“I’m not going to blackmail you, Emily.”
My name from his mouth felt strangely intimate.
I crossed my arms around my waist, ignoring the tightness in my chest. “I prefer the term mutually beneficial agreement.”
He stepped towards me, as though needing to say something that no one else could hear.
“Fine,” he whispered, and that’s when I realized how alone we really were. Just him and me. Locked in this tiny space that was closing in by the second.
I blinked, needing to recover, searching my mind for what we were just talking about. I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. “So you agree?” I asked, almost out of breath. “You won’t say anything?”
He was silent for a beat. His eyes steady on mine, as though searching. “I won’t say anything,” he promised.
“Give me your phone,” I said, eager to get back to the party before anyone noticed we were gone.
“Why?”
“Because we’ll need to talk. And we can’t exactly stay locked in this bathroom all night, now can we?”
He grinned, like the idea didn’t sound half bad. Still, he reached into his pocket and handed it over.
I typed in my number, but when I got to the last digit—I froze.
It was already there.
Vivienne.
A strange pressure tightened in my chest, and I looked up at him. “Right,” I said quietly. “You already have it.”
“I do,” he murmured.
I handed the phone back, suddenly too warm, too aware of how he made me feel, too aware of everything. “Good,” I muttered, reaching for the door with an intense need to put space between us.
But then his voice stopped me. Low. Almost casual. “Em?”
I hesitated at the door, hand on the nob before turning around to face him again, “Yes?”
“For the record,” he paused, and his eyes bore into mine with an intensity that made my stomach dip, “I wouldn’t have ratted you out to your friends.”
Nine
I avoidedDean like the plague for the rest of the night.
Every glance. Every interaction. Every lingering moment where our paths might’ve crossed—I dodged him like my life depended on it.
I tried to blend into the crowd, talking to strangers instead of my friends just to stay away from him, but my skin burned every time I felt his presence.
Every time he looked at me.
Every time he laughed.
Every time that deep voice carried across the backyard and curled in my ear like a memory I didn’t want to touch.
Other women at the party were falling all over him, and I hated him forthat, too.
I didn’t want to admit it, but some ridiculous, petty part of myself was jealous… while wanting absolutely nothing to do with him at the same time.
It was confusing, frustrating, and when I found myself in the kitchen with Katie and Tuesday, safe from the chaos outside, I exhaled for the first time in hours.
