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My sister wasn’t here to stir shit up and that didn’t save her.
I swallowed the reply. “Good idea. Stay close to Victor. That’s what I’ll do.”
“And don’t try to use him to score invites either. Royal or not, he’s still a freshman. He’s not going to the party either.”
“I’m not going to score a thing.” A smile stretched across my face. “So, tell me more about your outfit. Is it a dress? Skirt and top?”
She studied me, but my smile held. “It’s a dress,” she finally replied. “We’re going to...”
The driver dropped us off in front of Katie’s mansion. The place was twice as big as the Bowden Estate for three people and an army of servants. Katie didn’t bother to introduce me to them or her parents as she led me through the sitting room, dining hall, study, and indoor pool to get to the pool house beside the outdoor pool.
Two floors of grand design, bold art pieces, expensive furniture, high-end kitchen, entertainment room, and clothes all over the floor to signal this was all Katie’s space.
We talked, but not about the party as I stood in the middle of her bedroom, standing still with my arms out while she used me as a mannequin. No, she didn’t talk about the party, but she did talk about her friends.
“Saylor is so lucky. Her dad’s a senator, so she flies back and forth to DC all the time. She’s for sure going to be the next first lady.”
“Senator Burkhardt,” I said. “I should’ve recognized the last name. Are you sure she wants to marry a politician? She was getting pretty cozy with that guy you told me about—Rafael Dumont.”
She waved that away. “Rafael is the guy you fuck in the sand at a bonfire beach party. He’s not the guy you marry. No one is trying to have his dad as a father-in-law.”
I turned big eyes on her. “That whole hit man thing. That’s not true, right?”
Katie suddenly got very busy gluing Skittles wrappers to my backside. “Anyway, then there’s Everleigh. Her fam is in the furniture business. Making, shipping, displaying in Everlasting Furniture stores all over the country. She’s set to get her MBA and take over the business as soon as her mother steps down.”
I filed it all away. I had the official information I dug up online of the families of Regalia, but if Katie wanted to fill in the details, I wouldn’t stop her.
“Everleigh is a pretty name.”
“It’s a passive-aggressive name. I can tell you because everyone already knows,” she said, leaning in like someone does when they know something good. “Mr. Starling cheated on Mrs. Starling with her sister. To get back at him, she slept with both of his brothers, but it was the young and virile Everton Starling who knocked her up.
“Her husband decided to stick by her and raise the baby as his own, but that didn’t stop her mom from naming her Everleigh after her uncle/bio dad as a warning to her husband. Don’t fuck around on me.”
“Wow. That’s... wow.” I reconciled the sneering model as the same person who called her dad Uncle and her uncle Dad. “Stories like that put your family drama into perspective.”
“You’re telling me.”
What about the other two? I thought as Katie busied herself with the dress. Keep talking about your friends.
“Gabriella is the best,” Katie continued. “Her grandfather invented something that’s used in every plane that takes off from the tarmac. No one in her family has to work for the next twenty generations. Her grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will be flush. So she’s always around to chill, jet off to Vegas, or drive cross-country to hit a burger joint in California. My girl is down for anything.”
“She sounds great.”
“Last is Piper. Her family owns Alvar Extreme Sports. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but she’s insane on a skateboard. I bet you’d fall and break your face just from looking at one.”
I barked a laugh. “An insult, yeah, but I can’t even lie, I would break my face. Are pro skaters in her fiancé pool? Does everyone around here line up their prospects all the way back to when they sipped their juice on the preschool playground?”
“You’re one to talk. You snatched up Victor Wilson before he could get in the pool.”
“The match made sense,” I said, repeating my ordered reply. “I’m not knocking you guys. It’s just weird for me too that I have to think about all of this now. Friday night dinners with my future in-laws. Engagement parties. I’m doing it sooner than most of the couples around here, but doesn’t it get to you sometimes, realizing that your life is decided for you?”
“Not for me. My parents would never force me into marriage. And you don’t have to worry about the women of Regalia either. We can say no to a match. It’s not social suicide or anything. Some guys snore or are crap in bed. Who’s trying to suffer forever with that?”
