~TESSA~
Dinner was chaos pretending to be calm.
Everyone sat around the long oak table in the clubhouse’s main room, forks scraping, glasses clinking, voices quiet but strained.
No one mentioned what had happened earlier with the poisoned juice.
No one had to.
The silence told the story loud enough.
I sat beside Ryder, my hand resting near his, though he hadn’t said much since pulling me away from that drink.
His jaw was locked, his eyes shadowed — like he was holding something dangerous inside, and if anyone pushed, it would explode.
Across from us, Raven picked at her food like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Perfect hair, perfect smile… poison behind both.
I couldn’t eat. My stomach was still twisting with the memory of how close I’d come to swallowing that drink — to dy
