“Where is that little thrift-store demon?” Jade snaps, her voice cutting through the heavy air as she marches straight across the foyer. She ignores Locke entirely, grabbing my arms gently and pulling me into a fierce, suffocating hug. The familiar scent of her perfume instantly wraps around me, warm and incredibly grounding. “Are you okay? Did she touch you? Because I swear to God, if she laid a finger on you, I’m hunting that twitchy little snake down myself and f*****g skinning her alive.”
“I’m okay,” I murmur into her shoulder, a tiny, watery bubble of relief rising in my chest for the first time all night. “Locke stopped her.”
“Good, because I was about to use these heels to give her face a permanent redesign,” Jade says, pulling back to scan my face. She smoothes a damp strand of h
