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Lily beams at me, anxiety forgotten as she takes a drink of the bubbling pink liquid. “Thank you. I was looking for you. I didn’t know you were coming, but I’m so happy you’re here.” Her words are bright, eyes starry as she looks at me.

Ethan steps in closer, opening his mouth to speak, and my shoulders climb to my ears.

“Excuse me,” a deep timbre rumbles. A tall figure looms over Lily as Adam Reiner steps up next to Ethan, nearly casting the smaller man in shadow. My heart turns over in my chest, thumping hard and fast.

“Everything okay?” Adam asks.

“Fine. Good to see you, Adam,” Ethan grimaces, gulping down his drink. My body steps closer to Adam, a comfort in knowing Bennett’s dad won’t let anything happen.

“Girls,” Adam says, turning to where I’m half in front of Lily. “I think your dates are looking for you.”

He’s clearly rescuing us, but I take the out.

Pulling on my roommate’s hand, I smile politely at Adam and waltz backward away from them.

I eye Lily. “You brought a date?”

“Oh, um, yeah. My dad made me. He doesn’t like me very much.” The statement is said on a laugh, but her eyes wander away from my face, trailing to my cleavage in her usual way that makes me want to smirk.

“Where is he?”

“What?”

“Your date. Which one is he?”

She straightens, looking over her shoulder and tilting her head. A handsome, reedy man in a charcoal gray suit stands by one of the farther tables, chatting animatedly with Coach LaBlanc. The guy looks mid- to late twenties if I had to guess, which surprises me, but I don’t say anything.

She takes another sip of her sparkling rosé, and I catch the glint of a massive diamond on her right hand. “Jesus, Lily—you’re gonna blind me with that thing.”

Her eyes go wide and she follows my gaze to her own hand with a deep blush. “Oh—yeah. It’s big.”

It’s gaudy for sure—and also kind of ugly. It definitely doesn’t look like anything she’d wear.

“My dad made me wear it,” she says with a shrug, finishing off her glass before letting one of the passing waiters take it.

It’s a brief reminder that this is the girl who told me to “pay whatever I wanted” for a nice townhouse in downtown Waterfell. Whose outfits I’ve suspected would cost more than a semester’s tuition any given day. Coach LaBlanc has Reiner kind of money, if this jewelry is anything to go by.

“I’m gonna go hide in the bathroom,” Lily mumbles. “Do you wanna come?”

My eyes gloss over the circle of Bennett and his friends and parents. Running away hasn’t gotten you anywhere good. Stand and face it.

“I’m going to go back to Bennett,” I say. My hand rests over her pale, bare arm and squeezes. “Do you want to come with me?”

She shakes her head. “I’m okay.”

I tuck a fallen piece of her hair behind her ear, checking to see she’s wearing her hearing aid. “Come find me if you’re not.”

She smiles and touches over the place my hand was before trotting off. I wait until she’s in the hallway toward the bathrooms before I head back to Bennett’s side.

He wraps his arm around me, pulling me in and kissing the top of my head briefly as the conversation continues on. Rhys’s father, Max Koteskiy, and Adam Reiner are talking plans for the next phase of fundraising for the new charity. And everyone is listening, quietly watching and only contributing when asked.

Rhys says something to Bennett from his side as Sadie attempts to slip out of his hold. He doesn’t even pause, grabbing her back in his arms as he continues whispering to my boyfriend.

“Will you be giving a speech?” Ethan suddenly asks, directing his question to me as he steps into the circle alongside Bennett’s mother.

“W-what?” I’ve zoned out, watching the silent struggle for dominance that feels half real and half foreplay between Sadie and Rhys, so I’ve missed most of what’s been said.

“I just assumed—I’m sorry, Paloma. I thought you might be partially invested in this particular charity, considering . . .”