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“What?” I gasp, shoving my lipstick back inside my clutch.
Ophelia shrugs. “I mean, we’re all used to it. We know the rules, and if we don’t follow, then there are repercussions.” I can’t believe I didn’t pick up any of Veronica’s toxicity when I first met her. Her emotions have always been a challenge to me, but I haven’t felt the other girls’ unease around her.
Tillie stares at Ophelia. “That’s weird. You know that’s weird, right? And that’s coming from someone who owns an island filled with nocturnal humans who live on little forest roads and wear fucking clothes from the fifteen hundreds.”
Ophelia raises an eyebrow. Ivy hides behind a small giggle.
“Okay, listen.” Madison takes control, grabbing mine and Tillie’s hands. “We marry the boys tonight together. We do it because none of us are going to be marrying anyone else.” She clears her throat. “Let’s be real, they would never allow it either, but let’s make a promise?”
I think about arguing her point, but come up with nothing. “What is the promise first?” I say, knowing these two entirely too well.
“A promise that in twenty years from today, we all rewrite our vows. Our way. Properly. A real wedding. If I can’t look sexy today, damn straight I will in twenty years.”
I stare at her blandly. “My wedding present to you will be glasses.”
Tillie smacks her with the back of her hand, and then sighs, massaging her temples. “How old would our kids be then?”
“They’d be starting Riverside Elite Uni.”
Our eyes all connect, flying between each other. I nod. “Deal. Twenty years, we do it our way.”
The smiles on both their faces tell me that our soon-to-be-husbands should be terrified.
We all make our way back out of the bathroom after another round of pep talks. The girls don’t know any more than I do, which makes me think there’s another reason why the boys want us all to get married tonight. Or maybe it’s just about making a statement like Madison had said.
Ophelia grabs me by the arm as we’re passing the man I mistakenly assumed was the valet. “I need you to keep me away from him.”
“Oh, you like?” I ask, wagging my eyebrows suggestively at her. We sidestep away from him as she continues to drag us to the back of the room where all the boys are waiting.
“No!” she grumbles. “I need you to keep me away from him so I don’t accidentally kill him.”
I don’t get a chance to demand her to elaborate because we’ve caught up with everyone.
I can feel Brantley’s eyes on me like a hot iron hovering over my skin.
“This is going to go fast, efficient, and sorry, girls, but rather fucking coldly.” Bishop smirks at Madison. “Hope you weren’t wanting your dream wedding.”
“Just to not be fucking pregnant would be nice.” She snickers her response.
“Personally, I don’t care.” Tillie wraps her arm around my shoulder. “We made a pact, that in twenty years from today, we’re all going to do it again, only our way.”
Bishop’s face drains of color. “Of course you would.”
I turn to face Brantley, finding his eyes still on me. Blank and expressionless. My heart pounds in my chest when I think he’s, once again, pissed at me. My palms become sweaty and I hate the way I’ve allowed him to affect me. But then he dips his head, his eyes hooded while hiding a smirk behind the back of his hand. Right. Veronica is still here and can’t know that I know we’re not brother and sister. I wonder at the kind of restraint he’s testing right now. Brantley is patient with his wrath. He doesn’t unleash it all at once or out of control; he uses it as a weapon and guides it to where he wants it to go. That’s what makes him so terrifying. I already know whatever he has planned for Veronica is going to be disturbing, and that should bother me, but at the moment, it doesn’t.
“Before you all start bitchin’, our parents all got married this way, as did their parents and so on. It’s how we do things.”
“Never fucking brought this up before,” Madison snaps, her anger radiating toward my brother.
He simply turns toward her, and I almost step between them because the look on his face is feral. “Actually, I was about to. You know, that final riddle I texted you before everything blew up?” He takes a simple step into her space, and I’m pretty sure we all hold our breath as her shoulders vibrate and her lip quivers. Not from anger, but pain. Her face becomes animated. Everything she is feeling in this moment shows in the way her eyes turn heavy, and the muscles in her arms relax. He remains fixed on her. “Let me refresh your memory.” I swear we all stop breathing. “Riddle me this, Kitty. What’s round, smooth, and is home for a sparkling stone?” He grabs her hand with his and tugs her into his chest. It’s not until Madison looks down that she gasps loudly, and we all follow her line of sight. A large oval-shaped diamond blinds us. “A fucking ring that should have been on your finger years ago.”
