Page 99 of Before and After

“Move back, please,” I ordered.

I spotted a teenaged girl on the ground, dressed as a zombie, with fake blood splattered on her dress. Hell, she couldn’t be more than sixteen. She was frothing at the mouth and seizing.

“Ollie, stay back, okay?”

Wide-eyed, the boy nodded. “Okay, Caden. You help her.”

I dropped to my knees beside the girl, and it only took me a second to realize that she’d overdosed on something.Fuck.

I touched my ear. “Paul, looks like a drug overdose. I need the Narcan from the security kit. And get the paramedics over here. I also need more security for crowd control.”

“On it, Caden.”

I checked the girl’s vital signs. She wasn’t breathing and she had no pulse.

Hell. She was so young.

“No, you don’t.” I started chest compressions. “You’re not dying tonight.”

Chapter 25

Allie

“You’re sure that you’re all right?” Sienna, dressed as Wednesday Addams complete with thigh-high socks and a black, braided wig, squeezed my arm.

“I’m fine.” I smiled at her. “Caden took care of me.”

Tessa re-adjusted her Wonder Woman headband. “I knew you two would work it out.”

“Well, we had hot, delicious sex, but we haven’t really talked. Well, we talked a little bit. He shared a bit about his time in the military.”

Jazz clasped her hands together. She was rocking the Cowboy Barbie look in a lipstick-pink pantsuit and white cowboy hat. “He opened up to you. And we’ve all seen the way he watches you.”

Sierra nodded. “Like he wants to wrap you up in protective bubble wrap and keep you all to himself.”

“With this sort of sexy, slightly obsessive glint in his eye,” Tessa added.

“I like it.” No, I loved it.

But how I felt about Caden was too new to share. It was something I needed to work out with Caden first.

Still smiling, I turned.

And saw Blake.

My heart hitched. He was across the crowded area, standing by a food truck.

He winked at me.

The asshole. My hands clenched. I lost sight of him.

“Allie?” Tessa said.

“I just saw Blake. The ESG ringleader.”

Tessa stiffened. “Where?”

I scanned the crowd. “I can’t see him now. The prick winked at me.”