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I opted to wait beside the refreshment table, and in much the same way, I couldn’t keep my eyes from him, either. Several more times, his glance strayed in my direction.
He nodded a few times, still talking to the redhead and looking over something she was showing him on her clipboard. I wondered if she was his assistant.
Before I could find out, someone jerked me roughly by the elbow.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” Pris snarled.
She looked classy in a red, floor-length gown drenched with sequins. Her dark hair was sassy in a French twist, up away from her throat and leaving all the attention to her bare shoulders and pretty but petulant face.
I attempted to yank free. “You’re kidding, right?”
She knew exactly what I was doing here. It was what the rest of the crew looking in our direction was doing here.
We’d been invited.
My invitation had just been a little more…personal.
I knew that had been eating at Pris. I should have known to expect some flak from her tonight.
But a personal attack?
Pris’s grip on my bicep tightened, reminding me far too much of the way her mother used to do the same thing.
She pushed me against the end of the refreshment table.I nearly tripped on my dress’s train. Several dishes rattled behind me at the impact. I shoved her off.
Pris recovered quickly. “Mom said you gave her your two weeks’ notice,” she said, “but she booked you for Highland Heights tonight. I’d hate to think what she does to you when she finds out you’ve come to the ball instead of doing your job.”
“Since when is it your responsibility to tell me where and when to work?” Where I went was none of her business.
“You think you’re so special, being here with the boss. Except, that’s funny. Whereisyour date, Ella?”
“Why do you care?” I asked, lifting my chin.
Pris’s brows proved they weren’t stenciled on. “I can’t believe you still don’t get it.”
“You can’t be talking about Derek. That happened two years ago, Pris. We broke it off.”
“Yeah, after you stole him from me.”
“He made his choice. Move on already.”
Really. She was attacking me now because she thought I was going to go for Derek again?
I skimmed the crowd, searching for Hawk. I needed to end this conversation, to get as far away from her as I could before he came back.
I couldn’t find him, though. He no longer stood near the DJ.
Where had he gone?
“Yeah, you could say he did.” Smugly, she jutted her chin toward Derek Cummins in a tux, peering around the ballrooma few feet away.
Pris and Derek were back together? When did that happen? Was that why she was guarding the ball like a wounded killdeer?
Had she come to badger me so I’d stay away from him? I couldn’t grasp why she would do that.
“I’m here with Hawk, Pris. You two have fun tonight.”
I tried turning away when Pris’s words sliced my steps. “You’re here with him tonight, but Hawk can’t ever really be with you. Did you know that?”
