the small grouping of people around us, Emily grins.
“I shit you not. And get this. She left her family to take off with him.”
“Lucky bitch,” I mutter. “My father would kill me if I tried something like that.”
Eyes meeting mine, she shakes her head, her dark red hair sliding over a shoulder.
“Yours and mine both. Girl, we’d be chopped up and dropped in the ocean. They’d never find our bodies.”
We laugh, but inside I’m crying, my jealousy sinking deeper for a girl that didn’t know how lucky she was to never stand among our crowd.
I may not have the freedom to run off with bikers, but at least my life isn’t as bad as Emily’s.
Not yet, anyway.
“You nervous about tonight?”
“I hate this,” she admits softly.
Emily’s expression drops, the fake smile she’s been wearing all night curling down at the corners as worry lines cut across her forehead.
Unable to see the obvious pain without wanting to march over and murder her father, I glance away and scan the crowd.
As usual, my parents’ backyard is decked out to the extreme, my mother’s demand for glamour happily appeased by the party planners she’d hired.
White tents are situated throughout, the interiors lit by the glow of flickering candles. Above our heads, the tree branches are strung with delicate white lights that resemble twinkling stars.
Everywhere you look, crystal embellishments add elegance to the design, their multi-faceted surfaces sparkling just as brightly as the gowns of the female guests.
It’s money as far as the eye can see, people mingling and bragging about their lives as the waitstaff carry around hors d’oeuvres and flutes of expensive champagne on polished silver trays.
I hate everything about it. Still, I stand among my peers, preening like the ornament I am, while my social butterfly mother flutters about here and there to ensure the guests are happy.
Of all the people surrounding me now, Emily is the only one I care about. The third member of our trio refused to come to the party tonight. Given the reason for this event, I can’t blame her.
We try to appear engaged in the conversation around us, and I laugh at something Paul Rollings has to say, even though I didn’t hear a word of the joke. Touching his shoulder, I pretend I actually want him nearby.
Emily turns to say something to me, but her gaze cuts over my shoulder, her beautiful turquoise eyes widening at what she sees.
“Don’t look now, but the biggest asshole known to man just walked in.” Her head tilts, “But I don’t recognize the woman he has on his arm.”
Knowing better than to acknowledge the devil when he appears, I glance quickly over my shoulder to see Tanner Caine leading around his latest victim.
His date is wearing a beautiful white to black hombre gown, her light brown hair pulled up to expose her shoulders.
“That poor woman probably has no idea what kind of man she’s with tonight. Somebody should warn her.”
“She’s pretty,” Emily remarks, her eyes still tracking them across the distance.
“And an idiot if she’s willing to spend time with him.”
Emily’s eyes round wider. “Oh shit.”
I turn to look, but she grabs my face and tugs it back. “He’s walking over here.”
My heart jumps into my throat, the rate of my pulse a freaking jackhammer. “What?”
“Act natural.”
People move out of the way as Tanner approaches.
All of us went to prep school together, and everybody here knows not to get in his way. I studiously keep my eyes trained on Emily’s smiling face, but it doesn’t make me invisible like I hoped.
Within seconds, Tanner’s hand clamps over my elbow, and he leans down to whisper quietly. “We need to talk.”
No.
This is bad.
I briefly wonder how awful it would look if I screamed and ran away.
Smiling despite the ice coating my spine, I ask, “What about?”
Dark green eyes meet mine. “I think you know.”
I’m wearing a bright smile like it is a life jacket. Clinging to it as if it’s the door in Titanic that Jack could have fit on if Rose would have moved over.
You have to around Tanner. This man has the ability to suck you down beneath churning waters, and there’s not much you can do when he’s caught you.
“This is a bad time. Can we talk about it later?”
The corner of his mouth crooks, pure evil in that look.
“We can discuss it right here in front of everybody, if you’d like.”
Damn it.
“If you all will excuse me,” I say, my terrified gaze meeting Emily’s as I allow