edge of the sofa, smiling weird. “Ready to go?”
“Go where?” I asked slowly, waiting for the punchline.
“To makeup and hair, silly.” She stood, smiling bigger as she held out her arm. “I figured we should walk there together.”
This just became my worst nightmare.