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“Just a little too much champagne.” I shift, and the stage enters my view, but the men are gone.
The world is narrowing in on me, and my vision goes fuzzy at the sides, feeling like the walls are pressing in.
I give her and Piper a faint smile. “Just going to run to the ladies’ room. Be right back.”
“We can go with you,”Mia says, but her gaze has already caught on Alex, River, and Lucas’s approach.
I use their temporary distraction to sneak away. The restroom is down a long hallway, with at least fifteen women waiting. Figures, even in an expensive place like this, they can’t figure out women need more stalls.
There’s a glowing exit sign at the other end, and I make the snap decision to head out. I need the space to breathe and to escape the crush of people.
The women speak openly about the new turn of events as I walk by.
“I heard it’s going to be Anastasia Volkov. They’ve been seen together before, and her father’s company would make a valuable partnership.”
“Not a chance with Aubrey interested in him. No family can pass up royal lineage. Not even the Everettes.”
“She just needs the money.”
“And? Do you think Damon’s looking for a love match? Do you think any of the Everette men will be able to?”
A sadness wraps around me at the thought. Damon might be a jerk, but does that mean he can’t have love? All I have to do is look at my friends to know it’s real. To know it’s worth fighting for, which just makes me all the more disappointed that none of those men will get a chance.
Talk about money can’t buy happiness.
I push the steel horizontal bar, and the exit door swings open with a click onto an alleyway. It’s narrow, no wider than ten feet, with a brick wall flanking the opposite side.
I step out fully, letting the cool night air fill my lungs and chill my exposed skin.
The sweet scent of tobacco has me turning my head, and I spot a man stepping out of the shadows like he was made from them, the crisp red cherry of his cigar lighting his face. He looks like the devil standing there half in shadows, eyes lazily taking me in.
“Are you following me, Miss Hart?” Damon asks in a low, deep rasp that has heat washing through me.
I can’t escape his gaze as I breathe out the word “Hardly.”
My body eases a little when he props his back against the wall opposite me and takes a long pull on his cigar, never looking away.
My skin tingles where his gaze trails over me.
“Torture,” he says, so low I’m not sure I heard him correctly.
“What?”
He tilts his head to the side, his body turning rigid. “What are you doing back here?”
“I can ask you the same thing.” Anyone else, I’d have answered easily, but he just lights something in me, a recklessness that comes forward when he calls.
He exhales, smoke surrounding him. “I needed air. Had to get away from a perfect distraction.”
What could I even say to that? “Shouldn’t you be in there finding your future wife? Isn’t that what these parties are all about, after all.” My voice is a little too edged to be polite.
He runs his tongue along his top teeth before taking another drag of his cigar. “Who do you think I should marry?”
I shrug. “I’m sure you could marry any of them.”
“What if I don’t want them?” he asks.
“From what I heard, you don’t have a choice.”
