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I would have expected a lot more shock at this announcement on Lily’s part, but she struts across the stage like she owns it and accepts the crown, acknowledging the crowd with an air of arrogance.
“Okay, which one of you fuckers killed a pig?” Nate whisper-yells, drawing our attention to him. His eyes darting back and forth between us all accusingly.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Lyndsey asks, and we all look at him like he’s grown two heads.
He rolls his eyes. “Carrie? Pig blood? She loses her shit and kills everyone. Ring any bells?”
Cadence lets out an amused snort before taking a sip of her punch while the rest of us chuckle.
“Hey, I just need a heads-up so I can hightail it out of here before you idiots pull that rope and she sets my sorry ass on fire,” he continues, and Lyndsey shakes her head.
“That would be awesome. I could think of a few people in here who I would like to see meet their fiery doom,” Cadence mutters, glancing over at Summer.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our king and queen will now have their first dance,” Mr. Cross announces, and everyone starts to move toward the outskirts of the dance floor to make room for Logan and Lily.
Walking to the center of the floor, “Afterglow” by Ed Sheeran starts to play, and Logan takes Lily into his arms. They slowly move back and forth to the music while everyone partners up and follows their lead.
I turn to Eric, only to discover he has suddenly disappeared, and feeling slightly disappointed that I have no one to dance with, I make my way back to the table.
* * *
The DJ seemsto be on some romance trip as he plays one slow song after another.
Mason would hate all this romance crap.
I feel an ache in my chest at the fact that he’s not here to actually hate it. I’ve managed to push him to the back of my mind for most of the night, but as I watch all the couples on the dance floor, some of them very much in love with each other, I can’t stop myself from wishing everything was different.
I wish that I could be on that dance floor with him right now, wrapped in his embrace, looking into his loving blue eyes, the rest of the world fading around us as we get lost in each other; trapped in that Mason and Ava bubble where nothing else exists but Him and me.
The words in his letter play over in my mind. But along with that, so does the image of him and Hadley in bed together. I can’t seem to get it out of my head, and it’s something I wish I could unsee. I believe him when he said that he never meant for it to happen, but he still can’t explain to me how it did. The only other possible explanation is that he was drugged. But that would mean Hadley raped him. I know she hates me, but surely she wouldn’t rape someone just so she could get revenge. That is something next level.
My cheeks puff up as I blow out a heavy breath. I keep going around in circles over this, and I’m not getting anywhere. The only person who really knows what happened in that room is Hadley, and I haven’t seen her since it all went down.
“Ava,” a voice interrupts my thoughts, and I turn around to see Grant behind me, shuffling on his feet. “Would you… uh… would you care to dance?”
He stares down at me, his face looking so pale I’m worried the poor guy is either going to vomit or pass out. I flash him a warm smile and hold out my hand to him.
“I would love to.”
The tension leaves his body, and he lets out a sigh of relief. I take his hand and stand up, letting him lead me to the dance floor just as “Wanderlust” by Will Post starts to play. He holds on to my hand while placing the other on my waist, and we slowly begin to move back and forth to the music.
“You… uh… look really beautiful… tonight,” he stammers, and I can’t help but smile at how cute he is when he’s nervous. He really is such a sweet guy, and I know it took a lot of courage for him to come over and ask me to dance. He probably thought I would say no.
“And you look very handsome tonight, Grant.”
His cheeks flush as he looks away. He really does look handsome. His tuxedo is a charcoal gray, the lapels black along with the bow tie. He took the time to style his hair, and a subtle hint of cologne emitted from him.
“Did you bring a date?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“Why?”
He answers me with a shrug, and I hold back the sympathetic smile tugging at my lips. I doubt he would want my pity for his situation just like I wouldn’t want his, so I decide to take a different approach.
“Ah! Going stag keeps your options open, right?” I tease, and his lips curl up. “There are a lot of lovely ladies who also came stag tonight. Speaking of which I happen to know that Emily Myers tagged along with Sasha and Antonio. I’m sure it would make her night if you asked her to dance.”
“Are you trying to play matchmaker?”
