Hillary and Kelly out.
“And you were the one beneath the willow tree? Or were you the one in the room with me at Kyle’s house?”
A slow curl to his lips wipes away the concern in his expression.
“You figured that out?”
“Of course, I figured it out,” I snap. “And I’m not happy about it! Why are you two doing this to me?”
Lifting his hands in surrender, he backs away a step.
“I’m just taking you to dance.”
His eyes shoot past me, a cryptic grin rolling over his lips as heat impacts my back and another set of strong hands grip my shoulders.
“I’ve got her.”
“You don’t have me,” I argue, pulling away.
Spinning to face Ezra, I stare up at a blank expression.
Actually, not entirely blank, there is something rolling behind that amber stare.
“We should talk,” is all he says, his voice calm but still carrying a dangerous edge that runs cold fingers along my nape and down my spine.
“Why would you do that to them?”
It’s fucked up, right?
Hillary and Kelly have constantly been on me, saying things and doing things to make me feel horrible about myself. Yet here I am defending them.
Not their actions.
Not their words.
But their right not to be made a game by the twins.
Maybe by defending them, I’m really defending myself. Somehow it’s easier that way, but I’m not sure why.
Damon must have returned to the table because it’s only Ezra and me now.
Staring at him centers my attention, the ballroom fading away, the students gone. Even the music no longer infiltrates my mind as I become lost to an amber gaze that burns with all the thoughts I wish he’d tell me.
I don’t have to specify who them is. He knows my anger has everything to do with their fake dates.
“Do you know who’s been spreading the rumors about us at school? Do you know it was Hillary that made sure your mom found out?”
The corner of his lips quirk to see the obvious confusion on my face. “You didn’t know.”
“How-“
“She went to a teacher concerned about you being around me. That teacher apparently called your mom.”
That bitch.
I’d wondered how Mom knew.
Stepping closer to me, Ezra drops his head so he can whisper against my ear. He doesn’t touch me, though, just steals the space around me like it belongs to him.
“I told you I’d hurt anyone who says a word about us. And since I don’t beat up women, I found another way. She’s hurting, and she knows exactly why.”
It’s wrong to feel a small amount of satisfaction in what he’s done, and I should feel bad. But I don’t. Not if Hillary really was the person who managed to alert my mom.
How she even knew to do that, I don’t know. Then again, it’s not a secret that Mason and my families have this weird agreement.
“But how can that be true, about you intending to hurt them? You were planning to take them back to Gabriel’s tonight-“
“No I wasn’t. I was planning on them being bitches to you the first time they saw you, which was when I planned to tear them down and show them how little they mattered. Why do you think I was standing there? I watched you leave the room and saw them take off after you. I knew it would happen. Plus, now that Damon and I showed up with them, nobody is talking about you and me anymore. That may have also been part of my plan, and it worked.”
I barely hear his last words because I’m still stuck on something else he said. “You were watching me?”
“All night,” he admits. “I can’t stop watching you.”
“That’s a bit creepy.”
He laughs, the sound dark and haunting.
“Damon told you that you’re off limits. I’ve already claimed you.”
Which reminds me...
What Ezra and Damon did to Hillary and Kelly still doesn’t excuse them for playing a game against me.
“I don’t like being played either,” I admit, my voice just as soft as his.
He turns his head to hear me better, and our mouths are so close, our eyes tangled in a moment that disturbs the butterflies in my stomach, causing them to swarm and flutter, a moving cloud of color that would be gorgeous against a clear blue sky.
When he doesn’t answer, I make my demand.
“If you want to continue this, you need to tell me the secret of telling you and Damon apart. I won’t be played anymore. Not like this.”
He blinks at that, humor dancing behind his eyes.
For a moment, I don’t