Page 58 of The Facade

I decided I’d heard enough. Staying here longer would probably only make me cry, so I pushed away from the wall and got ready to slip back down the hall and out to my car.

But then one of them said my name and I couldn’t pull away from my hiding place just yet.

“So why was first base enough with Cambrielle?” Thor asked. “Was she that bad of a kisser?”

Ben chuckled and my stomach twisted because I knew exactly why he was laughing. Because it had beenthatbad.

Though really, it washisfault it went so badly, wasn’t it? He was the one who basically gagged me with his slimy tongue.

“Let’s just say that you’re not missing out on anything,” Ben answered his friend’s question once he stopped laughing long enough to talk.

“Dang.” Thor snapped his fingers. “I was actually hoping for sloppy seconds when it’s my turn to complete the list since she’s actually pretty cute.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I knew it was time to go.

I walked against the wall down the hall so I could blend in and not bring any attention to my retreat. Once I turned the corner, I sped up and darted toward the doors that led to the student parking lot where my red Mercedes was parked.

I was looking behind me to make sure I wasn’t being followed when I suddenly collided with something very tall and hard.

A guy.

A guy wearing a suit. And not just any suit but a black suit with a dark-blue vest and a charcoal cravat.

Nash?

I frowned. I recognized the vest and cravat that he’d worn to the soirée earlier this month.

But when I looked up closer, I saw the light-brown skin and face of the boy Elyse had said looked like a younger Regé-Jean Page.

Had Mack borrowed Nash’s things and dressed up like a regency lord?

“Sorry I didn’t see you,” he said, gripping my arm before I could fall.

“It’s okay,” I mumbled, looking down before he could recognize me. “I-I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

He let go of my arm, and I made to move past him and toward the exit when my phone slipped out of my pocket and clattered to the floor.

I went to pick it up, but Mack was faster. And just as he was handing it to me, a text came through, lighting up the lock screen and showing a photo of me and my horse Starlight in the stables at my house.

“Cambrielle?” Mack asked, recognition lighting his face after seeing my photo. “Is that you?”

“Yes.” I took the phone from his outstretched hand and slipped it back into my pocket. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to leave.” I was still on the verge of crying and knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep things together for much longer.

He looked like he was going to let me go, but then voices sounded from the way I’d just come, and a moment later Ben and his buddies came into view.

Mack turned back to me with wide eyes. “Did something happen back there?”

“No,” I tried to say, my voice coming out strangled. “I just need to leave.”

But the protective glint from last night after the haunted house incident came into Mack’s eyes, and I knew he was putting things together.

“Does Ben have anything to do with why you’re running out of here so fast?”

“It’s fine, Mack,” I said before he could make a scene. “I was just leaving. That’s all.”

Before I could get away, he grabbed my hand and said, “What did he do this time?”

The memories from the past few minutes flitted through my mind, and I knew I was going to lose it right then and there with an audience if I didn’t leave.

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