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They alone wield that weapon, the gleaming blade of their sharp minds and tongues, with the precision of a surgeon. That’s why they reign as kings, their power unchecked. If someone is unfortunate enough to call it into question—even someone with the illusion of power, a figurehead like a teacher—they’re all too willing to remind their subjects of the repercussions.
And just like with Dixie and her blog, no one would dare object, lest they become the next victim. More than that, they know that lying is beneath Baron. He has ammunition on everyone, and if he doesn’t, he’ll enjoy the challenge of finding it. He might make insinuations that color the story in a deeper shade of scandal, but he rarely stoops to desperate tactics like deception. He doesn’t need to. The truth is infinitely more devastating than a lie.
So when Mr. Delacroix’s reputation is sufficiently scarred by Baron’s revelations, and the position most valued by each of his parents is threatened—his dad’s legal career and his mom’s Sunday school position—he walks away like all the teachers before. At least he made an effort. The rest of the staff at WHPA has long since given up and turned a blind eye where the Dolces are concerned.
When the table is done laughing and admiring the twins for their cunning, their cruelty, their refusal to back down from authority, Baron turns to me.
“If only you kept your legs shut as well as you do your mouth,” he says, running his hand over the top of my head and down the back, his fingers clamping onto my neck. “For a second there, I thought you were going to say something. But you know better, don’t you, Glory Hole?”
“Yes,” I say, staring up into his soulless eyes, imagining how it would feel to ram my stilettos through them, picturing the rot inside that toxic mind, the black poison that would ooze down his cheeks like tears.
“Good,” he says, giving me a little shake. “You heard our plan then? We’ll pick you up at eleven. Glory Hole duty until midnight, when the meeting officially starts.”
“Are—are you serious?” I ask, glancing around, my heart racing.
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
“No,” I grit out through clenched teeth. I’d sell my own soul if once—just once—I could see him crawling on the floor the way he makes everyone else do.
“Correct,” he says, releasing me and turning away like I’m not worth his time until then.
“What if I’m not there?” I ask quietly, staring at the floor in front of my knees.
“Then the next time, it’ll be at a regular party,” Baron says. “And anyone who wants can use the Glory Hole.”
“She might like that,” Rylan says. “Sluts always want new dick, right?”
I clench my teeth and hold in a scream that wants to blast out of me like a volcano. Baron has laid out the consequences of obedience and disobedience. He’ll pretend he’s given me a choice, that he’s a benevolent ruler, like it’s any kind of choice at all.
“What’s the big deal?” Duke asks, leaning around his brother. “We’ve all fucked you before.” He sounds like hegenuinely perplexed by my reaction, as if it’s all just fun and games for me too, as if I wanted to fuck all of them before, as if I’ve ever wanted any of it. He’s probably convinced himself I have.
I don’t answer. There’s nothing to say. I know I’ll be there when they come to collect me, like I’ve been there all the other times. I know I’ll let them all fuck me like the whore they say I am, because Duke’s right about one thing—they’re the same guys who have been fucking me for two years, laughing and having fun at their orgy parties. They’ll try to dehumanize me by covering everything but leaving a hole for them to fuck, but it’s still the same guys they always share me with. I know these guys, even if calling them friends is laughable.
What they don’t understand is that this is no different for me than the other times they’ve shared me with their friends. I’ve already been dehumanized. It might even be nice to not have to see them, to participate, to keep my game face on. I’ll just lie there and play dead the way Cotton likes. I won’t have to pretend I’m into it for DeShaun like some bad porn star or scream for Baron like I’m dying. They may have called me a queen, but they always treated me like a whore. So, it won’t be any worse this time than it has been any other time.
ten
Rumor Has It… A certain staff member who was new to Willow Heights this year may be in hot water after a run-in with the elites. Who forgot to tell him to stay in the office and leave student politics to the students? You’d think a Founding Son would know better!
Gloria Walton
“Fuck,” Duke yells, turning away from the library shelf that swings open to reveal the entrance to the basement after yanking on it for a good two minutes. He takes out his frustration on a nearby chair, kicking it so hard it flies across the library before tumbling to a stop against the far wall.
“We can’t get in,” Baron says. “Harper has the key.”
“And that’s why I said we shouldn’t let a girl in,” Cotton says. “Now we gotta have a pregame party before she shows up, and we can’t even do it in our lair, since she’s the key master. Which you never explained, by the way. How’d that happen?”
“None of your fucking business,” Duke growls.
“It’s Swan business,” DeShaun points out.
“Yeah,” Cotton says. “I mean, what is this shit? It’s the Midnight Swans, not the eleven o’clock swans.”
“We shouldn’t be sneaking around without a member anyway,” DeShaun says. “It’s not right. We’re supposed to be united.”
“She ruins everything,” Duke rages, pulling off his backpack and yanking it open. He pulls out a beer, angles it against the edge of the desk, and slams his palm on the cap,which goes tumbling. He turns it up and chugs the whole thing without stopping.
“We’ll just do the Glory Hole in the library before she gets here,” Baron says. “Maybe leave a little present on Mr. Delacroix’s desk, since he thinks he can order us around.”
