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I could feel that they were all aware that we’d been having sex.

They were hyper-aware of that fact.

I could also feel it bugged most of them, the seers especially.

“No shit,” Jem muttered.

“Maybe I just hate being the odd man out,” Dex grumbled.

I blinked, looking at Dexter.

He frowned at me, then looked around at the rest of us.

“What? It’s true. Isn’t it?”

I realized he was right.

Immediately, I wanted to go give him a hug.

I felt a whisper of jealousy off Black, and elbowed him, laughing.

“You are a goof,” I told him.

His fingers tightened on my shoulder.

“We have to get out of here,” he muttered. “We’ve adjusted to it for the most part, but we’re all still high on those damned cakes. We have no idea what they’re doing to our friends… if any of them are even left alive. We have to get thefuckout of here and help them.”

I felt Black’s words hit at something in my chest.

My heart.

They hit at my heart.

Everyone else frowned at Black’s words, too.

Every one of us felt the reality behind them, the realness Black imparted when he spoke. I knew he was right. The cakes were affecting us still. I’d been kidding myself, thinking most of the effects had waned. But something must have changed.

For the first time, the danger to our friends hit me in a visceral way.

I wasn’t so spaced out I couldn’t grasp how much danger they were in.

A raw panic reached me with Black’s words.

As I stared up at Black, their faces rose behind my eyes.

Angel. Cowboy. Manny. Yarli.

Holo. Luce. Ace. Mika.

Magic. Dog. Frank. Devin. Easton.

There were too many of them to count.

All the other New Mexico people, everyone from the rez, everyone who worked at the White Eagle. Black’s people from San Francisco. Larry Farraday, Black’s lawyer. Our new friend from Saratoga, Pia Cassavetes and her partner.

Nick’s parents. Nick’s sisters.

Kevin Lawless. Alex Holmes, the Admiral’s son.