Page 115 of Wild Like Us

“What’s so funny?” I ask him.

“The squat and talk.” He gestures to my position. “Not funny but cute.”

He said I’m cute.If my heart were a cheerleader, it’d be performing a winning routine right now. “Want to squat with me?” I ask.

Banks has trouble looking away. “You know I would, but I’m supposed to be protecting you. I won’t see who’s coming.”

I can’t reply, my sister cuts over the line. “Sulli?”

“Squirt,” I greet, phone to my ear.

Banks turns his back to me. To give me privacy and protect me, I think.

I’mdyingto gush to my sister about him.Focus. Concentrate.“You’re not at school yet, are you?” I didn’t calculate the time difference, but it’s super early here.

“Not yet. I’m about to carpool with the babes soon.” The babes are our cousins and her best friends: Vada Abbey (Aunt Willow’s daughter), plus Kinney Hale and Audrey Cobalt. “Just eating a bagel with almond butter.” She clicks onto FaceTime.

Fuck.

I hold the camera close up to my face. Only a small scratch on my cheek and forehead. Stuff that she’ll chalk up to thorns or rocks from hiking and climbing.

I accept the FaceTime call.

Her camera is zoomed in on the bagel and almond butter. Then she flips the view to her face. Dirty-blonde hair wet from a morning shower, Winona smiles at me with almond butter spread over her teeth. “Am I beautiful, Sulli?”

I laugh. “The most beautiful land crab I’ve ever seen.” It’s an inside joke, and I hoist the camera closer to my face.Just to be safe. “So Dad’s really cutting out eggs and diary?”

“Yeah, for real,” Winona says into a gulp of water, her smile still present. “He said he’d try harder than last time. He even shook on it. And you don’t have to join if you don’t want to. No pressure.”

I killed a cougar, Nona.Swallowing back those words, I say without thought, “Yeah totally, but I think I’m gonna try, too.”

“Really?” Her voice goes high-pitched in excitement. She sets her glass down so abruptly, water sloshes.

“Yeah. Why not?” My guilty conscience is making me vegan for the wrong fucking reasons, but I’ve already hopped on this fast-moving train.

“Because you eat whipped cream almost every day, and last time you tried an egg-less, dairy-less waffle, you said it tasted like ass.”

“Maybe I like eating ass now,” I banter.

Banks turns his head slightly. He definitely heard that.

I heat up.

Winona notices. “Who are you looking at?”

“Banks. He’s on-duty.”

Winona raises her voice. “Banks, stop eavesdropping!”

“Nona—”

“What? Tell him to stop, Sulli. I hate when bodyguards listen intoprivateconversations. It’s not like we get to listen intotheirprivate discussions.”

My sister is one of the few in my family to maintain real privacy. Her Instagram account is mostly just pretty landscape photos. Rarely, she’ll post her face. She’s not onWe Are Calloway, and paparazzi seem to always be more interested in the people she’s with rather than her.

“You wouldn’t care if Akara was overhearing us.” I glance over at Banks. He’s already moving several feet away from me. Giving me more privacy.

My stomach sinks.