Page 127 of The Ruse

“I don’t think I said anything about it…” I said, wondering how he’d even guess it.

“Ah, well, you may not have said it with your words, but your eyes totally did when you talked about her.”

Had he suddenly become a mind-reader while I’d been away?

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Logan prodded when I didn’t say anything.

I could have denied it, but he was apparently a lot better at reading me than I’d like. “Okay, yeah. She’s cute.”

“Cute?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Fine.” I sighed. “So she’s amazing and I can’t stop thinking about her. Are you happy now?”

Logan and Jace just looked at each other and laughed, like they thought it was so hilarious for me to like someone. I was the cousin who, growing up, never cared about what girls they wrote down for me when we played the game M.A.S.H. It was a game that their other cousin Lauren had taught them, and we’d never admit to anyone else that we ever played it during our sleepovers.

“Did Elyse tell you that we actually dated?” Logan asked once his laughter died down.

“Yes.” I crossed my arms, feeling slightly jealous that my cousin had a more serious relationship with Elyse than I had. That he’d kissed her first. “But she says I’m way hotter and a better kisser.”

“She did not,” he said. “Elyse would never do me dirty like that.”

“Fine, so I’m the one who said that,” I admitted. “But she didn’t disagree.”

He laughed. “That’s just because she’s too nice.”

“Did you say she’s going to be at the debutante ball with another dude?” Jace asked.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “She’s going with that guy, Nash, that I’ve told you about before.”

“The guy who got the part you wanted in the play?”

“That would be the guy,” I said.

“Well, we can’t have him getting the partandthe girl,” Logan said.

“I’m trying not to let him.”

“Does she even know you’re going to be at the ball?” Jace asked.

“Not unless my friends Scarlett or Hunter told her.” I shook my head. “But I don’t think they did.”

“Well, then we’re just going to have to find a way for you to steal her away from the prince at the ball.”

Logan,Jace, and I tried to come up with a plan for how to somehow sabotage Nash and have him miss the ball, so I could swoop in and save the day at the last minute. But since most of their ideas involved things like kidnapping or tying him up in a hotel room, I told them it was probably best that we just leave things how they were and try to keep ourselves out of jail.

The next few days were busy with all the holiday parties and traditions my aunt and uncle had planned for us. I tried to text Elyse a few times just to see how she was, but she was always busy doing something with her family whenever I texted her, and then I was always in the middle of something with mine when she finally responded, so our conversations didn’t get very far.

She mentioned that they went snowmobiling with the Hastings one of the days she was still in Eden Falls with her dad, so I just hoped that hadn’t been a chance for her and Nash to bond even more.

We headed to New York the day after Christmas since my aunt had a lot of last-minute things to do for the debutante ball and my cousins had their events to go to with their girlfriends before the main event. So while they all did those things, I just hung out in the hotel, watching TV or playing the piano in a cool lounge they had on the main floor, and trying not to worry about how things would go the night of the ball.

On the evening of the twenty-eighth, I was just changing into my tux and trying to figure out how to style my wavy hair in a way that looked neat but not too dorky when my cousin Logan called from the other room.

“Hey, Asher. Are you hearing this?”

“Huh?” I frowned and walked into the living area of our hotel suite where he and Jace were watching something on TV.

“Just watch…” Jace pointed at the screen, like whatever was on there was making it hard for him to finish his sentence.

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