Page 202 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

The hint of danger that always seemed to linger around them whenever they were out.

She didn’t know what it was, and it both enticed her and left her on edge. It was like she was just waiting for something exhilarating to happen.

Nelly swiveled her attention to her a fraction. “A friend, huh?”

“A pretty good friend,” Piper mumbled as she rechecked to make sure she had her ID.

“Hmm.” It sounded more like disagreement that came out of her grandmother. “Goodfriends usually takegoodcare of each other. I sure hope that’s what is happening.”

There was no teasing to her grandmother’s tone like there normally was. It sounded like a warning.

Piper tried not to roll her eyes. It seemed like every time Piper got ready to leave with Justin, her grandmother made a big deal about it.

“He’s a lot of fun, Nelly,” she said like it explained everything.

“Fun?”

Piper nodded with a tight smile. “That’s all I’m looking for. A little fun while I’m home for the summer, so you don’t need to worry so much. It’s not like I’m going to marry the guy.”

She slung her overnight bag onto her shoulder.

Worry traipsed across Nelly’s face as she looked between Piper and the rumbling car sitting at the curb. “Just so you know sometimesgood friendsdrag you to places you don’t really want to go.”

Unease rolled through Piper’s spirit. That thing that was always prodding at her. The exact same kind of warning that her grandmother was trying to give her then.

One she chose to ignore.

“I’m not going anywhere I don’t want to, Nelly. I’m smarter than that. And besides, his whole look is just a front. Justin is harmless.”

She wondered why she itched. Why the words didn’t quite land right.

“Are you leaving me?” Her mom’s voice filtered through the house, coming from the other room. A second later, she popped her head through the archway.

Piper smiled. “I spent the whole day with you.”

Her mom giggled as she approached. “It’s never enough. But I totally get it. I can’t compete with the hot guy trying to steal my baby away.”

Piper laughed as she gave her mom a tight hug. “Don’t worry. He could never steal me away.”

“He’d better not,” Nelly peeped, her voice light, but there was something woven in it that Piper didn’t miss.

That warning nudging her again.

Music blared from the speakers where the house party raged somewhere in Hollywood.

Piper had lost track of where they were actually going since she basically had sat on Justin’s lap the entire way, kissing and touching him as he maneuvered through the city.

Reckless and wild.

Exactly the kind of trouble she had been looking for.

Now he had an arm slung over her shoulder, her hand wrapped in his as he guided her through the throng crushed in the house.

People were packed in every room. Bodies writhing and thrashing in the middle of the floor. Others pressed along the walls where they laughed and talked while some made out in the darkened corners.

She cringed in discomfort when she saw a few people doing drugs right out in the open, but she didn’t have time to contemplate it since Justin weaved her into the kitchen.

His brown eyes sparked as he twirled her around to face him, his face so handsome she could hardly breathe.