“I take it you haven’t told Granny,” Stone said shifting the car into reverse.
“No.” I stared out the passenger-side window, unsure of whether he meant telling her that we broke up or telling her that I’d caught him kissing another girl, but either way, I hadn’t told her. And I had no intention of elaborating.
Once we had gotten out on the main road, he laid his palm on my thigh and squeezed. “You look beautiful.”
I lowered my head, staring at my hands folded in my lap. I could feel the hot tears threatening to surface, and I willed them away. I had wanted this night to be perfect, and it was far from it.
“We’re only going as friends, Stone. Don’t forget that.”
He removed his hand from my thigh and rested it on the gearshift. Immediately, I missed the heat from his palm, the gentleness of his touch.
I resumed staring out the window, watching one-story homes with neatly trimmed yards zip by.
We rode the rest of the way to the restaurant in complete silence. When he pulled into a parking place, I opened the door, not giving him the chance to reach my side and open it for me.
I met him at the rear of the car, and he offered me his elbow. I ignored it and began making my way to the front door, the silver, sparkly heels that I borrowed from Scarlet clicking against the pavement.
He caught up with me, wrapping his large palm around my arm and pulling me to a stop. “Look, I know you’re angry with me, and I get it. But please, Dara, if we’re going as friends, can’t we at least be civil? My mother spent a lot of years trying to teach me to be chivalrous to a lady. She’d be disappointed to know that I didn’t open the doors for you.”
“You want to talk about chivalry? I think you missed a lesson.”
He exhaled loudly and pulled me around to face him. “I’m sorry, Dara. You don’t know how much I wish I could take it back. But I can’t. Can we at least get along through dinner? So that we don’t ruin it for Mike and Crimson?”
I studied his face, his furrowed brow, his clenched jaw. Good. I didn’t want it to be easy for him. It sure wasn’t easy for me. I softened a bit. “Okay.”
He held his elbow out again, and this time I accepted. It did actually provide some stability as I navigated my way in Scarlet’s heels.
Mike and Crimson were already waiting on us. When we were shown to our table, Stone held my chair out for me while I sat down.
Once everyone was seated, Stone addressed Crimson and me, “You ladies look lovely tonight.”
Crimson smiled, enamored by his charm. Mike gave him a fist bump in response to something else he had said. I wondered how I was going to make it through the evening without bursting into tears or strangling him with my bare hands.
Stone
Dinner was awkward, but I had a new appreciation for Dara’s warmth and poise. Considering how annoyed she was with me, she played her role of caring friend beautifully, not allowing her displeasure with me to affect her conversation. In fact, it was only because of how well I knew her that I could pick up on her anger at all. It was subtle things, like how she wouldn’t make eye contact with me, how the tone of her laughter was off, how she didn’t touch my arm to tell me something that had happened during her day.
The ride to the Quail Mountain Country Club, the location of the prom, was quiet, too quiet. It was a constant reminder that I had screwed up my relationship with the one person whom I adored the most. It was a constant reminder that I sucked at relationships, a point that she was well aware of initially, a point that she probably wished she had considered more carefully.
I pulled into the front of the building, allowing the valet to park the car. After Dara wrapped her slender hand around my elbow, I escorted her into the building. Her heels tapped across the marble floor of the lobby. I’d been here many times with my parents, but Dara’s eyes were wide as she gazed at the massive chandelier glittering above our heads. The silvery accents on her dress and in her hair twinkled in response. As we passed a huge, ornate column, she reached out and trailed her fingertips across it, appreciating the intricacy of the design.
The soft, green gown flowed around her feet with each step. Damn, she was beautiful. I was freaking lucky to have her on my arm tonight, and I watched as several guys from school allowed their gaze to follow her as she strolled by. I protectively placed my free hand over her hand as it rested on my arm, wanting to send a message to these guys that she was mine. I needed her to be mine.
The fact that she didn’t jerk away from my touch was a good sign. Maybe it was because she was distracted with the magnificence of the club, maybe it was because she didn’t mind. Either way, I’d take it.
When we entered the ballroom, the lights were dim, and the melody of a slow song filled the air. She waved to her friends as we joined the crowd that had formed around the dance floor. Rows of cushioned folding chairs lined the textured walls, which were dappled with beams of light.
I needed to have her in my arms. Like now. I’d missed holding her close over the last couple of days.
She angled toward some of her friends who were sitting in the chairs. I stopped walking, and she turned toward me, surprised. “Dance with me,” I said.
“I don’t want to dance.”
I held her gaze, and then bent low, speaking in her ear over the music. “But I do.”
“I don’t care what you want.”
“You want me to beg?” I asked in her ear before I gently nipped her lobe.
“No.”
“Every princess needs to dance with her Prince Charming.”
“Well, when you find him, send him to me. I’ll be waiting over there.” She pointed to an empty seat by Chloe.
“Oh, look. Here he is now. Come on, princess. If I don’t dance with you right now, I’ll turn into a frog.”
“You already have.” She let go of my elbow.
I grabbed her hand and tugged her gently toward the dance floor. “Then I’d better earn a kiss.”
