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“Do I look like your hookup app?”
“First of all, I amnothooking up with him. Secondly, you don’t get your fifty bucks if he doesn’t actually ask me to dance.”
“Thought you said you weren’t taking my bet.”
I shrugged. “I’m feeling generous.”
Five minutes later, Gray Suit slid onto the chair next to me. “The bartender refused to let me buy you a drink.”
I turned on my seat to face him. “Let’s make this simple. I don’t want a drink and I’m not going home with you, but I would like a dance partner if you’re interested.”
He blinked at me. “Wow. You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”
I smiled. “I know what I want. There’s no point in wasting both our time if it doesn’t align with what you want.” If only it were this simple outside the walls of Youngblood. Here, everything felt easy. I felt invincible. Out in the real world, it was like I was a different person. A lesser person.
He that dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose,I reminded myself. Wishing for something I wasn’t willing to work for, to bleed for, didn’t do me any good.
* * *
“I’m home,”I called from the entryway of my parents’ house.
I’d lived in the three-story mini-mansion my whole life. Orlando had just moved out a couple of months ago, making me the oldest child still at home. I think if Mamma had it her way, none of us would ever move out.
“Kitchen,” Mamma called from the back of the house.
I made my way through the formal dining room to the kitchen where my entire family was sitting around the giant kitchen island that we used as a table most of the time. My family all had the same dark hair and tanned skin as I did. I’d been told I had my papa’s attractiveness. Of his children, I was the only one who had inherited his turquoise-blue eyes rather than Mamma’s dark ones.
“Nacio brought ice cream,” Remy said. “But Mamma said we had to wait for you before we could eat it.”
“That’s because she knows you’d eat all of it before Piper even made it home,” Nacio said with a teasing lilt.
I bit my lip to hold back my laugh. “Sorry for holding up the party.”
Mamma opened her arms to me. “You okay, sweetheart?”
I walked into my mother’s arms. “I’ll be fine.”
Quinn had been right when she said shitty dates were a common occurrence for me, but that didn’t stop the disappointment from hitting hard every time. I didn’t really care about the guy tonight. I cared that every date proved my family was right all those years ago when they first started worrying about my marriage prospects. I wanted to find my own husband and not settle for someone who was picked out for me, but that dream felt further away with every date I went on.
“Ice cream, Piper?” Orlando asked, holding out a bowl.
“Thanks.” I accepted the dessert from my brother and took a seat at the island.
“So while we’re all here,” Mamma started, “we should talk about the details for next weekend.”
Quinn groaned and dropped her forehead to the island countertop. And she claimedIwas dramatic.
“What are you complaining about?” Orlando asked. “You’ve already been given permission to ditch.”
She sat up and rolled her eyes. “All you ever talk about all summer long is this ball. It’s a freaking dinner and dance that you do every year. What can there possibly be left to plan?”
“Quinn,” Papa said sternly. “Your mamma puts a lot of work into this event. She doesn’t need your scorn.”
My sister’s eyes dropped. “Sorry.”
After talking details for the ball for a while, conversation turned to other topics. Papa asked Nacio about his latest business conquests. Orlando assured Mamma that he was fine in the apartment he’d just moved into. And then the conversation turned toward Quinn’s utter lack of interest in men. Everyone was sure that she was hiding a secret boyfriend since there was no way anyone believed she’d made it to twenty-one without so much as a crush.
“You know, if you like girls, you can tell us,” Orlando said. “No one’ll judge you for that.”
