Page 96 of Puck Prince

He’s got his hands in his pockets, and his brows are pinched together.

“What’s the matter with you?” I ask.

“We need to talk.”

“About…?”

Lance looks around and then motions for me to follow him into a dark, secluded corner behind the stage. I sigh and follow his lead.

“You know you’re my best friend, right?” he says once we’ve found a quiet corner.

“Obviously. No one else likes you.”

He doesn’t take the bait. “You’re like a brother to me, O.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”Is he sick? AmIsick?I don’t see how that would be possible, but Lance is never this serious.

“So you know I wouldn’t bring this up if I didn’t love you.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Lance,” I snap. “Did someone die or something? Whatever it is, spit it out.”

“Okay.” He sucks a breath in through his teeth. “Don’t get all riled up…”

“I won’t.”

“You say that, but we both know how you can be.”

“Lance!”

“I saw Miles and Callie together,” he blurts.

I arch an eyebrow. “Okay. And?”

He shifts his weight back and forth on his heels. “I was on my way to the bathroom, and they were standing there in the hall. They were pretty… cozy.”

My eyes narrow. “Define ‘cozy.’”

“She was up against the wall, and he was in front of her. Close. Like,close,man. There was a lot of tension between them and?—”

I’m fucking riled up.

I don’t even know what was happening, and I’m riled. Damn it. “Miles is engaged.”

“I know.” He nods nervously.

“And Callie and I are… together.”

Sort of. Loosely. But no one else knows that! As far as everyone else knows, we’re capital-T Together.

He wrings his hands in front of him. “Listen, man, I know all that. I also know that Miles and you are tight. But I wanted to tell you what I saw because something about it didn’t feel right. And as soon as they saw me, they just kind of sprang apart. Like I said, I didn’t see anything but… I could see something. You feel me?”

Yeah, I feel him.

I also feel sick.

I don’t think Callie is the type to cheat, although I guess our relationship isn’t real, so who knows if it would even be considered cheating? But still. If she was messing around with someone else: one: I doubt she’d be sloppy enough to do it at the charity ball where everyone we know and every press camera in the business is lurking around every corner; and two: I don’t think she’d fuck with an engaged man. It doesn’t seem like Callie.

I also don’t really know her. What I do know, thanks to Coach Coleman, is that she has a past.

---