Page 70 of Queen Rose

Nate holds out his free hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Warrington.”

She winces. “Ah. Please call me Elle.” Her eyes narrow on mine as she shakes his hand. “Does your father know Nate is going to be here?”

Nate shifts a bit on his feet, lips parting on a long exhale. Of course, he thinks my dad has already seen him. He couldn’t be more wrong… but I don’t know how to tell him that the man he’s assumed was my father this entire time is my longtime molester. The man who thought he was grooming me to be his since I was five. My heart pounds furiously in my chest.

I fold my arms across my middle in an attempt to hold myself together as I finally find it in me to answer my mother. “It didn’t occur to me to ask him. I assumed my boyfriend would be welcome. What is it you’ve always told me about dealing with Dad? Ask for forgiveness not permission?”

She smirks, then reaches out and pats my cheek like I’ve done something right for once.

“Did you need me for something specific or…? Because I’d like to show Nate our home.” Hurl. I wouldn’t. But I’ll say anything to remove us from this situation. Every cell in my body is in panic mode, not knowing what she’ll ask next and fearing that any moment either my dad will descend on us, or worse, Conner. My instinct to run and hide has become more and more overwhelming the longer we stand here.

My hand clenches tightly at Nate’s elbow, fingers digging in to secure me to him. I feel the weight of his stare, his confusion. He has to be wondering what the hell is going on with me. But this is why I never wanted to bring him anywhere near my family.

“No. I just wanted you down here. Guests are set to arrive any minute.” She squints at my necklace, and I have a momentary heart attack that she’ll say something rude about it. “That’s pretty, but I’d have preferred you to wear the solitaire diamond.” The doorbell rings, and she shrugs. “I suppose it will do. Our guests are arriving.” She strides away, pointing at a few people working the party and barking out some last-minute orders as she heads for the front door.

Nate’s eyes are big, but he doesn’t look nearly in the state I am—he’s got his wits about him and is prepared to meet all of this head-on. “So that was Elle Warrington, huh?”

I nod, my fingers absentmindedly touching his gift, and wince up at him. “Yeah. She’s like a flighty, drugged-up force of nature.”

He presses his lips together, trying not to laugh, which in a weird way helps me not feel so alone.

I can do this. I draw in an unsteady breath and dive into the throng of people infiltrating the house to wish me a happy birthday with Nate at my side. I haven’t seen my dad or Conner yet. And that’s definitely for the best, though I know it won’t last forever. Eventually we’ll encounter them. Eventually, I’ll have to introduce Nate to both my father and his disgusting, pervy business partner.

There’s no way we’re getting through this without some sort of incident. I look up at Nate, leaning into him. He must sense my state of mind because he curls his arm around me, wrapping me in his strength.

Much to my relief, Mom had planned for the possibility that we’d need to make use of the patio, so Nate and I head that way, leaving the older partygoers to their martinis and fancy finger foods. We select drinks from the ice-filled tubs on the patio table, the same one where Nate once sat and ate his sad sandwich while we bickered at each other. I glance up at the balcony. I’ll never set foot on it again. My stomach lurches. The memories of Nate and me are all destroyed by what I know happened just beyond those balcony doors.

The patio door opens just as we pop the tops off our drinks. Xander steps out of the house with Scarlett tucked against his side. “Birthday girl, you look beautiful.” He wraps his free arm around me, then whispers close to my ear, “How’s everything? Elle’s not being too over-the-top, is she?”

I glance though the large living room windows as Xander claps his hand to Nate’s shoulder and exchanges a hello. My mother is flitting around from group to group, drink glass in hand. So far, so good. “She’s in her element. You know how she is. I just wish we weren’t having this here. You’d think she’d have been fine moving it to the club or something, but no.”

Scarlett gives me a yikes face. “Yeah. It’s weird. But it’s drawing a huge crowd all for you.” She laughs a little uncomfortably. “I know that’s exactly what you want.”

“Yeah, right.” I catch a glimpse of Griff and Max, arm in arm, making their way out to us, both looking handsome as hell. “Have you guys seen Beau and Lyla or Daphne and Micah?”

Max jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “I think they were talking to your dad.”

I make an O with my lips. “I—” I glance up at Nate. I don’t want him to think that I don’t want to introduce him, but the thought of going in there and subjecting him to whatever my father might say has my stomach doing flip-flops.

Nate’s arm tightens around me, and he whispers, “Don’t worry about it. Doesn’t need to happen right now.”

Griff leans in to give me a hug. “Happy birthday. Just a heads up, Farrah was coming in as we were.”

“And while she’s banged up, I think she’s here for blood,” Max grits. “I could see it in her eyes as she was scanning the place. Pretty sure she was looking for you.”

“Shit.” That’s all I can think to say because there’s really no other word for how I feel about her showing up tonight. The last thing this party needs is a side of obnoxious, entitled cheerleader.

Lyla and Beau hurry outside. Beau immediately agrees with me without even realizing he’d doing it. He grumbles, “That bitch has a lot of nerve showing up.”

Lyla’s accompanying snort is nothing short of spectacular. “Yeah, but I’m enjoying seeing her with that thing on her face.”

Daphne and Micah finally escape the house to join us, too, catching the back end of what Lyla said about Farrah. Daphne presses her lips together, trying not to laugh. “You should see her, Aria. Her face is all swollen and bruised, and she has an external nasal cast taped on.”

“Is that what you call it?” Lyla smirks. “She’ll be lucky if I don’t punch her again.”

Micah comes in for a one-arm hug and plants a kiss on the top of my head. He groans, “I just don’t get why she showed up. She knows you don’t want her here.”

I shrug. “Yeah. But you know with an invitation from my clueless mother, she couldn’t possibly resist. Especially given everything that’s happened around here lately.”

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