Damaged (Boys of Winter #2) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,140

he walks around to the driver’s side, I take a breath, knowing the second he opens his door and climbs in, this car is going to fill with an unbreakable tension.

It takes less than three seconds for the tension to hit me, and as he gets in and closes his door, my heart begins to race. Carver quickly glances my way as he starts the engine, and not a second later, we’re sailing down my long driveway.

We hit the road in no time, but when Carver pulls right up to the main gate of the communal private road, I look his way. “Is this not happening here?” I ask, recalling the massive party room we’d been in during my initiation ceremony.

He shakes his head. “No, the venue here is too small.”

My eyes bug out of my head. “Too small?”

“Mmhmm, this is going to be every member who’s ever walked through Dynasty and their extended families, starting right from those original families who helped found Dynasty. Their children grew up, married, and had children of their own, and in most families, this goes back three, some four generations. There’s going to be at least two thousand people there tonight.”

I just blink. “I never thought about it like that, which I guess is kinda stupid, but it makes sense. I don’t know, I guess I never gave a second thought to just how big this really is,” I tell him before my eyes go wide and my head whips around to meet his stare. My voice kicks up a notch. “I have to give a speech in front of that many people?”

Carver just grins as the main gate slides open. “Sucks to be you.”

Fucker.

We drive through the streets for ten minutes, neither of us really knowing how to have a casual conversation with one another. Not even the soft music from the radio fills the silence between us.

Carver brings the Escalade to a stop after exactly eleven minutes of driving, and just like with the underground city beneath our homes, he pulls into a parking garage that takes us deep underground. “Dynasty really is built right under Ravenwood Heights.”

“You haven’t even seen the half of it,” he tells me. “Just wait ‘til you see the size of this ballroom. It’ll blow you the fuck away.”

“And here I was thinking that nothing could blow better than me.”

Carver just scoffs and brings his car to a stop right in the very front space that’s reserved with a sign ‘RAVENWOOD.’

“Ahh, it finally makes sense,” I tease as Carver pushes his door wide, stopping to look back at me through narrowed eyes, knowing me all too well that whatever comment comes out of my mouth is going to be as stupid as they come. “You escorted me just so you could get the best parking space.”

He rolls his eyes and gets out of his car as the words “fucking hell,” are muttered so lowly under his breath that I’m left wondering if I even heard them at all.

I start helping myself out, but Carver rushes around and takes my hand, not wanting me to fall in this big dress. His hand is firm on mine, his thumb gently brushing over my knuckles. He meets my eyes, but not a word is muttered as he leads me through the parking garage and toward a door.

We walk through and it’s like walking through to the lobby of a grand, five-star hotel. There are waiters rushing around the brightly lit room, people are checking their jackets, and hostesses are handing off glasses of champagne to guests in the most stunning ball gowns. For just a brief moment, I feel severely underdressed.

At the end of the room, there’s a set of massive double doors, and I have a sneaking suspicion that’s the main entrance of the grand ballroom. We’re offered a glass of champagne and I take it gratefully before Carver leads me toward the main entrance. He offers me his elbow and I instantly raise a brow, looking at him in shock. “Don’t start acting like a gentleman on my account.”

He scoffs, still holding out his elbow until I reluctantly take it. “It’s tradition. A lady must be escorted properly into the Ball. Cruz did the same for Ember, though the term ‘lady’ is being used lightly when it comes to you.”

I ignore Carver’s last comment with a roll of my eyes as my heart flutters thinking about how damn sweet Cruz is. He is honestly the most kind-hearted