Page 54 of Dance of Thorns

Evie blinks, looking stunned.

“I mean, if you’re busy, don’t even worry about?—”

“I’d love to!” she blurts back, beaming. “Totally!”

Sweet.

“He really is a good guy.”

Two hours later,Donnie Darko—which I’m not really that shocked to learn Evie hasn’t seen before—is finishing, and the sushi we had delivered has mostly disappeared from the plastic trays in front of us.

Next to me on the couch, Evelina rolls her head to the side to look at me.

“Honestly,” she says. “He might come off as grumpy or antisocial, but that’s just him.” She giggles. “Maybe it’s a guy version of resting bitch face.”

I laugh as she reaches over and pops another piece of sashimi into her mouth.

“Something…” She shakes her head. “Never mind.”

I frown. “What?”

“No, I don’t want to share rumors.”

“Evie, please?” I plead. “I’m marrying the guy.”

She gives me a sympathetic look. “Fair. Okay, it’s probably nothing, I just…” She pokes at her pickled ginger. “I don’t knowwhat, but Roman has mentioned that something happened to Bane. Like, when he was a kid.”

My brows knit. “What?”

“Dunno,” she shrugs. “But I think Roman said it was maybe the reason, or one of the reasons, Bane is the way he is.”

Hmm.

Interesting.

I offer to sleep on the couch and give her the bed up in the loft, but Evie insists on staying downstairs. Then the two of us are back to gabbing again.

Honestly, I have no idea why I haven’t hung out with her one on one before. She’sawesome.

Sheltered and crazy innocent, of course, but awesome.

She hesitantly looks at me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Were you two a couple before the engagement?”

I make a face. “Nope.”

Evie frowns. “So…that video of you and Bane…”

“Yeah… He staged that.”

Her eyes go wide as saucers. “What?”

Evie of all people doesn’t need to knowwhyI was up on the roof of the Empire State Building with Bane. But I can at least dispel any myths about that kiss beingrealin any way.

“Yeah, he staged it.” I look away. “To trap me.”