Chapter 82

Colton trips over an imaginary piece of carpet and coughs to cover his clumsy response, immediately less confident, perplexed, and failing at Mr. Smooth, all in one fell swoop. Cocky but not willing to follow through. “Not the response I was expecting.” He frowns, swallows a little audibly, and fixes his eyes ahead of us while he regains his previous composure. It’s not like I couldn’t tell, and I throw a one-shouldered coquettish shrug, absolutely dying inside with how weird and fake this feels. I’ve never flirted or played games with boys. I had no interest in doing it before Colton. Colton turns away, putting a little distance between us and the opposite of what I was going for, as he points us up a flight of stairs. “This way, try to memorize the route so you can find it again.” His tone is distant, his mood not exactly what I expected, and I sigh at the deflated mood that hits me heavily. We’re away from the main hall, the grand sweeping staircase, and some back hallway with narro