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Now that Brick had to go and mention his name, anxiety crashed down with a raining vengeance.
“Let’s see what they have to eat,” I suggested, turning coward.
My evil stepbrother merely laughed and tugged me into the building, saying, “Finding Christopher first, it is.”
“Oh Lord.” Did I have time to stop by the bathroom and throw up real quick? I didn’t feel so well, anymore. The last time I’d actually attempted to flirt with a guy had been… Oh man, it’d been so long ago I couldn’t even remember how long it’d been. Not cool.
Then a thought struck me.
“Hey, didn’t you say he was coming as Prince Charming?”
Brick nodded. “I did.”
My eyebrows drew together as I took in his costume. “Then why are you here as Prince Charming?”
He sighed. “Because your costume was supposed to match mine, and if you ended up spending most of the evening with him, then in turn, it should match his costume, too, don’t you think?”
I set my hand against my heart, stunned. “You mean, you wore Prince Charming for me?”
Making a disgruntled sound in his throat as if uncomfortable with my appreciation, he shrugged and readjusted his collar as he glanced around the room. “I was bored,” he finally answered.
You were being sweet and considerate, I wanted to argue. But he was already embarrassed enough, so I just grinned up at him. “Well, thank you.”
“Just remember.” Brick leaned in to murmur in my ear, “No one has a clue who you are. You can be as bold and crazy as you like, because it won’t count. It’s like the entire night is a great big freebie.”
I tipped my face to look up at him. He had a point. Most of my inhibitions came from fear, worrying about embarrassing myself. Behind my mask, that fear wasn’t so prominent.
Holy shit, I suddenly felt powerful.
“In that case, let’s go seduce Christopher,” I decided.
Instead of waiting for my stepbrother to escort me, I hurried ahead down the front foyer, dragging him along behind.
“Whoa, hey,” he muttered, tripping to keep up and then pulling me back to slow me down. “I don’t mind playing wingman, but the word seduction sounds so not right when coming from my little sister.”
I snorted. “Says the man who thought it was okay to talk about his own mother mounting a guy half her age and screwing him on a conference room table in front of everyone.”
Brick grinned as if he was still proud of that statement before he shrugged. “Yeah, well, Lana Judge isn’t exactly the motherly type so it’s easy not to feel related to her.”
Shaking my head over his odd deduction and yet flattered he considered me more family than his own mother, I held my breath as I neared the double doors that hung open to the main ballroom.
Here we went.
The room’s primary function was to hold fashion shows, but tonight, instead of a catwalk extending from the stage, a live band played a jazzy version of “Dragula.”
“Wow,” I murmured.
Nash—or rather his party planners—had gone all out to decorate. It was festive with fog machines smoking from cauldrons and skeletons and witches and ghosts splashed all around. Not a single person was out of costume, and most of them went to extravagant lengths to dress up.
Suddenly very glad Brick had talked me into attending, I stepped into the room to let the joyous atmosphere take over.
Dancing and laughing and eating sounded delightful.
“There’s Elton,” Brick murmured in my ear, taking hold of my arm. “Let’s head that way.”
“Where?” I started to glance around, looking for Christopher, but someone stepped in our path, heading in the opposite direction, just as we moved forward.
Brick and the other man almost bumped into each other before they both pulled up short, only for the two men to pause and scowl at the other’s costume.
