Sweet Billionaire Stepbrother(12)
Believe me, I'm just as stunned.
Seth had never called me babe before. And he chose now to do it? Here in front of everyone, including our mothers and Grayson?
“Hello, Norma.” Mum greeted Seth’s mother with a kiss on the cheek.
“Hi Alice, how lovely to see you and your kids out for lunch.”
Mum laughed. “Yes, it’s not often we all get to come here together.”
The two older women exchanged a few more pleasantries as I shot up a prayer. Please don’t invite them to sit with us. It would just be plain awkward.
Sloane and Taylor giggled, both staring at me with big eyes. Taylor gave me the thumbs up signal behind Seth’s back. Clearly she approved. But Grayson had seen his sister do it, and judging by the expression on his face, he was less than pleased. It looked as if he was going to burst a vessel in his forehead. But I was more worried about the way his fists kept opening and closing as he glared at Seth.
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
Men and testosterone.
Seth turned his back to Grayson, completely ignoring him. “Can't wait to see you all dressed up. I bet you’re going to be a knock out,” Seth said, smiling down at me.
Who, me? Was I in some sort of dream?
“You leave that part to us,” Mum said, smiling at Seth and Norma. “I have a few ideas for my lovely daughter that I’m sure you’ll love.”
“Really?” I said, unable to stop the words spilling from my mouth. What the hell was I? Some social experiment?
My gaze shot to Grayson. His eyebrows were knitted together and the knuckles of both balled fists had turned white. Why was he so against me going to the prom with Seth? He’d told me about Seth’s boasting and that he strongly disliked Seth’s older brother, Hawke, but it hardly made sense.
A minute later, much to my relief, a waiter appeared to show Seth and Mrs. Matthews to their table.
The awkward silence after they left was filled by Taylor’s gushing. “You’re a lucky girl, Sis. Seth’s hot as hell.”
“I think he’s crazy about Layla,” Sloane said, “because she treats him like she does all the other boys and his ego can’t stand it. He’s used to girls fawning over him. But not our Layla—she’s making him work for it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I wished everyone would just find another topic and leave me alone. All this fuss was giving me a damn headache.
Interrupted by the ring of a phone, I sighed with relief.
“Oh, that’s mine. Please excuse me,” Sloane said as she pulled her phone out from her purse. She rose from the table to take the call outside.
Grayson’s good humor had evaporated. I'd never known him to be a moody person and his behavior was confusing the shit out of me. My stomach twisted into such a tight knot that I could barely eat any more food. Luckily Mum and Taylor kept blabbering on, so I didn’t need to contribute to the conversation.
Moments later, Sloane returned, her complexion pale and tears in her eyes. I rushed to my feet to comfort her, placing my arm around her shoulder. “Hey, hon, what’s the matter?”
She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with a napkin, clearly upset.
“Sit down,” I coaxed, pushing her down gently into her chair.
Her shoulders slumped forward. “Um, it's Jeremy. He can't make it to the ball tomorrow night. His grandfather died this morning and he has to leave to go to the funeral in Melbourne. He can't be my date and there’s no way I’m going alone.” Tears ran down her cheeks and my heart went out to her.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I gasped, feeling really bad for Jeremy. It had been touch and go for a few weeks as his grandfather had battled against lung cancer.
“Don’t cry, Sloane.” Grayson sounded genuinely concerned for her. I watched as his hand covered hers and squeezed. “Tell you what . . . if you want, I can be your date.”
Sloane blinked up at Grayson, a smile breaking through her tears. God, she looked so beautiful and vulnerable in that moment. “You’d do that for me?” she said, her voice shaky.
“Of course. It's sad what happened to Jeremy, but that doesn’t mean you should miss out. I’ll find my formal suit when we get home and have it dry cleaned tomorrow.”
What the hell just happened? Was I going to be sitting at the same table as my stepbrother at the ball?
How was that going to work with my plans of trading in my v-card?
Feeling eyes burn into me, I looked up and locked eyes with Grayson. While he was patting Sloane’s hand, his gaze was fixed on me. The satisfied smirk on his face blew me away. He had a plan. If only I knew what it was.
8: Layla
After another two hours of going from one shop to another, both Sloane and I had finally each bought a dress. Grayson had left us after lunch, excusing himself politely. Thank God. I couldn’t bare much more of his stares and Sloane cooing over him like a love struck teenager. It was all a bit much, so I’d taken the first dress that wasn’t too awful just to get it over and done with.
Sloane was on a renewed mission to get herself all beautified and blabbered on non-stop about how awesome Grayson was to step up. It made my head hurt.
After the dress hunting, it was time to find matching shoes and underwear. After numerous arguments with my mother about the suitability of certain shoes—and totally losing the battle—I settled on a mid-heeled sandal.