How did I tell Dante I was too scared of what could be good? I wanted things too badly for them to fall apart, so it was easier not to have them in the first place. If I had to see one more Alpha suddenly look at me like I was broken or damaged because I wasn’t what they expected, I would shatter. I couldn’t take it.

And I especially couldn’t take it from an Alpha who attracted me so much it overrode every bit of common sense I had. No, I needed to go home, wash off every bit of his scent, and pretend this never happened. If I was extremely lucky, there wouldn’t be any pictures of me climbing him.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Eva brushed out of the party entrance with Neil in tow and handed me my clutch. She stopped in her tracks, realizing exactly what Dante had only a minute ago. “You sure you want to go?”

“Yes,” I said quietly.

She turned and quickly kissed Dante on both cheeks. “See you soon?”

“You bet,” he grinned. “Hopefully you, too, Esme.”

“Sure.” My voice sounded strangled, like a dying cat, but I somehow managed a bit of a smile.

The paparazzi were still outside, but this time it was easy to ignore them. Security pushed us past the crowd into the car, and finally we were wrapped in glorious, blissful silence.

Eva pressed a button on the console. “Jeremy, please go to Esme’s first.”

“Of course, Miss Williams.”

“Okay,” she said when she released the button. “What the fuck was that?”

“What the fuck was what?”

She rolled her eyes. “One second you were dancing with Bennett-fucking-Gray looking like you’re in nine kinds of paradise, and the next you’re begging me to leave like you’re running from the law.”

“Yeah.” I wasn’t going to explain it. She’d heard everything a million times and if she hadn’t seen the climbing incident, as it was forevermore going to be referred to in my head, I wasn’t going to enlighten her.

Eva sighed and looked out the window before looking back. “Did he hurt you? Did he try something?”

“No,” I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. I just… I couldn’t be there anymore.”

We rode in silence, pools of light passing over us as we wove under streetlights away from downtown and into the older neighborhoods of the city. The further we got from the scene of my humiliation, the more relaxed I became.

“It’s okay to perfume for someone, May-may.”