As if she could hear her name in my thoughts, her head turned. Ophelia’s gaze traveled over me as if I were invisible. Then it met Bliss’s and she smiled. No, she fucking beamed a smile so bright it made everyone else in the room dim in comparison. Ophelia returned her attention to the man in front of her and I saw him look disappointed he was losing her as she then made her way toward us.
Correction, made her way toward Bliss and Nate. It was clear she was not acknowledging me. Her eyes looked through me as if I weren’t here at all. My seat might as well have been vacant. Bliss stood up to greet her and Ophelia hugged her then did the same to her brother who had yet to sit down as he was standing talking to a man I didn’t know. The man greeted her and she smiled at him too.
“You look stunning,” Bliss said to her.
“Thank you and as always you are gorgeous,” Ophelia replied graciously.
Bliss then introduced Saffron saying she wasn’t sure if they had met before.
Ophelia gave Saffron that same bright smile and said she remembered her from the wedding, but they hadn’t officially met. I watched it all take place in front of me as I was ignored. She didn’t glance my way or act like I was sitting here. Bliss had no reason to mention my presence because there was no introduction needed. Ophelia then noticed someone in the direction of the entrance and that fucking smile returned.
“I’ll come back later, I need to go say hello. Y’all be sure to go get some of that champagne. It’s delicious,” she added then flashed Saffron one last smile to let her know she was included in that comment before walking away with the slight sway to her hips as if she owned the world. I didn’t doubt for a second that she just might, in fact, own it all.
Once she was gone, I felt Bliss’s eyes on me. She’d not acted differently when Ophelia was standing here, but she’d noticed the slight in my direction from her. I could go get something to drink or deal with Bliss now. I had a feeling this evening was going to go on with Ophelia pretending I wasn’t here, so I went ahead and faced Bliss. Her curiosity would get the best of her eventually and she’d demand an answer.
I swung my gaze to meet Bliss’s. She was frowning as she studied me. I just stared at her waiting. She’d ask me after she was done trying to figure it out herself.
“What did you do?” she asked me finally.
There were so many answers to that. I could ask her to be more specific, but we’d been best friends since the nursery. There was no point dragging this out.
“I can honestly tell you I’m not exactly sure. But I’ll find out before we leave.”
That was as close to the truth as I could give her. Because to be honest, the way we had left things seemed as if she was good with it. The way she’d just blatantly ignored me said otherwise.
Bliss glared at me then. “Oh, you know. I don’t believe that for a second.” The disapproval in her didn’t go unnoticed. Saffron who had been preoccupied eye stalking Blaze snapped her attention back to the table.
“What happened?” she asked, suddenly interested in something other than the movie star.
Bliss looked at Saffron and changed her angry warning scowl she’d sent me to a smile. “Apparently, nothing,” she told Saffron. Bliss may be mad at me for unknown reasons to both of us but a lifetime of being two against the rest of the Sea Breeze offspring remained in effect.
Saffron was not easily swayed though. She turned to look at me. “Is it about the way Ophelia ignored you?” she asked.
I shot Bliss my own annoyed glance this time. If she’d not said anything, then Saffron wouldn’t have heard her.
Bliss looked slightly sorry but not enough so that she was letting this go. She was mad at me for Ophelia’s sake. Even if she didn’t know why. Women.
Nate turned to Bliss, his conversation over. “Do you want a drink?” he asked her.
She swung her glare from me to her husband who she gazed at lovingly. “Champagne would be great,” she told him.
He bent to kiss her then straightened up. I thought he was going to leave to go get the drink when he turned his gaze to me. “Whatever you did, good luck. You’re gonna need it. My sister shows no mercy.” The pleased gleam in his eyes was as close to a warning as I was going to get from him. Then he left to go get Bliss’s drink.
I didn’t meet Bliss’s gaze again.
“So you did make Ophelia mad!” Saffron said as if this were juicy gossip. “Oh, wait, there he goes. I’ll be back,” she then added with a waggle of her eyebrows jumping up and strutting off in the direction of Blaze Kerrington.