She tried to pull out of my grasp, but I held firm, and she quickly gave in, following me as I wove around clinging couples until I found a vacant spot on the dance floor.
I pulled her close, my palms pressing against her lower back, her body molding into mine. I considered myself triumphant when she willingly clasped her fingers around my neck and leaned into my chest. It was a small win. I knew my redemption would take time, but to have her touching me on her own accord was a start.
“You look damn sexy,” I whispered in her ear.
She laid her head on my shoulder, cuddling into my neck. “Thank you.”
I leaned my cheek gently against her head. I closed my eyes, enjoying her in my arms as we swayed to the music.
“Have you lost interest in me?” Her voice was so soft that I barely heard it.
My eyes flipped open, and I lifted my head, staring at her with concern. “No, Dara. I love you. My moment of insanity had nothing to do with you.” Guilt consumed me. The last thing I wanted her to think was that my screw-up had anything to do with her.
I pulled her close again, squeezing her in my embrace, afraid that if I let her go, she’d scamper away like prey evading the predator.
Fortunately for me, the next song was a slow one, as well. I wasn’t ready to relinquish my hold on her. Mike and Crimson made their way out to the dance floor, finding a spot not far from us.
I brushed my lips against Dara’s temple, but when I tilted her face toward mine for a kiss, she pulled away. Well, hell. It sucked that I had ruined our prom. It appeared that she really was going to make me earn that kiss.
I was game, and while I wasn’t usually very patient where girls were concerned, Dara was the exception. She was worth the wait.
When the song ended, I walked her back to the chair where Chloe sat. I left her chatting while I went to get a drink. I returned with two glasses of pineapple punch and dropped into the chair next to her.
Handing one cup to her, I took a huge swig of the other one. The
room was warm, and I set my glass on the floor while I peeled off my jacket and draped it across the back of my chair. I picked the cup back up and drained the remaining liquid.
“It’s hot in here,” I said to her over the beat of the music.
She turned away from Chloe and faced me. “I feel fine.”
“You look nice, Stone,” Chloe told me as she leaned forward and peered at me from her chair on the other side of Dara.
I shot her a grin. “Thanks, Chloe. You look good, too.” Chloe wasn’t as beautiful as Dara, but she was pretty. She was one of those eternally happy people who always smiled and made anyone feel like an old friend. At the beginning of the school year, she was one of the first people who made me feel welcome. While most of Dara’s friends were still in hopes of Dara and Chance getting back together, Chloe accepted our relationship with no questions asked.
Things had gotten better since then, but I would never be as popular as Chance at Quail Mountain High, not that shit like that mattered to me.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Chloe beamed. “I can’t wait to find out who won Prom King and Queen!”
I bent low and whispered in Dara’s ear, “I’m going to get some air. You wanna come?”
“You go ahead, and I’ll stay here with Chloe.”
“Okay.” I pushed myself out of the chair and walked out the double doors that led to a patio at the back of the building.
As the sun sank below the oak-covered mountaintops and illuminated puffy, white clouds, hues of pink and yellow streaked the sky, and it reminded me of a pitcher of Granny’s pink lemonade.
“I see I’m not the only one who wanted to escape.”
I turned at the sound of Jess’s voice and leaned against the stone wall that enclosed the patio. “I’m not escaping. Just getting some air.”
“That’s too bad,” she said, closing the distance between us as she walked seductively toward me in a tight, sequined gown that was the same color as my motorcycle and just as glossy.
“I hear the two of you broke up,” she said, resting her hip against the wall.
“For now.”
I watched her shiny red lips as she spoke. “Why don’t you save me a dance?”
Uh-uh. Jess was the last person I needed to be around if I was going to prove to Dara that she was the only one for me.
I just looked at her.
“You really are in love with her, aren’t you?”
I looked back at the sky as blackness began to envelop it. “I can’t explain it, Jess. I know I don’t deserve her, but damn it….”
“Then you’d better do whatever it takes to hold on to her, Stone.”
I thought about her words as I stared at the stars sprinkled across the heavens.
She pushed off the wall. “Well, if you change your mind about the dance, come and find me.”
I watched the sky turn to an inky black, and then I went to find Dara.
She was sitting right where I left her, watching the other couples dance. I spotted Chloe on the dance floor with her date, and when I reached the row of chairs where Dara waited, I held my hand out to her. With a wave of my fingertips, I motioned for her to come to me, and she did.
We hadn’t been on the dance floor long when Mrs.Tucker, the assistant principal, spoke into the microphone, stating that it was time to announce the Prom King and Queen.
Students cleared from the center of the dance floor, awaiting the winners.
Mrs. Tucker opened the envelope in her hand and pulled out a card. She breathed into the microphone. “And this year’s Quail Mountain High Prom King is…Chance Murray.”
Students erupted in an explosion of claps and shouts of approval. When the noise died down, Mrs. Tucker continued, “And the Prom Queen is…Dara Golding.”
Shit.
I hadn’t voted for Dara. Not because I didn’t want her to win. I knew there was no chance in hell I would ever be voted Prom King, and the announcement just proved who I suspected would be. I didn’t vote for Dara because I couldn’t stand the thought of her being in his arms. And I knew what was expected of the Prom King and Queen.
