Ava’s POV
Cameron is touchier than ever as we make our way down to the dining hall. Constantly rubbing my hand, my arm, kissing the top of my head.
Dinner is going to be torture to sit through, knowing what I have to look forward to afterward.
He pauses inside of the dining hall entrance, taking the room in. Most of his men are sitting at two smaller tables next to the main Alpha table, where Caleb is now standing, waiting for us to join him.
I start to head towards the table, pulling Cameron’s almost reluctant hand to get him to follow.
I can feel a blush creeping up my neck the closer we get to the table, all eyes on us.
Can they tell what we were just doing? Can they smell it? Do I look guilty?
I avoid Caleb’s eye and make a quick sweep of the table.
There’s an empty seat next to Caleb, but only one. The only other empty seat is between Ralph, who is sitting next to Lily, and Richie.
I feel my shoulders hunch slightly in disappointment. Cameron’s grip on my hand squeezes and I see Chris, or as I know him as “scary guy”, stand from his chair next to Cameron’s intended empty chair and move to the one next to Ralph, looking bitter and giving me another, ‘I hate you’ look.
Loving him.
Cameron holds the chair out for me and I take a seat, avoiding both Caleb and Chris’s eyes.
Cameron takes his seat next to mine, which is next to Caleb’s, who is at the head of the table, and across from Lily.
Unfortunately, this make’s me directly across from Ralph.
I wonder how long we really need to stay at dinner before we can escape back to the bedroom.
Cameron grabs my hand and rests it on his thigh, his hand on top of mine. I look over at him and give him a smile.
“How’s you room King Cameron?” Lily leans across the table, her eyes wide. I notice she’s changed her outfit to a very low-cut silver dress. Even though I can’t see the bottom of the dress, I’ve seen her in it before, it has a very short asymmetrical hem that makes her long legs look beyond amazing.
I suddenly feel self-conscious in my modest, plain green dress.
But at least it’s better than the hot pink one. The thought slips into my head and I nearly laugh out loud.
I catch Caleb’s eye who raises an eyebrow at me.
“Care to fill me in on what’s so funny?”
I glance guiltily at Cameron, who is telling Lily that his room is great, thank you.
“Umm…I was just thinking of how ridiculous I looked in Lily’s dress earlier.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you like it! We were just talking the other day about renovating all the guest suites, weren’t we Caleb?”
Caleb smiles politely and murmurs his agreement.
“I didn’t mind it.”
Oh god.
I feel another blush creeping up my neck.
Get out of my head, Caleb!
I’m relieved when the server comes around to take our drink orders.
Cameron orders bourbon.
“Champagne, please!”
Cameron looks at me. “Is champagne your preferred drink?”
I feel my cheeks flame as Caleb, Lily, and Ralph burst into laughter.
Cameron raises an eyebrow.
“Umm…”
“Yes! Yes, it is.” Caleb smiles as his drink is placed in front of him.
“I think I’m missing something.” Cameron’s voice is low and his head is tilted towards mine.
I am going to kill those bastards.
Please don’t bring up the harvest moon festival…please…
“Two years ago…”
Oh god, no!
“We broke into the wine cellar during the harvest moon festival.”
I am going to stab Ralph in the eye with this fork. I grasp it menacingly and glare at him.
He ignores me.
“Ava found an unopened crate of champagne that was meant as a gift for the Snow Cap pack’s new Luna.” Lily continued the story for him.
Damn it Lily, shut up!
“And she drank all of it.” Ralph grinned.
“Most of it, we might have helped her finish a bottle or two when we ran out of whiskey.” Caleb smiles at me as he adds to the story, almost as if he thinks he is being helpful.
Cameron is quiet. I can’t look at him.
“Anyway,” Lily leans forward. “Ava gets really wasted…”
I sink lower into my chair. Do they realize who they are telling this story too?
“…and we head back to the party.”
“Ava ends up getting on the stage with the band…”
“In front of everyone…”
“And she pulls off her…”
“Thank you!!” I can’t help practically yelling in a high pitched voice as the server hands me my champagne glass.
“Cheers to you, KING Cameron.” I give Lily and Ralph a very pointed look.
