Yeah. Communication was not so easy inside Platinum. Whatever. I decided to let it go and just dance. Which was what I was do-
ing when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and had to peel my hair from my sweaty cheeks. Dominic stood in front of me,
his face gleaming, the champagne bottle still in hand. "You never came back from the bathroom," he said. "I couldn't find you," I lied.
He grinned. "Well, good that I found you, then." He took a slug from the bottle, then offered it to me. "Drink?" he asked me for about
the millionth time that night. "No, thanks." I wrinkled my nose. I had already downed one glass of wine at the restaurant and I did not
want to get drunk. I had learned my lesson at the Legacy and the day after. Being hungover again was not in my immediate plans.
"You have had nothing to drink since we got here," he accused. "So?" I replied. "So you should lighten up. Look around. It's a party."
He spread his arms wide and clunked a Hollywood starlet in the head with his bottle. "Hey! Watch it!" she shouted, shoving him. Do-
minic merely laughed.
"I know it's a party, and I'm having fun," I shouted at him. I glanced back at Abercrombie boy, but he had moved on to some chick
in a pink wig, damn it. "I don't need to drink to have fun!" I told Dominic. Dominic snorted a laugh, wavering slightly in place, then
took another slug from the bottle. "Cheyenne was right about you," he said. My blood seemed to freeze in my veins. I looked over my
shoulder at Sabine and the Twin Cities. Apparently they had heard it too, because they had all stopped dancing. "Excuse me?" I said.
"She was always saying how you had this stick up your butt. Which made sense, since you were from the sticks," he said with another
snort. "Shut it, Infante!" Vienna snapped, coming over to stand next to me. London and Sabine gathered around as well. "Just because
you're a pseudo prince doesn't mean you can talk to my girl like that." Dominic sniffed and took another drink. "Wait. You and
Cheyenne talked about me?" I demanded, my heart pounding a mile a minute. "When? Why?"
"Cheyenne was an old friend," he said. "A very close friend," he added suggestively. "She liked to cuddle afterward. And talk." Vi-
enna and I looked at one another, skeeved. "You hooked up with Cheyenne? When?" Vienna demanded. "All the time," Dominic
replied, standing up straight. "Girl really made her way through Ketlar. But Hollis was her ultimate conquest, and now I can see why
he went for her, even though he was with you. Cheyenne was hot behind closed doors. But you..." He looked me up and down with
disdain, a complete one-eighty from the way he'd checked me out at our hotel suite. "You are kind of a frigid bitch, aren't you?"
I felt as if all the wind had just been knocked out of me. I wanted to slap him, but before I could regain my senses, London did it
for me. And Dominic was so drunk, he went down like a house of cards right there in the middle of the dance floor. "Ow. That hurt,"
London said, pouting as she shook her hand. "Wow, London. Thanks," I replied. "Come on. Let's get out of here," Sabine said, putting
her arm around me. "I don't get it," I said as we shoved our way through the crowd of curious onlookers who were now surrounding
Dominic. "He was so nice earlier." "Bad drunk," Vienna theorized, giving me a squeeze from the opposite side. "I'm sure he didn't
mean any of that." "Right." She had a point. I knew from experience that people could turn into monsters when they were under the
influence. Look at Thomas. My mother. Even me. Would I have hooked up with Dash that night if it hadn't been for all those drinks? I
hoped not. I hoped that my sober self was better than that.