“Damn straight,” Riley said, tossing her arm around my shoulder as best she could for being three inches smaller than me. “Now, you should go find your man and remind her of that fact. Oh! Never mind,” she added with a coy smile. “Looks like he beat you to it.”

I followed her gaze to where Clay easily split the crowd, everyone parting for him as he moved purposefully across the floor and toward me. He walked with the swagger of a professional athlete, the tux he wore perfectly fitted, eyes heating more and more as he closed the gap between us.

“Make that twat cry into her pillow tonight,” Riley whispered, kissing my cheek and releasing me just as Clay made it to the table. She gave him a knowing look before dipping behind him, and Zeke pulled her onto the dance floor before she could make it more than a few steps.

When she was gone, my eyes slowly trailed up to meet Clay’s.

Those green wells were darker than I’d ever seen them, shadowed by something that seemed to be weighing down on every inch of him as he stood there in front of me. He swallowed, and without a word, extended his hand for mine.

I tried to aim for nonchalant and casual as I slipped my hand in his, letting him lead me through the curious crowd out to the dance floor. We made it just in time for the band to slow things down, soft melodies and a harmony of voices singing a rendition of “Without You” by The Kid LAROI.

Clay pulled me to the very center of the floor, then tugged me into him, his hands finding my waist easily. My own slipped up his chest, and he looked down the bridge of his nose at me, his jaw tight with words unspoken as we began to sway.

Just like any time Clay had his arms around me, we garnered attention from every set of eyes in the room. I felt the heat of them burning into the bare skin of my back exposed by my low-cut dress, and as if he could sense it, Clay smoothed his thumb over the very spot I ached.

“You look—” he started to say at the same time I blurted out, “Well, looks like it’s working.”

Clay frowned, tilting his head a bit.

“With you know who,” I said, making a very subtle tilt of my chin in the direction of where Maliyah was now gathered with her squad on the side of the dance floor. I didn’t want to say her name just in case she was watching us.

And I knew she was.