Page 35 of Bombshell

“Okay!” Odette called, her voice high and panicked.

She turned back to me and dropped into a whisper, “We shouldn’t talk about this in the house. The staff tell Daddy everything.”

Odette turned to fluff her hair in the mirror as if we hadn’t just been talking about the fact that she was a fully grown adult that couldn’t even have a conversation in her own home without people running to snitch on her.

“Let’s go!” she said with a false brightness before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the door. “And we’re all riding in the same car, hope that’s okay!”

I groaned.

Great. A twenty minute car ride with Arsenio glaring at me like I was a roach that he’d rather squish under his very expensive shoes rather than sit in a car with.

“I need a drink,” I said as soon as we stepped into the fancy country club ballroom and made a beeline for the fancy drink table.

The Port Haven country club was perched on a cliffside overlooking the yacht club, and if I were to squint hard enough through the dark windows, I could see the bright, colorful lights of the Wharf in the distance.

It felt so far away now as I downed a glass of dry champagne and winced.

I’d been spending the whole night trying not to think about my family at Monstrous Ink. In all of the craziness of the past few weeks I forgot to tell them that I was going to this gala until earlier today when Daphne invited everyone out to get dinner together.

Okay, well, I didn’tnecessarilyforget about it. I just didn’t want to see the look on Dallan’s face when I told him that I was going outside of my usual deal with Alexander to go to this thing.

I didn’t think he’d understand why I was doing it and damn it if I’d hadn’t been right. After I finally told him, the man stomped around angrily for the rest of the afternoon despite my trying to explain why I was doing it.

But Dallan didn’t know Odette—not the way I did—so every time I tried he kept asking me why I was pushing myself back into this world when I hated it so much.

And I did hate it. All of the glitz and the glam that the upper crust of Port Haven flaunted during these parties made it the last place I ever wanted to be. These were the people who had looked down on me for the first eighteen years of my life and nowthey were eyeballing me again like I was some kind of anomaly amongst their polished lot.

I’d gotten out of it before it rotted me from the inside out, but Odette hadn’t. I hated going to the mansion, but I also hated leaving her alone in it all after basically abandoning her for five decades.

The faerie woman trailed behind me as I moved from window to window, largely ignoring the gathering in the center of the banquet hall and trying to drown out the wealthy laughter that filled my ears.

“It’s not so bad,” Odette said softly but she still grabbed my glass and drained it in one go. Her nose scrunched at the taste. “Though the champagne is as awful as ever.”

“Oh? Does your daddy let you drink alcohol?” I teased.

She rolled her eyes at me and reached back to put the champagne flute on the tray of a passing waiter before turning to punch me in the arm.

I hissed with pain and rubbed my arm. “Hey! Don’t use that freakish fae strength on me, Odette Sidhe. I’m liable to break into pieces.”

Most faeries looked dainty so it was easy to forget that they possessed the same kind of supernatural strength as vampires or lycanthropes. I’d once seen her bend a tire iron in half without breaking a sweat.

“Then don’t make fun of me. I’m not the only one with daddy issues here,” Odette sniffed with a snap of her sparkling wings.

I glanced over to where Alexander and Arsenio were standing and talking to a group of equally snobby looking supes. “I don’t consider Alexander to be my father.”

Odette grinned like I’d walked right into her trap. “That’s quite literally the definition of daddy issues, Eff.”

Her expression quickly fell when her father noticed us hiding against the wall and gestured for her to come and join him. “Oh no, I can already see two faerie men over there. What should I do?”

I glanced between her and the fancy looking men standing with Arsenio before making a decision.

“Something completely out of your nature.” I said, sliding my hand into hers. “You pretend like you didn’t see him and run.”

With that I pulled her deeper into the crowd and out of the double doors that led onto the veranda and overlooked the ocean.

“I can’t just do that, Effie,” Odette gasped once we came to a stop.

The night was warm and even the breeze coming off of the ocean was balmy and thick.

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