Page 41 of Moonlit Thorns

If Preston is going to some party at the manor, and Asher will be there, let him see me with Preston. I don’t care. He could be there with Madeline Ridgeway or some other woman he deems worthy for all I know.

“Shoot, I left my book on the table.”

I try to turn around, but Preston opens the back door of the SUV for me. “I’ll go grab it. You hop in and wait for me.”

I smile at him as he helps me in the back. “Thank you.”

The driver doesn’t say anything to me, so I quietly wait. But my eyelids grow heavy, and suddenly I’m so drowsy that I can’t keep them open anymore, so I opt to lean my head back and close them, just until Preston returns.

I awake with a start, and it takes me a moment to figure out where I am, but when I turn to my side and see Preston, it all comes back to me.

“Have a good cat nap?” he asks, grinning.

“I’m so sorry.” I try to sit up straight, but my limbs still feel as if I can’t move them properly. Maybe I’m getting sick or something?

“Don’t worry about it.” He reaches across the seat and takes my hand.

Well, at least he’s still interested.

I glance out the window and realize we’re on the grounds of Midnight Manor. “This is where the party is?”

“You know it?” he asks.

“Everyone in town knows about Midnight Manor.” It’s kind of a lie by omission but not an outright lie.

Besides, I stand by what I thought earlier. Let Asher see me with this handsome, available man. He made it clear I was nothing to him.

But Preston said he was going to a party. Could that be all this is? Are the Voss brothers throwing a party once a month, and the rumor mill is wrong?

It wouldn’t surprise me. The people in town have a knack for taking something small and making something big of it. It’s not beyond the stretch of the imagination that they could have done the same with this.

The driver takes the SUV to the side of the house, in between the south and the west wing, and pulls to a stop.

“Ready?” Preston asks me.

“Yup.” A nauseated feeling comes over me, though I’m sure that’s because the nerves are hitting me now at the idea of seeing Asher, especially if he’s with that Madeline woman. Imagining them together was bad enough, but actually having to see it would feel like torture.

The driver comes around and opens Preston’s door, then Preston helps me get out of the back of the vehicle. Again, I have to cling to him when my feet hit the ground because I feel so woozy, but he doesn’t seem to care.

The vehicles must all just drop and go, because I don’t see any of them milling about.

Once again, Preston wraps his arm around my waist and helps me toward the house and a large, intricately carved wooden door.

Before we reach the door, he turns back to me. “It’s a theme party, so you have to make sure you’re in costume when we go in.”

“Oh.” I blink up at him, not sure what he expects me to do with this information. My brain is sluggish.

“We’re all going to be dressed the same, and I have an extra, so we’re good. Let me just put it on you.”

I hadn’t even realized he had anything in his other hand. I don’t really understand, but I’m so tired that I don’t think I could help him even if I wanted to. “Okay.”

Preston pulls something around me, and I feel myself being surrounded by fabric as it brushes against my bare legs. Then he places some kind of mask on my face that covers my forehead down to my nose and cheeks. And finally, he pulls up a hood.

I’m not sure what I look like, and the idea of moving my limbs to try to see seems like too much effort right now. When Preston dons his costume, I know that I’m likely dressed in a dark red robe and black mask as he is.

“You just happened to have an extra one of these for me?” A slow chuckle leaves my lips.

“My date canceled on me.”

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