I gawked at him. “Excuse me?”
“It’s cute you think you can make a difference.” He bopped my nose like I was his plaything, and I swatted his hand away. He’d been an ass at his grandmother’s house last weekend, but he hadn’t been this obnoxious.
“Look, a word of advice, smile at the camera, bat your eyelashes, look pretty, and watch the donors roll in.”
A shudder went through me. “That is so gross.”
“It is what it is.” He shrugged. “We should go out soon. Give the oldies what they want.”
“No, thank you.” Irritation rippled down my spine. He really was a piece of work I had no interest in spending time with.
“If they”—he cocked his head toward my mom and his grandmother—“get their way, this thing between the two of us is going to happen. We might as well try to enjoy it.”
Cooper reached for me, brushing a strand of hair out of my face, then letting his thumb linger on my jaw. I was so stunned at his brazen act, that I was rooted to the spot.
Until a door slammed down the hall, jolting me from my surprise.
“Excuse me.” I brushed past him, needing to get the hell out of there before I screamed. Or worse, kneed him in the balls.
Hurrying down the hall, I didn’t see the person come out of the men’s bathroom.
“Shit,” Zane grunted, grabbing my shoulders. “Celeste?”
“Oh… hi.” Awkward tension filled the space between us, crushing my lungs.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.” I stepped away from him, needing to put a safe distance between us. “You’re here with Miriam?”
“Yeah, she’s in with the others.” He tipped his head to the double doors leading to the main hall. “I noticed you weren’t here Wednesday…”
“I wasn’t feeling so good.”
“Oh.” Zane ran a hand through his hair and down the back of his neck, his eyes fixated on my face.
It was too much. His proximity. The intensity with which he looked at me. He opened his mouth to say something but panic saturated my veins.
“I should go,” I blurted out, moving around him.
“Wait, can we—”
“Goodbye, Zane,” I said, hurrying away from him and ducking into the women’s bathroom.
Diving into a stall, I closed the door and leaned against it. Of course, I should have known Zane might be here. But I’d been so incensed after finding out the truth about Mom that I hadn’t stopped to consider it.
And now he was here, on the other side of the door.
Ugh.
I waited for a few minutes, giving him time to move on. Or to at least let me escape without the embarrassment of running into him again.
Sure enough, when I finally left the safety of the bathroom, the hall was empty.
And Zane was gone.
* * *
“Celeste, thank God,” Miriam said as I approached her table. She was busy playing four in a row with Martha again. “I’ve been worried about you.”