Page 19 of The Prom King & The Ice Queen

Which…I kind of am. But—

“Get inside,” my mom snaps, jabbing a finger toward the warm light and the loud party sounds behind her.

“Mom, I—”

“Don’t you ‘mom’ me,” she shoots back. “Inside.”

I sigh and glance back at Savannah before I give in to the inevitable.

Savannah has the nerve to smirk.

I narrow my eyes. “This isn’t over.”

She feigns a yawn and pats her mouth.

A snort of exasperated amusement slips out as I turn from her. The girl has some nerve, I’ll give her that.

I head in the door, my mom hot on my heels. I ignore the raucous laughter coming from my teammates over by the bar. I’d heard enough from them already. They think my little prank to make Vince look bad is hilarious.

Because of course they do.

I catch sight of Vince with his girl Addie, the guest of honor. They’re so caught up in gazing adoringly at one another, I don’t think they even notice that I’m being frog marched to my doom.

All right, fine. That’s a bit dramatic. But still, my mom doesn’t stop walking, she’s right on my heels as we pass a small room where Callie and Willow are playing a game with the little ones or when we pass a handful of girls from our class who are supposedly here for Addie.

We all know they came because I invited them. I’d invited just about anyone I’d thought would be nice to Addie. Which was basically everyone but April.

That girl gives catty a new name.

We don’t stop until we’re in the kitchen. Some of the caterers are in here, including Roman. He used to go to school with us before he graduated. He gives me a nod of recognition now, and then he and the other guy head out.

I don’t know if they really have business elsewhere or if they’re just terrified of this look on my mom’s face.

Lord knows I’m terrified.

See, the thing about my mom is…she doesn’t get angry often. But when she does, she’s a freakin’ rage machine. Even my dad knows better than to tick her off.

And right now she’s all but shaking with fury. “What was that back there?”

I grimace. Here we go. I’d been preparing for this. “Look, it was just a stupid prank, okay?” I go to hand over the ring, but my mom doesn’t even spare it a glance.

“I’m not talking about that.” Her eyes flash with disdain that makes my stomach turn. “We’ll talk about that later. I meant…” She jabs a finger toward the back porch where she’d overheard me with Savannah. “What was that?”

I’m about to go into defensive mode when I see it. A flicker of disappointment in her eyes that cuts me off at the knees.

I hate that look. It kills me.

For a long moment we just stare at each other.

The truth is, my mom doesn’t look much like me. She and Vincent look more alike than we do. She’s got the same dark hair and eyes that he does, and considering how young she was when she had me, the age difference isn’t outrageously obvious either.

But the funny part is, I actually look a little like my adopted dad. Mainly just because of the fair hair, but it’s enough that people are fooled into thinking he’s my real father.

He’s not. He’s just the guy my mom got saddled with to avoid a scandal.

So yeah, I was ruining my mom’s life before I was even born. A fact I’ve been well aware of for many years now. Which means I don’t exactly live for moments like this one when she clearly thinks I’ve let her down.

“Honestly, Leo,” she says in a hushed voice.

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