Completely fried after a series of heinous events, I wander into the pool house, ready to crash. Dax reclines on the couch with my laptop propped against his thighs.
“Oh, hey,” he says, sliding the laptop beside him. “I was just passing some time. Hope that’s okay.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s fine,” I say, plonking down.
“You seem down,” he says, scooting across to me. “Were your family members being too hard to deal with?”
I hunch over, rubbing my temples.
“You’re later than you said you’d be.”
“We went into town.”
“What? Why?”
“I didn’t know what my mother was up to.” My voice is jittery. “I swear she was on the cusp of telling everyone you were out here.”
“Are you serious?”
“But it didn’t make any sense for her to blow that. I mean, I’m keeping her secret too.”
“So, what happened?”
“She kept hinting to LJ’s parents that I didn’t want to go to the gala with him.”
“And, you don’t, right?”
I pause, staring at him.
His stare is pointed. “Vanessa?”
“Of course not.” I sigh. “But they wanted to know who I was going with, and I couldn’t work out my mother’s angle.”
Dax sits back. “But if I’m going with you, does it matter if they know?”
“It didn’t before my mother came back.”
“Okay…” he draws out the word. “Why did you leave the manor?”
“I needed to spend time with LJ to show my mother she didn’t have a hold over me.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
I sigh, avoiding his eyes. “I had to go on a date with LJ to stop whatever my mother had planned.”
His jaw drops. “You did what?”
“I had to. I couldn’t risk you being kicked out.”
“So you thought going on a date with LJ would solve that?”
“It wasn’t a real date. I was just taking control away from my mother.”
“Am I supposed to be cool with this? I thought you couldn’t stand the guy.”
“I can’t. Can you really not see why I did this?”
“I thought you were inside, having dinner with your family. You never gave me a heads up you were leaving with him.”
