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“As you wish,” he replied and led me in the opposite direction of Blaise and his date.
When a server came up to us, Trev reached for two glasses of champagne and handed me one. “Let’s go find Sax,” he told me.
That sounded good. I needed to be surrounded by my friends. I might be upset with Saxon for lying to me and not telling me about the cabin being Blaise’s, but at this moment, he was the lesser of the two evils. What he had done did not compare to what Blaise might do.
“He’s not going to fuck her,” Trev said, leaning down to my ear.
The image those words stirred in me made my stomach rebel. I didn’t take a drink of the champagne, for fear it would come back up. I shouldn’t have come here. I hadn’t needed to see that. I was never going to get over this. How could I? Knowing I wasn’t enough. That he needed someone like that to be seen with in public.
Every insecurity I’d ever had was roaring to life, and my head started to pound.
“Madeline, honey, you look breathtaking. Where did you find that dress?” Melanie was suddenly in front of us, beaming at me.
I’d never called her, and when I looked at her now, I felt like she had never truly planned on developing a relationship with me.
“Garrett. He’s got good taste,” Trev replied for me.
Melanie’s eyes widened. “Yes, he does,” she agreed, then reached for my empty hand and squeezed it. “When you want to talk, I’m here. Know that.”
I didn’t know that. She’d barely spoken about my mom to me, no matter how hard I had tried to get her to do it.
But I nodded. “Okay,” I replied, knowing I never would.
She glanced at Trev for a moment, then back at me. “You’ve seen how things are done. It’s a well-oiled machine that I know is difficult to embrace if you haven’t grown up inside of it. Etta …” She paused, looking nervous. As if she was going to confide something and changed her mind. “She never really understood it either.”
I didn’t have a moment to say anything or figure out a way to get her to explain what she meant about that because Trev was ready to end the conversation.
“Sax,” Trev called out, and I looked over to see Saxon and Declan standing with some other familiar faces.
Declan smiled, but had a slight frown when she saw me on Trev’s arm.
Melanie glanced back and then back at us with a smile. “Go mingle. Have fun. You belong here,” she said, then gave me one last smile before walking away.
“You looked like you needed saving,” Trev said under his breath, but I wondered if he had thought Melanie was going to say something she shouldn’t.
I trusted no one anymore. That part of me was damaged, and every day that passed, it seemed to take even more hits. Reminding me that I could only trust myself.
“How are they part of the family? Or are they?” I asked him bluntly.
“The Houstons?”
I nodded.
“The Houstons have been inside the family and loyal to the Hughes for over eighty years. It goes back to our great-grandfathers. Melanie, however, has too. Her father has been inside of the family since he and my grandfather became friends in high school. Much like Gage and Blaise.”
We were almost to Saxon and the group with him when Trev beamed a bright smile at them and stopped talking.
“Wow, you, uh, brought Maddy,” Saxon said, his eyes wide as we approached them. He looked from me to Trev, then back toward where I knew Blaise was standing with his exotic beauty.
“Dad loves me the most,” he informed Sax and took a long drink.
“I fucking hope so,” Sax replied, his eyes going back to where Blaise was. I wished he’d stop doing that. “You’re gonna need someone to pay for your funeral.”
Trev chuckled. “He’ll keep me alive.”
Saxon’s frown deepened. “You might want to run to him now then. Because death is currently headed this way.”
I stiffened, but I didn’t turn to look. I glanced at Declan, whose eyes were wide with excitement as she looked behind us.
“Took longer than I thought,” Trev said and shrugged. “Heads-up, guys. It’s about to get fun. Hughes family drama for your evening entertainment.”
Saxon cut his eyes at Trev. “You’re crazy.”
Trev placed his hand on my lower back, and I closed my eyes tightly. This would be okay. I needed to calm down. Blaise was territorial, but I was not his date. His dad had bought the dress, shoes, and diamonds I was wearing. Not Trev. Technically, Trev and I were doing a job for the family.
“Shiiit,” one of the guys I remembered from the pool party said in a low voice. “You’ve got the biggest balls I’ve ever fucking seen.”
