~ 52 ~
PEYTON
The room grew louder with each passing minute, as guests filed in from various hallways. The excited chatter and nonsensical banter was cut with something else, though. It took me a while, but eventually I figured out what it was:
An underlying tension.
Something was off. Even if they couldn’t quite put their finger on it, the ballroom was abuzz with stalled conversations and awkward silences. People kept checking their phones, even more often than normal. Their expressions weren’t happy, either. I saw worry in their eyes. Confusion. Consternation.
“Theo…”
“Yes, princess?” the voice in my ear came back.
“What the hell are you doing to these people?”
“Oh, allsortsof things,” Theo chuckled evilly.
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, well, keep in mind it’s nothing they don’tdeserve.”
I kept looking around for Donovan, or Ripley. I had eyes on both their rendezvous points, and they weren’t there. At worst, they should at least be nearby by now. That, coupled with the nervous tension sweeping throughout the room, had me seriously on edge.
“Five minutes,” Theo’s voice crackled. “Be ready.”
“Copy that.”
I faded backward a little more, trying to make myself even more invisible than I already was. I couldn’t move far, though. I had to keep in line with the stage.
That’s when I felt it… a pair of eyes, locked on me. More of a feeling than anything else. But I’d learned to trust those feelings.
“Oh my God…Peyton?”
I turned to find my mother standing no more than twelve feet away. She was standing there utterly motionless, one hand locked over her mouth. Frozen, like she’d seen a ghost.
“OhmyGOD!”
I rushed her immediately, shushing her with a firm, insistent finger against her lips. When her back hit the wall, she literally gasped.
“You’re okay!” she breathed. “You—You’rehere!”
She reached out to touch me, like she didn’t believe I was real. First my hand, then my arm, then my face…
“Mom, stop.”
“But I thought—”
“I’m fine,” I hissed, urging her to lower her own voice.
Her eyes were bloodshot, and glassy with tears. I almost felt bad as she pulled back a bit, to look me up and down.
“I thought… I mean…”
“I doesn’t matter what he said,” I told her. “Donovan lied to you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
