Her eyes were wide with panic as everyone looked around, waiting for her to make her way to the man who had been speaking.
“I—” She was about to speak, but a server bumped into me, sending me tumbling forward and into her arms. Our heads butted, and my hand immediately went to my face, pulling my mask off in the process.
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried that I’d hurt her. I could already feel a lump starting to form on my head.
Her hand reached out to touch my face, her fingers lingering on my cheek and then through my beard. Her friend from earlier scooped her up and led her over to the center of the dance floor. Our eyes were still connected as a sea of people moved in front of me to circle around them in congratulations.
“Odette.”
Her name slipped off my lips, and her eyes went wide at the sound of her name. Then I lost sight of her; the crowd around us broke the contact. I would have waited for the crowd todie down, anything for another second with her, but then the announcer made his next statement.
“As a special treat, we also have CovertRetriever here this evening.”
“Fuck,” I said quietly, as Beckett came up to me and we quickly moved to duck out of the event.
I could hear the man trying to coax my gaming persona out of the shadows, but we were already making our way out of the castle and down to where a row of pedicabs were waiting. Beckett hopped into the first one we came up to, me behind him.
The driver hauled out of there as I looked back, the lights from the evening growing dimmer as we made our way back to the city and out of the park.
“I have to see her again.”
“What?” Beckett asked. “It was that good you need to risk it all again?”
“I need to see her at the award ceremony tomorrow.”
“Fuck’s sake, man.”
I finally turned toward him, my mask still off. He must have realized from the look on my face how serious I was. We hadn’t planned on me going as myself to the actual ceremony, just the ball. We had no plans for tomorrow.
“I’ll make some calls when we get back, but in the meantime, I’m going to figure out who let slip that you were there tonight.”
He started texting away on his phone. I hadn’t even cared that someone had given a heads-up that I was there tonight.
I stared back out the window. Belvedere Castle now long gone from my sight.
I might have had to leave Odette this evening, but I was going to make my way back to her by any means possible.
I’d spend five hundred years finding her again.
“Breath in, breath out.”
I stepped out of the car and took another deep breath. This was it, no backing out now.
Red carpet time.
I made my way down the green carpet that was laid out. The carpet was lined with greenery, keeping to the theme of last night, and most likely well into the award show.
Lights flashed, and I stopped and took the necessary photos. Jemma guided me to where I needed to go, until the moment passed in a blur and we were inside. She left me momentarily, working on finding out where we would be seated. I looked around at the others in the industry, who were also dressed to the nines. This time, no one had on a mask, and everyone was mingling in their small groups.
I looked from face to face, trying to find the one I had seen so briefly last night. I only saw people I didn’t know. Their voices were getting louder. My hand ran down the front of my dress, rubbing against my thigh, the friction not helping like it normally did.
“I’ve got someone to escort us.” I turned to Jemma as she popped back up by my side. She was pointing to a man wholooked like a bodyguard and was gesturing to a side door close to us.
She started walking toward the man, but I was frozen. I could feel myself shutting down. This was a lot to take in all at once.
Jemma came back to my side, rummaged through her clutch, and pulled out my noise-cancelling earbuds. She didn’t hand them to me; instead, she leaned in and put them in for me. She signaled the man who was supposed to help us to our seats to give us a moment.
The noise wasn’t completely gone since it was quite loud in the hallway, but it dulled to the point where I could finally express my thoughts again. I took a deep breath, mimicking what Jemma was doing in front of me until I felt my feet move, and Jemma led me to follow the man. There wasn’t as much chaos in the main theatre area as most people hadn’t made their way to their seats yet. The host of the awards had set us up toward the front of the stage, at a small table for just Jemma and me. There would be a spotlight on me tonight, and there was no getting away from it.
