28. Blue
28
Blue
I ’m not sure how I make it through a starter and the main course. My plate goes back mostly untouched. Zeke sits beside me cutting into his meat, eating. I’m not sure he tastes anything though. His energy is tense. Muscles tightly bunched. When he looks up from his plate, it is in one direction.
The head table.
The man standing guard behind the Councilors.
Before dessert is served, there is a break, and couples begin to make their way to the floor to dance a waltz. I watch, wondering if they all go to the same dance school or something because everyone seems to seamlessly fall into place, as if the whole thing were coordinated.
The Councilors leave the room, their guard with them. Hoxton doesn’t look back and I feel myself relax. I look to Zeke who is finishing the last of his wine.
“Can we go?”
“Soon,” he says. How does he manage to look so relaxed, I wonder. No, that’s not it. It’s not relaxed. It’s something else. Like he’s decided something.
“I need to run to the lady’s room,” Isabelle says, wiping her mouth with her napkin.
“I’ll come with you,” I say, pushing my chair back.
Zeke’s hand closes round my knee. “No.”
“I need to pee.”
“I’ll take them,” Jericho says, standing.
Zeke finally nods, although he’s reluctant. I get up and Isabelle and I walk side-by-side, Jericho at our back. Jericho waits outside of the lady’s room, and we enter.
“What’s going on?” Isabelle asks me as soon as we’re alone.
I wonder how much she knows. How much her husband has told her. I don’t want to lie to her but am not sure how much I can say.
“I’m pretty sure you’re picking up the same vibe I am from them. Did you notice no one at the table said more than two words to us?” she asks.
“Zeke is charming like that,” I say with an eye roll.
Isabelle smiles, takes out her lipstick. “I know what brought Zeke back,” she says, keeping her eyes on her reflection in the mirror until she’s done, then turning to face me. An older woman walks into the powder room and Isabelle says hello to her, then takes me aside. “Jericho doesn’t want to upset me, given the baby and all, but I’d feel better knowing.”
I nod. She has a right to know. “I think one of the men guarding the Councilors may be connected to my father. I’m not sure how much you know about that, but basically, it’s bad news if he is.”
She studies me, a wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. “How bad?”
“Bad.”
There’s a knock on the door and we both turn when someone pushes it open and clears his throat.
A man.
I grab Isabelle’s wrist and push her behind me. If it’s him, if it’s Wyatt Hoxton, I won’t let him hurt her.
But I exhale a sigh of relief when Jericho’s head comes into view. He sees us, takes in my hand around his wife’s wrist. Isabelle steps around me.
“You’re leaving. Dex is outside. He’ll take you to the car,” he says.
“What about you?” Isabelle asks.
He glances at me. “I’m going to get Zeke.”
“Where is he?” I ask.
Jericho’s jaw tightens and he shakes his head once.
“Did he go?—”
“I don’t know,” Jericho cuts me off, glancing at his wife.
I look at her, then him. My heart races. Did he go after Wyatt?
“Let’s go.” Jericho says and holds the door open.
Isabelle steps out and I follow her. Dex is standing nearby. The gong chimes and people begin to pile back into the banquet room.
“I left my wrap,” I say.
“I’ll get it,” Jericho says. “Dex.”
Dex nods, and gestures to us to walk ahead of him.
Jericho wraps a hand around the back of Isabelle’s neck and draws her close. They look at each other, forehead to forehead, and it’s so intimate a moment, I feel like I should look away. “Zeke and I will take my car,” Jericho tells her. “Don’t worry. I’ll be home soon.”
“Okay,” she says, and I can hear that she is worried.
I look around for Zeke, trying to find him in the crowd as the gong goes again.
“Come on, Blue,” Isabelle says weaving her arm through mine and leaving me no choice but to leave with her, Dex following close behind us.