Micah huffed, glancing around. There were still a lot of people meandering about, taking in the various luxuries up for auction, so he grabbed Damon by the cuff of his sleeve and pulled him to the corner of the room where it wasn’t so crowded. And then it all came spilling out. “Renata,” he hissed. “She was putting her hands all over you. Honestly, the woman’s so horny for you, I half-thought she was going to rip off her dress, get on all fours, and beg you to give her the D right there in front of everyone.”

Damon stared. But after a moment, a little smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Are you jealous?”

“W-what?” Micah sputtered, face flushing. “No! I’m annoyed. And insulted. I mean, she thinks you’re here on a date with another person, but she’s trying to climb you like a tree anyway – right in front of my eyes, no less. And worst of all, you’re letting her.”

Damon crossed his arms over his chest, and Micah tried not to be distracted by the way the fabric strained against his biceps. “Yeah, but it’s not a real date, is it?”

Micah froze.

Maybe it was incidental, or maybe it was completely on purpose, but Micah was pretty sure those were the exact same words he’d said to Damon in the car. And fuck, they hurt.

The reminder that it was all pretend gnawed at his insides, and Micah could feel his disappointment swelling. He swallowed it down and took a step backward. “You know what? I have to pee.”

“What?” But he’d already snuck away from Damon once, and apparently, the man had caught onto his antics, because he grabbed Micah by the elbow before he could lose him again. “Hold on.”

Nevertheless, Micah wasn’t about to let himself be held against his will. He ripped his arm out of Damon’s grip. “I’m just going to take a piss. I’ll be back in five minutes, just… go talk business with Mr. Sullivan or find a dark corner to shag Renata or something.”

Wow. That wasn’t bitter at all.

Micah ignored his inner voice’s sass and didn’t stick around to see Damon’s reaction to his comment. He just hightailed it out of the east wing. As he bustled through the main hall, he noticed that some of the couples had taken up dancing, but he didn’t stop to watch or talk to anyone.

He hurried through the west-side archway, which led to a fairly deserted lounge, and a bit further in on the left-hand side: the men’s restroom.

There was no line, thank Christ. Even better, the bathroom was empty.