More shouting and shrill whistles filled the room as Dara left my side without so much as glancing my way and joined Chance in the center of the crowd. I swallowed the lump of disapproval that lodged in my throat. And I saw the way he looked at her. What red-blooded teenage male wouldn’t look at her like that? She was beautiful, both inside and out. And I was totally in love with her, and now everything was screwed up, possibly beyond repair.
I watched as they were each crowned and given a sash. And it sucked. I knew what was coming, and as a portent of it, the crowd started chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss….”
Chance turned toward her, and I had the overwhelming urge to rush the scene and shove him away from her. She was mine.
I saw them whispering to each other, and then he lowered his head toward her. I spun around and stormed away from the crowd, away from Dara and Chance, away from the kiss that was probably happening even now. There was no way in hell I was going to look back. I crammed two fingers into the edge of my collar and tugged. I couldn’t breathe.
I gulped the crisp, night air in my lungs as I rushed onto the patio. Rage roiled through my veins, and I wanted to bury my fist into the towering pillars that supported the overhanging roof. My barely-controlled fury burned through my body, fury that he was kissing my girl, fury that I had screwed up our relationship, fury that I couldn’t seem to keep her from slipping through my fingers.
I ran my hands through my hair, wishing that I knew what to do, that I knew some way to officially make her mine once again. Damn it. Had I made her want to run back to Chance?
Dara
After I finished the obligatory dance, I scanned the room for Stone but saw no sign of him. As I glanced from face to face to face on the dance floor, Crimson walked up beside me and took me by the arm.
“He flew out of the room like Satan was nipping at his backside,” she whispered, her eyes wide while she waited for my response.
“Didn’t he see the kiss?”
“Nope. He left before the kiss.”
I didn’t know what I had expected. Maybe I had wanted Stone to be jealous. If he had shown some emotion, then it would have affirmed that he really cared about me, at least on some level.
I had half-expected him to rush toward us before the kiss, his face contorted in anger and hurt. In some sick and twisted way, I supposed that I had wanted him to hurt the way that he had hurt me. In all honesty, it would’ve served him right.
But when I stood beside Chance on the dance floor in my chiffon dress and sparkles, I had to admit that I loved Stone enough that I didn’t want him to hurt. Pain was already part of life, and he and I had endured our share already.
“He went toward the patio.” Crimson nudged me. “You should go find him.”
“I don’t know if I want to.”
“Dara, you forget who you’re talking to. Hello, it’s me, your best friend. I know you want to, and I also know he wants you to.”
I snapped my head around to look at her. “He said that?”
“He didn’t have to. It’s more than a little obvious.”
I took a step forward and stopped, unsure of what I should do.
Crimson nudged me again. “Go.”
Mike approached us and handed Crimson a glass of punch. “You want me to get you one, Dara?”
Crimson grabbed his arm. “She has Stone for that. Come on, Mike. Let’s go sit down for a minute before they play another slow song.”
She gracefully swept Mike away and left me standing alone.
I looked toward the doors that led to the patio. A tingle etched its way down my spine as I thought about the short distance that separated me from Stone. I didn’t realize that I had decided to find him until I heard my heels clicking against the marble floor.
When I reached the set of French doors, I paused, peering out the glass panes. Moonlight showered over sev
eral couples, casting a glow around them as if they had been sprinkled with pixie dust. My eyes skimmed over the large patio until they found him, his tall frame making him easy to recognize. As I watched, he stared into the night, his arms propped on the stone wall in front of him.
Gently, I turned the knob and stepped into the darkness, the rhythm of the music growing muffled when the door closed behind me.
I knew he could hear my footsteps as I approached him, but he made no effort to move.
“It’s a magnificent night,” I said softly, admiring the radiance of the full moon as it hovered in the sky like a beacon of beauty.
He didn’t respond.
My heart twisted at his silence, afraid that he was hurt and hoping that he was all at once.
“Dara, I can’t do this.” He didn’t turn around, but his words were as crisp and clear as a thin layer of ice.
“You can’t do what?” Anger clawed its way to the surface.
He turned around then and leaned against the wall, his face shadowed from view. “I can’t watch you with him.”
“And I’m supposed to watch you with Tiffany?”
He moved toward me, his palms cupping my shoulders. “I told you that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Releasing me, he raked his fingers through his hair. “When I see you with him, it makes me freakin’ crazy.”
“It hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Like hell.”
“That’s the way I felt when I walked out of that building and saw you with Tiffany. And well, you know what they say about karma.”
His voice grew softer. “I wish I could undo it.”
“Actions are like reading a book. Once you’ve read the words, you can’t unread them.”
He sighed heavily. “If you were using Chance to teach me a lesson….”
“I don’t use people.”
“You know what I mean,” he muttered.
He shifted his weight, and I could sense his discomfort. But I had been hurt so many times myself, I didn’t have it in me to ease his burden, maybe because I was being suffocated by my own. When I thought of all the times that my mother and father had let me down, it crushed my chest like a vice trying to squeeze the very life from me. I had needed Stone. I had needed to be as important to him as he was to me. I had needed to know that he loved me.
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