Page 76 of Five

“I don’t even drink tea.” He laughs, standing up and bringing me with him. “It’s just high-society pretenses. Let’s fucking party.”

My heart is racing. My face is hot—hell, my whole body is hot. And there’s no way to get a grip on it unless I deal.

So I deal.

Frank leads me out to the group, which is sparse, but I see Tera. And Mia, so she’s not getting fucked back in her man’s study room, but no Kallie in sight.

I glance at Tera and she’s got a tight smile plastered on her face. “Hey,” she says as we approach the group. “Would you like to go to the ladies’ with me? I drank too much punch in there.” She nods her head to the ominous double doors.

I look up at Frank, who is waiting to hear what I’ll say. “Do you mind?” I ask, like a good little demure… whatever the hell he thinks I am to him.

“Go right ahead.” And then he looks at his buddies and they laugh out the word, “Women.”

Yeah. Women. We’re so fucking predictable.

Tera grabs my hand tight and doesn’t let go, even when we get to the dining room bathroom. She checks each stall, kicking open the doors with her fancy shoes.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking for spies, of course,” she hisses. When she’s satisfied we’re alone, she drops her pretenses and frowns. “What. The fuck. Was. That?”

“Um,” I say, unsure how to handle this. Do I trust Tera? I mean, up until recently that was a big, giant, emphatic yes. But now? I dunno. “I think it was a marriage proposal.”

“Right?” Tera says, nearing hysterics. “I had no fucking idea. Did you? I mean…” She looks down at the ostentatious diamond on her finger and shakes her head. “What the fuck?”

“You really had no idea?”

“Did you?”

“Shhh,” I say, glancing at the door. Because she’s being way too loud. “Someone will hear you.”

“Should I be scared? I mean, really, Rory. What just happened?”

I shrug and let out a long breath of air. “We made a pledge, Tera. I mean, no, I didn’t know anything about this. Not at all. But… that’s what just happened. Did you say no?”

I cannot imagine Tera saying no. But she nods her head. “I did. But he told me to think about it this week and let him know on Friday night. Did I make a mistake? Did you say no? Please, Rory. Do not tell me you’ve agreed to this… this… insane bullshit? Did Frank tell you the part about your place at his side? Because Brian told me. He basically said my purpose was to build him up.”

“Well, yeah. He said that.”

“And you’re just gonna go along with this? Jesus Christ, I bet they wanted Cliff in Palladium House and then he told them no, so they figured they’d get the Middletons through me! They must think I’m the easy one, right? Get me, get him. And my parents. Holy shit, do you think they’ll do something to my family if I say no next weekend?”

“Tera,” I say, looking at the door again. I don’t like this either, but my dad is the most paranoid motherfucker on the planet. So I know better than to discuss things like this on someone else’s home turf. “Just calm down. That part of tonight is over. When we’re done here we’ll go for a walk and have another talk, OK?”

“How can you be so calm? Brian just told me we’re part of some secret society! Like… we’re like… in a cult, Rory! Palladium House is a cult!”

She has the good sense to whisper that last part, but still. “Shhh,” I say. “Stop talking, for fuck’s sake. Just be cool and meet me at the quad at one AM, OK? The party will be over, we can go back to our rooms and change and slip out without anyone knowing.”

“I don’t know if I can,” she says. And there is real fear in her face. Genuine terror.

“You can,” I say, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a shake. “Now let’s go back out there and pretend everything is fine, all right?”

She swallows hard, takes a few moments to think about it, and then nods. “OK.”

We exit the bathroom and rejoin our new… men. Good Lord. What the fuck? is right. These people are crazy. And then I lose track of her as more and more people come back from their little discussion rooms.

I do my duty, because I know when to shut up and do as I’m told, and this is definitely one of those times. So I dance with Frank. And every other man in the room. Since we are all in this together, each one needs to drive that point home with me personally. They tell me that over and over again as they twirl me around the room.

But at the end of the night, after Frank walks me to the entrance to the female side of the house, and after I’m exhausted from all the fake smiles I’ve been beaming, and after I strip out of that designer dress, change into my jeans and a Shrike Bikes t-shirt, and make my way out to the quad at exactly one AM…