Faster We Burn

help. I thought about asking Zan, but he said he’d cut ties with his family and wasn’t keeping up with Zack’s comings and goings.
    “You guys ready to go?” Lottie said, as there was a knock at the door.
    “Yup,” I said, grabbing my coat. Stryker jumped up and helped me put it on.
    “Where are we going?” I said as Lottie opened the door to reveal the rest of the crew. They all stared at Stryker and me.
    “Okay, okay, you can stop staring,” Lottie said. “Nothing to see here, just two crazy kids in love.” She gave me a wink and Stryker took my hand.
    I heard a weird noise and looked for the source. Trish was lasering the evilest of evil eyes directly at Stryker. If looks could kill…
    I knew Trish well enough to know that it wasn’t mere jealousy that was making her look at Stryker as if she wanted to reduce him to a pile of ash, like a vampire in the sunlight.
    “Let’s go,” Simon said, giving Brady a look. “I’m starved.”
    We all trooped down the hallway with Trish still giving Stryker a death glare.
    “Where are we going?” I asked the group in general.
    “Caroline’s?” Simon said.
    Caroline’s was one of the nicest places in town, more of a lounge than a bar. It wasn’t cheap, either. I always thought of it as a grown-up place.
    “Uh, can we all afford that?”
    “We’re just planning on ordering a shit ton of appetizers and sharing,” Will said. “I also have a friend who’s a busboy who could bring us some scraps from other people’s plates if we get really starved.”
    “Sounds like a plan,” I said.
    “You okay with that?” I said to Stryker, hoping no one else would hear.
    “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where I am.”
    “Ditto,” I said, and I squeezed his hand, but one look behind at Trish’s angry face was all it took to remind me that there was something he was keeping from me and the sooner I figured out what it was, the better.

 
     
    Chapter Twenty-six
     
     
    Stryker
     
    I really wanted to tell Trish to put her angry face away, because she was making everyone uncomfortable, but I couldn’t really do that without making Katie suspicious, so I had to put up with her glare for the entire time we were at Caroline’s. While we sat at the fancy tables that had long tapered candles and pure white tablecloths, while soft violin music played in the background. As soon as we all saw the entree prices, and put our eyes back in after they’d fallen out because of how expensive they were, we ordered two of every appetizer, hoping that would be enough.
    I tried to kick Trish under the table, but missed and hit Brady. Confusion ensued and I was afraid Simon was going to join Trish and beat me up.
    “Hey you, glaring at my boyfriend. What’s up?” Katie said as we all fished in our pockets and purses for a tip for our disgruntled waiter. He deserved it after dealing with us.
    “Nothing,” Trish said, turning off the glare when she looked at Katie. It was like she wasn’t aware she’d been doing it. “I’m just pissed at him about something.”
    “Yeah, I got that. You wanna share with the class?” Everyone was pretending not to eavesdrop but failing miserably.
    “He knows. Ask him.”
    “Oh no, I’m not playing that game, Trish. You two have got some deal and I have the feeling it has to do with me, so spill so you can get over it and we can go back to normal where you guys just fight instead of laying on the silent treatment. It’s freaking me out.”
    “You’re not the only one,” Lottie said. “What gives, Trish?”
    Trish looked around and I thought I was going to have to pull the fire alarm so she wouldn’t say what I thought she was going to say, but then she surprised me.
    “He told someone my real name,” she said, staring down at the tablecloth, which was significantly less-white now, despite all our best efforts.
    I breathed a sigh of relief and made a mental note to text Trish and thank her later. I was definitely going to owe her for this one.
    “I thought your real name was Patricia,” Simon said.
    “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Audrey said.
    “No, it’s not Patricia…” she said. Damn, she was really taking one in the back for me. I could never call her a shitty sister again.
    “Then what is it? We’re all on the edge of our seats here,” Brady said.
    “It’s Trishella.”
    Her announcement was met with a moment of stunned silence and then everyone tried not to laugh and failed.
    She crossed