would also have broadcast the exact wrong message to him and to the entire room. That was the very last thing she needed.
“Oh, my gosh, Taylor!” Sophie said, intercepting them halfway across the room. “That was incredible.” She hugged Taylor without any hesitation. “Oh, man, you guys look so in love. Ugh.” Right there, with Greg literally shadowing Taylor, Sophie swooned hard. “I’m serious, that was the most romantic thing I have ever seen in my life. You’re killing me here.”
“Oh. Uh.” Taylor’s heart lurched. She tried to glance back to assess just how close he was and if he had heard, but the heat pouring off of him at her back told her it might be mere inches at best. Damage control STAT! “No. No. Uh. We’re not…”
“Taylor! Wow, girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl. Girl.” LaChelle swayed up with the guy she’d brought to the dance class. “Whoa, baby, that was to-die for. I am…” She fanned herself. “Wow. Somebody get a hose, these two are on fire.”
Taylor’s eyes widened as she tried to figure out how to get LaChelle to stop. “Uh…” Even though there were tons of people and the volume was turned up to insane, Taylor felt the small gasp Greg gulped in behind her. This was bad. Bad. Bad. Bad. Half-turning to him apologetically, she tried again though the futility of it was becoming clear. “No. No, we’re not…”
“I am telling you right now, those dance lessons I’ve been hearing so much about must be wicked good,” Sophie enthused. “I mean, well, that and… I mean, of course, when you’re like you two… I’m sure that helps.”
“Like…?” Taylor tried to ask, knowing she probably shouldn’t. She was beginning to realize just what everyone else thought, and she hated that she had dragged Greg into yet another nightmare.
“Well, well, well, leave it to Taylor Grayson to waltz in here and steal everybody else’s thunder.”
As if this couldn’t get worse. Knowing it was about to, Taylor made a half-turn and found her former roommate, Trina, sashaying up, a glass of something sparkling in hand, and a look of outright contempt etched on her face.
“Trina,” Sophie said, stepping between them. “Not here, okay?”
The look of knowing disgust on Trina’s face as she eyed Taylor spoke volumes and then some. There was no telling where she might go with this. Taylor tried not to react, but her heart was hammering in her chest like it was trying to beat its way out.
Trina took a small sip of her drink, and her gaze slipped from Taylor back to Greg who had come up so close behind her, if Taylor would have stepped a quarter-inch back, they would’ve been standing in the same spot.
“I hope you know, she ain’t the angel she likes to make everybody think she is,” Trina said to Greg.
“Tri,” Sophie said, her voice going hard. “I said not here. This isn’t the time or the place.”
A breath, a smirk, and Trina shrugged and looked right at Greg once again. “Good luck with that. I hope you know what you’re getting into.”
“Trina,” Sophie warned.
Trina’s gaze swept over them all, and she rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” And with that, she spun and walked off.
No one stood down for a long minute, and even when they did, Taylor folded her arms in front of herself feeling how easily the spell could be broken into a million pieces.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said to all of them. She was blinking back the tears, hoping they wouldn’t get too heavy and start actually falling.
“What?” Sophie asked. “Hey, that wasn’t your fault.”
“No,” LaChelle said. “Trina is just hateful to everybody these days. Trust me, don’t take it personal.”
Behind her, Greg leaned forward. “You want to get that punch?”
Taylor barely got herself to nod. “Y-yeah.”
Forgiveness and mercy clearly weren’t part of the Alpha Chi motto, and as they made their way to the punch table, Greg stuck close to her and put his hand on Taylor’s back. He wanted to ask if ambushing fellow sisters was written into the by-laws because by now, he was beginning to think it must be. His eyes scanned the shadowy figures for any more signs of trouble, but it was impossible to know what trouble lurked in the darkness just waiting to attack her.
At the punch table, Greg got two cups with a “thanks” to the server. He turned and handed one to Taylor who even in the dim light looked pale and shaken.
“Hey, don’t let her get