She dragged me into the main room to the bar and more familiar faces started to appear. Sloane. Her groupies. Shane.

Brent.

“Yeah, no. I am going back to the other room before those people see me.” I tugged on her arm, but she wasn’t budging. For how small she was, the girl was as strong as a brick house. She had strength from how many pancakes she ate.

I pleaded with her with my eyes.

She shook her head. “There is no hiding for you anymore. You said so yourself not that long ago. These are the people you are most likely going to have to see and deal with for the rest of your life from the circle you were born into. One way or another, you have to face the music and live by the nepo baby rules. Trust me. I’ve thought about it, and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that no matter how much I avoid my father, I can’t escape him or this life. So, get in there and kick some ass.”

In many ways, she was right. She grew up with more knowledge than I had and never told me too much because my mom died and was more concerned with being there for me. She also never told me too much about her family’s expectations other than her dad disapproved of most of what she looked like or was interested in. Despite that, she still knew about societal expectations in our echelon and what etiquette was required.

A drink was placed into my hand, and she linked arms with me, leading me into the lion's den.

​Chapter 21

Brent

My heart skipped a beat.

Why it was doing that, I had no idea.

I’d seen her last year around campus a few times. That blonde hair and those blue eyes drew me in like a moth to a flame. The way she viewed the world was pure and good.

This year, she was becoming tainted, and I wanted to prevent it from happening as much as I physically could. Being in her bed and watching her sleeping face was as close to heaven as I would ever get–God was sending me to hell for sure. The scrunch between her eyebrows when she looked at me–full of animosity and curiosity at the same time–was gone and her expression looked so innocent.

So sweet.

The anxiety of seeing her and Sloane in the same room rushed over me, no matter how much I tried to push it down. Keeping my cool would be next to impossible. I was truly fucked with how my body responded to Fallon being near me and having Sloane in the same vicinity.

“Babe!” She snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Did you hear what I said, or did you take drugs from the back room or something?”