Outside, the air was cooler. It was nighttime. Bright nighttime. The silence between them was unbearable now. Thick like honey.
She didn't want to get in a car with him. Not now. Not while her head was a furnace of confused heat.
That was when she saw it. The distraction. Her salvation.
A street event had sprawled a few feet ahead, unexpected and chaotic. Twinkling string lights blinked across the air. Colorful tents had been set up. Music floated from scratchy speakers. The crowd was laughing, talking, dancing. A guy in a neon green vest was balancing a tower of tiny cut meat sticks while yelling exorbitant prices over the music.
"Can we—um…" she cleared her throat, gesturing vaguely. "I kind of want to look."
Hades's eyes moved lazily toward the noise. His expression remained blank, but the tension in his jaw told her everything. He would rather swallow nails than enter that mess.
"You'd prefer a street carnival over a ride home?"
