Chapter 8: Chapter 8: The Ball

Clare’s POV

“Stop it.” My head turned to John as he called out to me.

“I’m not doing anything,” I said back to him.

“I can practically feel your nervousness from here, and you’re going to wear a hole in my car if you keep bouncing your leg like that.”

He let out a soft chuckle as soon as he saw me realize that I had been bouncing my leg up and down without noticing. I muttered under my breath as I smoothed out the dress across my legs and sat up straight. “Sorry…”

“Are you nervous because of tonight?” I didn’t say anything, knowing John would take my silence as an affirmation. The man was already too attuned to me; he knew my tells too well and he didn’t need clarification. “He’s not going to let you go to Avondale, Clare. Your father will do everything in his power to keep you here.”

I sighed as I pushed my hair out of my face, not used to how done up it had been for tonight. “Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m afraid of, though.”