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They climb into the Hummer, along with the others who came with them. Duke stands there finishing the cigarette I gave him.
“Where’s Baron?” I ask, glancing around.
“He took off already,” Duke says, leaning back against the hood of Gloria’s car. She sits beside him and leans her head on his shoulder. He hands her the cigarette, and she takes a drag before handing it back. I watch them smoking together, both of them whole and unscarred and too fucking perfect.
I hate them both so much I want to drag them back inside and throw them into the fire and watch them burn. They wouldn’t be so fucking perfect them.
“I better go too,” Duke says, standing and leaning down like he’s about to kiss Gloria, like he’s forgotten she’s not their queen anymore. She turns her face away, and he straightens and smirks down at her. “See you Monday, Glory Hole.”
He turns, tipping his chin in a quick nod. “Colt.”
“Duke.”
He steps closer and lowers his voice so Gloria won’t overhear. “You still owe me one.”
I take a drag on my cigarette and give him a cool look. “Same as last time?”
“Don’t forget.” He glances at the Hummer, where his whole family is waiting.
I smirk at him and toss my cigarette butt. “How could I forget how much you need me?”
He glowers at me. “Just making sure you don’t think this changes anything.”
“I know,” I say. “Your family finds me so useful. How could you ever let me go?”
It’s true. I’ve made myself indispensable to the Dolces. It was the only way to survive. But as he shoves me and hurls a slur at me before turning and stomping back to his car, I register his earlier words. For the first time, my mind settles on what it could mean for my family to have Devlin back. The Dolces have Crystal back too. They can’t blame us for her death anymore, can’t punish us for it. They don’t even seem upset. They’re all pulling away in Duke’s Hummer together, with my brother, who they’ve apparently accepted without hostility.
If the Dolces aren’t pissed at him, that means they’re not pissed at us.
And that means Duke is wrong.
It changes everything.
The war is finally over.
*
When I turn back from watching Duke’s Hummer disappear around the side of the mall, Harper’s car is gone too. There’sno one left but Gloria Walton, sitting on the hood of her car, watching me.
“Shouldn’t you be chasing after Duke trying to get back in with him before his brother shows up and dumps your ass again?” I ask.
“Where’s Dixie?” she asks, not moving. “Shouldn’t she be here getting some ‘tea’ to destroy someone else’s life?”
I snort at that. “She didn’t destroy your life.”
“Of course not,” she says. “I’m a privileged little princess whose worst nightmare is a gossip blog calling her a slut.”
“Aren’t you?”
She smirks up at me. “What—a privileged princess or a slut?”
I step closer, unable to resist the allure of the Queen B. I hate that after everything, she’s still my type. I’m not made to take the last girl in school the Dolces don’t want. I’ve always wanted the best. I used to get them, and I can’t forget it. Some primal part of me has one instinct when it comes to girls like her—hunt and devour like prey. I want to break her until she’s nothing exceptmine.
I reach out, and when she doesn’t turn her face away, I tip her chin up. When our eyes meet, I quirk a brow. “Both?”
She swallows, her gaze searching mine. “Is that what you think?”
“Did you obey me the morning of Bye Week?”
