I LEANED MY BASS AGAINST the amp in the dingy rehearsal room.

“Haven’t we rehearsed enough?” I asked. “I’m not a machine. My voice is hoarse, and my fingers are falling off.”

Polly huffed. She’d have us playing all night if she could.

“I’ve got no drumming left in me, anyway,” Jax said.

Polly checked her watch. “I guess we should head back to the hotel for some rest.”

She couldn’t fool me. I knew why she checked the time, and it had nothing to do with getting some rest. She wanted to make sure that the last train for Paris had left the station. I’d be stuck here until morning. Then she’d have me back at rehearsal first thing.

That plan was so transparent.

“I guess we can call it a day,” she said.

The rehearsal had been a wash, anyway. With Polly and me at each other’s throats, the songs didn’t come together. We could play the same song a thousand times, but without that connection, it would always sound like shit. If Polly wanted us tighter, she could loosen the reins a little.

Crow would be at the festival now. Actually, the festival would’ve finished for the day and they’d be at their hotel. I missed him. I’d barely seen him for the last few days—not since that morning. I blushed. Just thinking about that morning made my body heat up. I didn’t want Polly seeing those thoughts written on my face, so I tried to think of other things. Safe things.

But, hell, those thoughts kept creeping back. The way he’d kissed me. The way he’d looked at me. He’d wanted to devour me, and I sure wanted to be devoured. He could do all the devouring he liked.

“Okay, we’ll be back bright and early,” Polly said.

“Why don’t we just put down our coats and curl up on this shitty, prickly carpet?” I said. “That’ll save time, and we’d be ready to start when we wake up.”

Polly sneered at me.

I followed her out of the studio, and we got an Uber back to the hotel.

“Want to grab something to eat?” she asked.

“I’m good,” I told her.

I wanted to get to my room and away from her, even if it meant going hungry. She’d been a pain in the butt ever since Fartstard had told her about me wanting the pass.

But when I got back to my room, I couldn’t sleep. I could only think of Crow. If I had a day with him, a day without Polly around, I was sure things would work out between us.

I’d been an idiot relying on Fartstard. I should’ve asked Elijah. I could trust him.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I paced my room. Then I got online and checked out when the first train ran in the morning. But if had that information, so did Polly. She’d make sure I couldn’t catch it. Damn it. If I had a car, I could drive to the festival. I had no idea how to get there, but that was what GPS was for.

Or I could hitchhike.

I shook my head. Hitchhiking would be too dangerous, especially at this time of night. I should just go back to sleep. I’d see Crow on Tuesday. But on Tuesday, Polly would probably redouble her efforts to keep us apart.

Hitching a ride was the only way. Hitchhiking in Europe was a lot more accepted than it was at home. I’d totally be able to do it. If I left now, I’d be at the festival grounds bright and early.

I threw some things into a bag. I didn’t need much for one night. Some makeup and a change of underwear.

I had to get out of the hotel without Polly seeing me, but we’d been back from rehearsal for a few hours, and she wouldn’t be watching me so closely with the Freaks out of town. If she did spot me, I could say I was going out to get something to eat. That would totally work.

I quietly closed the hotel room door behind me and crept to the elevator. That part had been easy, but what next? I couldn’t just stick my thumb out to get a ride in the middle of the city.

I got out my phone and checked out a map of the city. I could get an Uber to the highway and go from there.

Polly would kill me; I knew that. And I could understand things from her point of view. But from her point of view, I was still twelve years old, with pigtails and freckles. She’d never see me as older than that. I had to prove myself, and this was the way to do it. If I stayed in Brussels, she’d have won.

I got to the highway without a problem.

“Sure this is the right place?” the Uber driver asked as he pulled over.

“Yep. I’m going to hitch a ride to Paris.”

The driver shook his head. “Be careful.”

I didn’t really grasp the “middle of nowhere” concept until the Uber took off, leaving me there alone. I sure as hell hadn’t considered that this would be a spooky-as-hell industrial area. Some sickly-looking trees grew along the side of the road, and on the other side of them was a bunch of graffiti-covered warehouses.

Maybe, if I was quick, that Uber would still be in the area. Because otherwise it’d take forever for a driver to get out here, and I might be dead by then.

There wasn’t much traffic on the highway. I stood by the side of the road, debating whether I should turn back while I still could. The thought of being safe and warm in my hotel bed appealed to me a lot, but Crow appealed more.

A car came toward me. What kind of people would be driving at this time of night? Weirdos, that’s who.

I put out my thumb, just a little. Part of me panicked. They might be ax murderers or something worse. Did I really want to get in a car with strangers? But I’d committed myself now. I was here, on this highway. The sun would be up in an hour.

This was the stupidest idea I’d ever had. It had seemed to make sense back at the hotel, but now that I was out here on the side of the highway, in the dark and the cold, I wanted to run back to bed.

No, that wasn’t an option. If I wanted Crow, I needed the chance to convince him. I couldn’t wait until Tuesday. I had to see him now.

Still, going back to the hotel...

Before I could keep arguing with myself, a car pulled over on the verge of the road. My heart pounded. Did I want to get in or not? I walked slowly toward it, a big part of me wanting to run.

I could run. It was an option. If I went slow enough, maybe the car would take off, and the decision would be made for me.

Then the driver’s door opened. A girl around my age jumped out.

“Do you want a lift or not?”

I guessed I did. She looked safe, and that was a definite sign that this was the right thing to do.