Page 130 of The Ruse

“He said he just had an errand to run before this,” Cambrielle said, looking just as lost as I was about why Nash hadn’t shown up yet. “He said he’d be back with plenty of time to spare.”

“Well, hopefully he’s almost here,” I said, checking the clock on the wall for the fiftieth time tonight. “Because if he doesn’t get here fast, I’m going to have to escort myself.”

I never should have let my friends and Ava talk me into doing this. This wasn’t my kind of thing. I didn’t care about all the high-society stuff.

“Do you think he’s just trying to get back at me for breaking things off with him?” I asked Cambrielle in a low voice.

“You broke things off with Nash?” Cambrielle’s dark eyebrows knitted together.

“Yeah…” I said the word slowly. “Like a week and a half ago. I told him I just wanted to be friends.”

Since I have feelings for someone else.

I searched her heart-shaped face for signs that she’d heard of this before, but she just stared at me with shock in her blue eyes. “He didn’t tell you?”

“No?” She said it like she wasn’t sure now and was trying to think back and remember a conversation she might have forgotten having with her brother. She turned to Carter, who was just walking back to the group with Ava, and asked, “Did Nash ever tell you that Elyse broke things off with him?”

Carter’s lips puckered as he considered her words, but he shook his head. “Last I heard, you guys were going strong and he was excited about tonight.”

Had I just imagined that whole conversation in his library then? The one where Nash said he was sad but understood and still wanted to be friends?

I’d been amazed at how well he’d taken it. Had he not really heard me?

Had I not been clear enough?

Did he somehow think tonight was another romantic evening where he could convince me to choose him?

I shook my head. “Well, if he’s trying to win me back, he certainly has a weird way of going about it.” You’d think he’d be here by now if he wanted to impress me.

Then another thought occurred to me. Was it possible that he hadn’t told his siblings about us breaking up because he was actually planning to ditch me tonight and didn’t want them to have the heads up?

Was that his plan? To make me look stupid in front of everyone because I fell for the guy he’s had a stupid rivalry with since elementary?

Ugh.

He was supposed to be the sweet guy.

“Does anyone have a way to call him?” I asked my group of friends, looking to see if any of them had their cellphones on them since I’d left mine with my mom.

Mack and Hunter patted their jackets, but Carter slipped his phone out of his breast pocket. He looked at the screen and said, “Ah, looks like Nash sent me, like, ten texts in a row.”

He squinted his blue eyes as he read what was on his screen. Then looking at me, he said, “He’s stuck in traffic. His text from five minutes ago says he’s been stuck in the same place for forty minutes and is still about ten minutes away.”

So maybe he wasn’t trying to be a jerk tonight after all. Maybe he simply had poor planning skills.

And if his time estimates were right, it didn’t sound like he’d make it here on time since the ball was going to start in about two minutes. And because my last name started with a C, I’d be called near the beginning.

“I’m so sorry,” Cambrielle said, pulling me into her arms for a hug.

I wrapped my arms around my friend and tried not to cry as I wondered what I was going to do now.

Should I run and ask Brendon to be my escort? Most of the girls back here were being escorted by guys much younger than my dad—most guys being in their late teens or early twenties. But at least I wouldn’t have to go out there by myself.

Except Brendon didn’t know the choreography for the dance we were all supposed to do together.

Maybe I should just go sit at the table with all of our parents and pretend like I was wearing a white dress and gloves because I liked white—and not because I was supposed to be a debutante tonight.

“Maybe we can go out there together?” Ava suggested. “Each of us on either side of Carter. We’re twins. I’m sure people would think it was fine. Fun even…”

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