I shake Drew’s hand, mirroring the frown that develops on his face when he takes a closer look at me. “Why, how strange,” he says, his accent by far the most southern I’ve heard since arriving last night. “I swear I’ve seen your face before. Are you…do you work in television?” he asks, breaking out into a grin, elbowing me as though he’s caught me out in some grand deception.
“No, no,” I laugh. “I’ve just got one of those faces.”
“A beautiful face, I’m sure. Either way, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Marne. I hope this young man is remembering his manners around you?”
I hear Rebel’s voice in my head—it’ll be because you need me. Because you need me inside you. Because you can’t stand this torture a second more—and I can’t help but smile. “I assure you, he’s been the perfect gentleman.”
“That’s mighty good to hear, my girl. Our Jamie’s always been a bit of a rebel. I’m reassured to know he can at least treat a beautiful woman the way she deserves to be treated.”
Rebel nearly chokes on the flute of champagne he was drinking from. Obviously the rebel reference just hit a little too close to home. “I think I see my father. We should probably go say hello,” he says, clearing his throat. “It was a pleasure to see you again, Drew.” Pulling me away through the crowd of people who have already arrived and are milling around the foyer and formal reception rooms, Rebel growls under his breath. “This is my worst fucking nightmare.”
His mood doesn’t improve. As the night progresses and we’re forced to make nice with progressively stuffier, drunker, more passive aggressive people, my escort gets ruder and ruder. His final breaking point comes when his father joins us, as a morbidly obese oiler from Texas is praising Rebel in his service to his country.
“Louis, you must be pretty damn proud of this boy of yours. One tour in Afghanistan is one thing, but two? That’s damn patriotism right there, if ever I saw it.”
“Yes, my son, the war hero,” Louis says. To an outsider, it might look like he’s agreeing with the Texan’s comment, but Rebel hears the sarcasm just as well as I do. He stiffens, his back ramrod straight.
“I only ever turned out to be the man my father intended me to be,” he tells the Texan. “I was sent off to military school on my thirteenth birthday. It was natural that I’d want to enlist properly once my education was complete.”
“Yes, that’s right. And what did you do when you were in the army, James?”
“I was a Marine.” He hardens his jaw, lifting his chin, daring his father to say anything about that.
“Hoo-rah,” the Texan roars, laughing. He’s so drunk he’s completely missing the antagonism taking place between the other two men. “Marines are the backbone of the US Armed Forces.”
“Yes, of course. Though, coming summa cum laude in his class probably should have meant he was the brainpower of the US Armed Forces instead of a glorified grunt.”
The governor’s tone catches the Texan’s attention now. “Oh, come on now. Some people don’t like taking an officer’s promotion without feeling like they earned it. I respect that.”
“You’re too kind, Mason. But my son’s had an easy upbringing. I’m afraid he’s all too used to having things handed to him.”
Rebel’s eyes flash with hatred and he thrusts his drink into his father’s chest. Louis automatically catches hold of it, a look of murder in his own eyes. “Fuck. You,” Rebel grinds out. “I suppose I became a Marine and put myself in danger every single day I was out there just to spite you, then? Is that it?”
Louis raises his eyebrows, his mouth drawing downward in that sour, unimpressed way of his. “You’re not calculating enough for that, son. You’re just like your mother was—reckless and…and foolish,” he says, taking a deep pause in between words. After all that he’s said, after all that he warned, he is the one starting trouble at his own event.
Rebel makes a disgusted sound at the back of his throat. “You’re pathetic,” he tells his father as he pushes past him. I can feel the Texan gawping at us as I hurry after Rebel, pushing through the crowd of men. Their hungry eyes and wolfish smiles feel like they’re burning into my skin, making me feel dirty. I catch sight of Rebel heading through a door at the rear of the formal dining room, vanishing from sight as the door closes behind him. He’s waiting for me when I follow after him. His hands are on me the second I step through the door.
“Fuck what I said earlier. Fuck waiting for you to make the first move. I can’t do it.” His lips crash down on mine, his hands tightening on my waist. My breath feels like it’s being pulled from my lungs, making me dizzy as I let him walk me backward, pressing up against the wall behind me. I was expecting him to be angry. I was expecting him to need calming down. I was not expecting this.