Page 107 of The Ruse

I thought about asking why she’d brought it up, but then she said, “Did you guys talk about anything else? Maybe your plans for winter break?”

“No. Why?” I furrowed my brow, so confused with this whole conversation. It was so random and weird that she would be so interested in my conversation with Asher.

“Just wondering.” She seemed to think for a second, and then said, “Oh, actually, Hunter and I were just talking about the debutante ball and all the things we’ll be doing. So it made me wonder if you’ve decided who to ask to be your escort. You know, since it’s just over a week away.”

“I actually arranged that last night,” I said, happy to be on a topic that made sense.

“You did?” she asked, seemingly excited. “Are you going with Asher?”

“No…” I shook my head, wondering how we were back to Asher again. “I asked Nash. He brought it up at dinner. So that made it easy.”

“Oh, of course.” She nodded and gave me a smile that seemed forced. “That’s awesome.”

“Why did you think I asked Asher?”

Scarlett rubbed her arm. “I guess I just thought you might have been putting off asking Nash because you were thinking about asking Asher…”

“Why would you think that?”

Did she somehow know that I liked him, too? I didn’t think I’d been too obvious. I’d tried not to make it too obvious, anyway.

“It’s just something I thought about yesterday when Hunter and I were hanging out with Asher.” She waved her hand like it was a silly idea. “But of course you asked Nash. So yay! That’s exciting! You guys are going to be so cute together. I bet he’s super excited.”

“Yeah, it worked out great.”

At least, I’d thought so until Scarlett brought it up.

And then I remembered the look on Asher’s face when he’d seen the text from Nash. Had he seemed bothered by it?

Had he somehow known about the debutante ball and had been hoping I’d ask him?

Was that why he’d come to my room?

Scarlett said she’d been hanging out with Asher yesterday and that she and Hunter had also been discussing the debutante ball…

Did Scarlett know something that she wasn’t telling me?

30

ELYSE

The next week was crazy.It was the last week of the semester, so along with having a big week of rehearsals, I also had to study for and take all of my finals.

By Friday afternoon, my mind was basically mush and I was looking forward to the two weeks of winter break.

I’d be staying in town until Wednesday morning, since Ava and I would be celebrating Winter Solstice with Brendon and Mack before heading to New York to be with my mom. We’d also be moving all of our stuff from our dorm room and into the new rooms Brendon had been setting up for us at his house.

But before I could go to my room and finish packing the rest of my things into boxes, I had to make it through another rehearsal where we practiced the “The Point of No Return” and “The Final Lair” scenes.

“The Point of No Return” scene had been especially nerve-wracking to perform this week. It was the most provocative scene I’d ever done, so I was anxious about having to act the part of a newly engaged Christine being seduced by The Phantom—especially since my real-life relationship with Nash was way more timid than what we were supposed to act out for the audience.

But even though Nash had been so bashful and sweet when we’d kissed on Saturday night, his Phantom persona apparently had no trouble doing what we were instructed to do. There was nothing timid about the way he performed the choreography for that particular song.

In fact, it was almost like having Asher there watching us with gritted teeth gave him even more confidence, because when we got to the climax of the scene, he would turn into “Casanova Nash.” He would bend his face close to my neck and let his hot breath send chills racing down my spine as he sang. And when his hands slid over mine as he held me from behind, moving them along my ribs and waist before slipping slowly up my arms above my head, I found it harder and harder to draw in decent breaths.

Yes, I was breathless during the entire scene…but not for the reasons I’d initially expected. Not because Nash was finally tapping into all the fantasies I’d had about us the past two months.

But because instead of looking forward to those moments, I found myself so conflicted and almost dreading them.

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