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“You’ve been gone a week,” I say, standing and pacing around the spacious room. I make it look casual, even though I’m ready to bolt out the door or even the window. Just because he’s alone now, that doesn’t mean he’s harmless.
“We established that,” he says, stacking his feet on top of each other, heel to toe, and hooking his hands behind his head. “I know how much you love to swallow, but spit it out, Lo. What are you here for?”
I bite down on my tongue for a second, grounding myself, before I speak. “I’m not going to be your whore anymore,” I say. “Not at school, not here. I’m not sitting on the floor at your table. I sit with Harper now. And when you come back to school, you’ll be the only Dolce, so you can’t make me.”
He arches a brow. “You’re bratting out on me?”
“I’m not being a brat,” I say. “I’m just stating facts.”
“Maybe Baron will come back second semester,” he says, but his voice holds no conviction. “Besides, I still have the rest of the guys.”
“There’s one Dolce at school,” I point out. “And one Darling. The whole town’s freaking out about Crystal and Devlin like they’re celebrities. Now that your dad’s gone so there’s no Dolce at the adult table, the other families have welcomed the Darlings back. Everyone’s kind of… Making a big deal over Colt at school.”
“You’re fucking with me.”
I shake my head, swallowing the lump in my throat at the memory of that day in the parking lot at the mall, when everything changed. Colt knew. He already knew what it wouldmean long before I even thought about it. When he drove away and left me standing there exposed, he knew he could. That there would be no repercussions for humiliating the Dolce’s whore, for touching her.
And there weren’t. I’m old news. I’m the one thing I thought would spell the end for me, before I knew the ending to my story was so much worse—irrelevant. My scandalous fall barely registered compared to the shock waves that have gone through the school since that day Colt drove away without even bothering to get his phone from me first. He couldn’t get away fast enough.
I dropped it in his mailbox and drove away, not even going up his driveway this time. I didn’t want to risk a repeat of the last time I was there, the last time something happened between us, when I was desperate enough to crawl back for more, only to find Dixie in his bed. Now I know it doesn’t mean anything to him. He just likes to humiliate me because he can, because he knows he has the power, that I can’t say no to him.
I understand. He’s just evening the score. And if he wants revenge, he deserves to take it.
No one else even bothers with me in the wake of the tragedy and triumph of the Dolce-Darling feud, the biggest news to come out of Faulkner since the tragedy of the double death three years ago. It only took a few days before all anyone in Faulkner could talk about was Tony Dolce’s demise and the return of his daughter—and her husband.
Juicy gossip spreads like wildfire in a small town, and the subject isn’t just anyone. It’s not even the prom queen and cheer captain of Willow Heights. It’s important people. A guy who had so much influence on the town that half the elected officials are there because of him. A daughter he lost, which caused his family to destroy the Darling dynasty. And the Darling’s prodigalson returned, married to the Dolce daughter whose ‘death’ reaped such havoc on the town.
“Colt said Magnolia and her brother are coming back for second semester,” I tell Duke after letting the last bit of news sink in for a minute. “That would mean three Darlings at school and only one Dolce. I hate to break it to you, Duke, but I think your reign is over.”
“Huh.” He rubs his chin, narrowing his eyes at me while he thinks.
“Can’t say it doesn’t feel good being the one to tell you,” I mutter.
He shakes his head and sits forward in his chair. “Nah, I’m not done,” he says. “I’m a guy. There’s nothing anyone can say that will ruin me the way we ruined you.”
He looks smug about that, which is a good thing, because otherwise I might feel bad for him. “So… What?” I ask. “You’re going to hang out with Colt? Be best buds now that he’s back in the elite circle?”
“Maybe.” He shrugs and kicks off his giant tennis shoes without looking at me.
“And let me go, just like that?”
He sits back in the chair again, raking a hand through his messy hair. “Look, Lo. My dad just fucking died. My brother isn’t here, and my sister who I thought was dead is still alive. There’s suddenly like ten extra people in my house. I don’t fucking care about you, okay? You want to get back with Rylan? Go fuck him. Go fuck Harper for all I care. I don’t give a single fuck what you do, or who’s sitting at my table, or any other petty high school bullshit. I got real shit going on here.”
“You’re right,” I say. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I’ve just never done anything without running it by one of you. I guess it’s automatic. But I know how it is. Better than anyone.”
“Yeah,” he says, staring miserably at the floor between his feet. “Yeah, you do. You just lost your brother. I don’t think I ever even said how sorry I was about that.”
“It’s fine.”
“Not really,” he says. “But I am. Sorry, I mean. You have no idea how fucking sorry I am.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say, not wanting to talk about Dawson. It’s been months, and it’s still so fresh it knocks me off my feet and spins me around every time. I don’t even remember the week after. It’s just a blur of deep, dull pain now. So I know this is a lot to lay on Duke, but I have to look out for myself too. If I don’t run for freedom now, I might never get it.
“Gloria…” He looks up at me, then away, his throat working as he swallows.
Something comes unhinged inside me, and I want to bolt out the window, not because my body is in danger, but because this time it feels like my soul might be. I’ve never seen Duke look like that, and it takes me a moment to realize it’s because I didn’t know he was capable of that particular state. It’s not just remorse. It’s vulnerability.
“What?” I whisper, too choked up to speak louder.