Cameron is still, his bourbon in his hand, glancing around the table, as if not sure how to respond to the story.
He turns his head towards me and lifts one eyebrow just a tiny amount before saying slowly. “So, that is a yes on champagne being your preferred drink.”
The others laugh as I throw daggers at them.
Luckily, they don’t finish the story as servers are starting to take our food orders.
I take a deep breath and look over at Cameron.
“Is bourbon your favorite drink?” I’m realizing that I know absolutely nothing about him.
He swirls his glass. “I usually prefer bourbon, occasionally a nice scotch.”
I smile and reach around my brain for something else to say.
The server comes around to ask if we wanted the steak, salmon, or chicken. Cameron orders the steak, I order the salmon.
I consider asking him if steak is his favorite food, but even in my head, it sounds like a pretty lame question.
I feel his jeans vibrating under my hand.
“Do you need to check your phone?”
He doesn’t look at me as he sips his drink.
“No, it can wait.”
“But, what if it’s news about the Red…”
“It’s not. It can wait.”
I bite my lip. His tone clearly stated to drop it. I don’t know what else to say so I make the mistake of looking across the table.
Ralph is watching my interaction with Cameron. He holds his drink up and grins at me, giving me a little wink.
Could this dinner be any more awkward?
I feel Cameron’s jeans vibrate again and he places my hand back into my lap.
For some reason, I feel like he is hiding something from me, pulling away already.
The server comes over and refills my empty champagne glass.
I murmur a thank you and lift it to my mouth, catching Cameron watching me.
Oh great. Now he probably thinks I’m going to get wasted every time I drink champagne.
I lower the glass back to the table and pick at my food instead.
I hear the vibrating of Cameron’s phone.
He puts his napkin on the table and turns to me.
“Excuse me, Ava, I’ll be right back.”
I watch him walk out of the dining hall.
I reach for my glass and finish it, the attentive server immediately hurrying over to refill it.
“So, Ava.” Lily is wiggling her eyebrows at me.
“I’m so mad at you guys!” I can’t help squealing. “Why in the world would you bring that story up in front of him?”
I catch Chris smirking across the table.
This is literally the worst dinner I’ve ever had to sit through.
“It was funny!” Lily’s voice is high and defensive.
“No, it was not! It was embarrassing and happened a long time ago!”
“Yeah, but…”
Caleb gives her a look and she stops talking, sticking her lips out into a pout instead.
“Sorry Ava, we won’t tell anymore embarrassing stories.” Caleb smiles at me.
I take another swig of my champagne, Chris in my eyesight, watching me drink with a smirk on his face.
I wonder how inappropriate it would be to give him the middle finger?
“Sorry about that.” Cameron is back, pulling his chair out.
“Oh! No problem!” My voice is slightly higher than normal. “Everything ok?
“Yes, thank you.” He places his napkin back on his lap and continues eating his steak.
“Everything okay between you two?”
“I don’t know.” I answer without thinking, immediately regretting it. The last person who needs to think that things might be off between Cameron and me is Caleb.
“Want to talk about it?”
“I’m okay, thanks.”
“I’m here, in case you change your mind.”
I don’t respond, pushing to close the connection. I’ll need to have a conversation with Caleb sometime on keeping the hell out of my head.
There’s a bang and everyone turns to look at the dining hall entry.
Three Lycans, along with Scott, one of Caleb’s younger council members, come hurrying in.
Cameron, Caleb, Ralph, and Chris all stand up as they approach.
A Lycan with closely cropped dark blonde hair and eyes so dark they almost look black, looks at Cameron.
“We need to talk.”
Cameron nods and I see Caleb step forward.
The Lycan nods to Caleb too. “You’ll need to be there for this as well.”
I stand, my eyes are drawn to Scott, whose eyes are wide as if in shock. I notice red stains on his hands. Is…is that blood?
“Let’s go to my office.” Caleb turns and nods his head at Ralph to follow.
Cameron says nothing, following the others out of the dining hall, Chris coming behind them.
I sit back in my chair, watching until the last person disappears and turn to look at Lily, who is looking back at me with wide, terrified eyes.