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next to Jared.
    “Impound,” Priest said.
    Alara whacked him on the arm. “A friend.”
    Lukas started the Jeep and pulled off the shoulder. “Alara won’t tell us. I think she borrowed it from the Mob.”
    “Or an ex-boyfriend,” Elle said.
    Alara scowled at her. “Shut up or I’ll call your mom and tell her where you really are.”
    “Where does she think you are?” Lying to Elle’s mom wasn’t easy. It required flawless execution, and I was usually around to help cover her tracks.
    Elle threw me a smug smile. “Taking a prestigious drama workshop at the Miami Center for the Performing Arts.”
    “She believed that?” The likelihood of Elle’s mother letting her travel to another state without verifying the details was less than zero.
    “After she spoke to the director,” Elle said.
    “How did you pull that off?”
    “Alara helped,” Elle said, as if that explained everything.
    Alara crossed her arms. “Only because you blackmailed us. She wouldn’t help us find you unless we agreed to let her come along. If I knew she was such a pain in the ass, I would’ve left her in DC.”
    Elle pouted, but I was impressed. She’d always been resourceful but usually limited her talents to torturing guys who liked her. This was a whole new level. “Give it up. I want details.”
    Alara shot Elle an intimidating glance. “My cousin Thaddeus is the director. The center is one of my family’s foundations.”
    “You worked things out with your parents?” I knew how hurt Alara had been when they asked her to abandon the Legion and come home.
    “Not exactly. Thaddeus and Maya have been helping me. Thad dealt with Elle’s mom, and Maya has been sending money.” Alara pretended to inspect her silver nail polish when she mentioned Maya, the younger sister she’d spared by joining the Legion in her place. “She still feels guilty that I was the one who ended up with my grandmother. And Thad and I were always really close.”
    “You look cold,” Jared said, changing the subject. He rubbed his hands over my arms to warm me up. “Turn up the heat, Luke.”
    Lukas turned a knob on the dashboard, and the lyrics of Jared’s favorite song, “Cry Little Sister,” blared from the speakers.
    Lukas and Priest groaned.
    Alara covered her ears. “Make it stop.”
    “Change the station.” Elle scrunched up her nose.
    I couldn’t help but smile.
    “It’s not the radio,” Lukas said.
    “Someone paid for… whatever that is?” she asked.
    “It’s Jared’s favorite song,” Alara said. “From
The Lost Boys
soundtrack.”
    Elle looked confused. “The lost what?”
    “You’re all hilarious.” Jared tried to reach over the seat and turn it off.
    Lukas swatted his hand away. “Come on. Just once for Elle.”
    Priest, Lukas, Alara, and I joined in for the chorus.
    Jared ignored us and unzipped a backpack in the trunk. He handed me an extra shirt. “Here. Since my brother doesn’t know how to turn on the heat.”
    “Stop crying already.” Lukas shut off the music, with a crooked smile still plastered on his face, and cranked the heat.
    Jared peeled off his wet thermal and slid on a dry one. I tried to ignore the way the sight of his bare skin made me feel.
    Nice
, Elle mouthed, smiling.
    I pulled the extra shirt Jared had given me over my head. Within seconds, I had slipped my arms out of my wet sweater and yanked it through one of the sleeves.
    Jared watched as I tossed the sweater over the seat. “I’ll never figure out how girls do that.”
    “It’s an innate ability they’re born with, like rolling their eyes,” Priest said.
    I leaned my head against Jared’s shoulder, exhausted. “Where are we going anyway?”
    Lukas glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “I want to put some distance between your school and us. Then we can hit a truck stop and eat.”
    Elle stretched her legs between the seats and propped them on the center console. “Promise?”
    “Think we should head to West Virginia?”