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She watched the goings on for a few minutes, standing in companionable silence with James. Then the doorbell rang and Hannah jumped. Was she supposed to play hostess? But these people wouldn't recognize her if she was the one greeting them. What would she say?
"That's me," James said, handing her his empty glass. "Time to be my charming self."
James went to the door, opening it with a flourish and a huge smile. He shook hands with the man who stood there and kissed the cheek of the man's wife. To her surprise, after a moment of small talk, James led them right over to her. "Edward, May, this is Hannah Clary. Hannah, this is Edward and May Campbell."
Hannah had just finished saying hello when EM walked out and into the hallway, a rare smile on his face as he walked up and greeted the couple like old friends. Feeling out of place, Hannah slinked away unseen and went over to the band that had just started playing their first song.
Within fifteen minutes, the enormous space of Elliott's lower floor felt cramped. Conversations rose up as glasses got filled and refilled. Hannah was engaged in conversation a time or two by random people, curious at who her connections were. She casually dropped that she was an associate of Elliott and James- choosing not to disclose their actual situation.
James kept looking over at her, as promised, to make sure no one was pestering her unnecessarily, but guests seemed to keep him unexpectedly busy.
She felt incredibly alone in the room full of people. She walked from room to room, not wanting to stay in one place too long and make herself look as out of place as she felt. As she rounded back into the study for the fifth time, she felt a hand rest, familiarly on her lower back. She turned, expecting to find James there as he was the only person who would take such liberties with her. Instead, she found EM standing there looking down at her. He was holding a small plate with a piece of each of the finger foods the servers were circulating around. Suddenly, she was hyper aware of the touch of his hand, the firm pressure that splayed half of her hips, the heat she could feel through her thin dress. She felt desire well up, unbidden and spread through her belly and down her legs until she felt unstable.
"Here," he said, placing it in her hand, "you haven't eaten anything." And then he walked away toward a group of men who had just passed around cigars.
Hannah looked down at the plate, her stomach rumbling suddenly. No one else had plates full of food and she felt awkward eating in front of people she didn't know. Then Elliott looked pointedly over his shoulder at her and she picked up a cucumber roll and put it in her mouth. He nodded and turned away.
She quietly exited the room and found herself in the second sitting room which was strangely empty. She slipped out of her shoes for a moment and finished all the food on the plate. It felt good to escape for a moment. The stress of not knowing anyone was wearing on her nerves. Growing up in a very small town where everyone knew everyone and their mother... she had never quite gotten used to being surrounded by strangers and expected to interact with them.
"Ah there she is," James said from the doorway. "I thought some millionaire out there had stolen your heart and whisked you away for a Vegas wedding."
"As if that was even a remote possibility," Hannah scoffed, picking up sweet potato roll and stuffing the whole thing in her mouth.
James came to sit across from her, lounging in the chair. His eyes were a little glassed over and she wondered how much he had had to drink. "Elliott give you that plate?"
Hannah nodded, still chewing.
"Of course he did. I told you he liked a little flesh on a woman."
"Oh, stop with that," Hannah objected, rising from her seat and slipping back into her shoes. She didn't want to have this discussion anymore. EM was not interested in her that way. She was of value to him because of how hard she had been working, not because she would be a convenient lay. And she certainly didn't want to get into an argument about it, given her somewhat irritable mood. She quickly came up with a flimsy excuse and started to the door.
"I don't want Mr. Michaels to think I am being antisocial staying in here by myself."
"Oh, gorgeous," he started, rubbing his eyes, "you are so adorably naïve."
Hannah felt her heckles rise and fought back the urge to snap at James. She wasn't used to him sounding like his brother- a little condescending and arrogant. But James seemed to notice the look on her face, despite her efforts to cover it. "Go ahead, say it. I know you're dying to." He smiled his smile that she would otherwise find charming but at the moment found it cocky and un-called for.
"Fine," she paused. "you're an ass," she said, turning on her heel and haughtily walking away.
She had reached the entryway when he finally caught up with her and whirled her around to face him. "Nuh-uh," he said, not letting go of her arm. "Don't run away. I wasn't trying to..."
"James," Elliott broke in suddenly. She hadn't even seen him in the area when they had come in.
"Don't Elliott," James said. "It's not about you."
Hannah felt her heartbeat pound so hard she felt nauseated. Were they really about to get into an argument in front of her... over her? She knew she should say something and diffuse the situation, but her words froze in her throat and she stood there dumbly listening.
"You came barging into my foyer and forcibly grabbed someone who was obviously trying to get away from you. You made it about me."
Hannah could feel the heat rising in her face. She couldn't just stand there and allow this to escalate. "This is a misunderstanding," she broke in between their whispered argument. They both stopped and stared at her as if forgetting she was even there. "James just wanted to tell me something and he was trying to catch up to me. That was all." She lied more easily than she had ever been able to before.
Elliott looked down at her with a look that implied he knew she was lying but he wasn't going to refute her claim. James shot her a look that said both 'thanks' and 'I didn't need your help' at the same time.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything further, a woman approached suddenly and put an arm around Elliott's back. She was tall with shoulder-length blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. Her nose was thin, her chin sharp and her face a perfect heart shape. She was absolutely gorgeous and extremely thin. Through her bright red cocktail dress, Hannah could actually count her ribs.
The lady in question shot James a look with raised brows and gave Hannah a downright withering stare. Elliott was looking down at her as if he couldn't understand what was going on.
James was the first one to break the silence, "Hello Dan," he said in an uncharacteristically venomous tone.
