I roll my eyes, thinking there’s no way that any straight man in attendance could have failed to notice her. But then someone behind me repeats her words in a high, mocking voice, and I immediately feel guilty for my own unkind thoughts. Dolly’s face flushes, but she ignores the girl and keeps looking at her friend, who offers her a pitying smile.
I turn to see Lacey and a couple girls from the cheer squad flipping their ponytails and laughing. They look right through me and keep talking. “They know not to address royalty directly. They’re just a bunch of wanna-be cheerleaders.”
An absurd urge to defend Dolly rises in me, and even though I know better than to go up against the hierarchy around here, I can’t help myself. After all, she’s not a Doll anymore, which means she’s not as untouchable as she once was.
“Shouldn’t you be back on the field boring the fans to sleep with more of your unoriginal cheers?” I ask lightly.
Lacey’s mouth falls open in a huff of disbelief.
“Stay out of this,” says another cheerleader I recognize as Carmen from my Spanish class. “This is none of your business, little city bitch.”
I smirk at her and raise an eyebrow. “Is that the best you can do?” I ask. “Even your insults are unoriginal. Oh, and just so you know, I’m a big city bitch.”
Lacey hooks her arm through Carmen’s. “Don’t pay attention to her,” she says. “She’s just mad because she’ll never be a Darling Doll. She’s just Devlin’s little lap dog.”
“And yet, you got on your knees and ate dogfood when he ordered you to,” I say. “So remind me again what’s the difference between a Darling Dog and a Doll?”
“She can’t be serious,” Lacey says.
I shrug and slide my hand along my sleek pony. “I just know I wasn’t the one eating dogfood that day.” I turn to face forward again, noticing that Dolly and her friend are whispering, their heads bent together. If she wants to run and tell Preston, fine. Whatever. I’m not keeping my mouth shut and being anyone’s obedient pet, no matter what they call me.
By now I know that being a Darling Dog isn’t as bad as it sounds. Sure, I’ve been labeled aa loser, but besides the one humiliating incident and the outburst after we got the Darlings in trouble, it’s pretty mild. They didn’t even condone the dogfood incident, so I can’t count that as a consequence of being labeled. I can handle a lot worse a few snickers and snide comments when I walk by. I deserve a lot worse.
When I get back to our seats, Baron pats the spot beside him. “Dad’s talked the mayor into going to see the coach with us,” he says. “We’re all going to go talk him, show him what we can bring to the table.”
“Tonight?” I ask, once again surprised and impressed with how skillfully Daddy manipulates.
“Yeah,” Duke says with a broad smile. “Right after the game. If they keep getting creamed the entire game, it shouldn’t be hard to make a case for ourselves.”
“Congratulations,” I say, throwing an arm around each twin. My brothers are good. If they get a tryout, they’re as good as on the team. And with the mayor on our side, how can the coach say no?
I tell my brothers what I overheard Dolly saying about Devlin being too reckless, but a funny little flicker goes through me when they start discussing it. I don’t owe Devlin or Dolly any loyalty, but for some reason, it feels like a betrayal. What’s the use in spying if you’re not going to use the information, though?
seventeen
Tonight, my brothers finish what they started. Tonight, they topple the kings. Tonight is theirs for the taking. Whatever the consequences, we’ll face them as they come. But tonight, we triumph.
After the game, we start down to the field. I tell my family I’ll meet them outside the locker room, and I run to the restroom. They’ll be with the coach for a while, so I have plenty of time. A line has formed out of the restroom, so I step outside and lean against the wall under a light and finish my blog post before texting Dixie. The Knights lost, so everyone from Willow Heights is in a foul mood, but I can’t help but smile inside. It would have been a tougher sell to get my brothers on the team after a win against our biggest rival.
After a loss, the coach will be looking at all the things the team did wrong—and all the things my brothers can do better.
I text Dixie for a few minutes before a shadow falls over me. I jerk upright just in time to see Devlin Darling towering over me. Before I can move, he snatches the phone from my hand.
“Hey,” I protest, making a grab for it.
Devlin smirks down at me, holding the phone out of my reach. His eyes aren’t laughing, though. They’re filled with pure loathing. “What the fuck is your family’s problem?”
“Right now? You’re our problem.”
“You’re right about that,” he says, his jaw tense.
“Give me my phone back,” I say, holding out a hand.
“You don’t give the orders around here,” he says. “Tell me, little doggy. What’s their game?”
I cross my arms over my chest, glancing around. There are still dozens of people milling around—a mom with a stroller is struggling to get through the bathroom door, several unattended kids are running in circles screaming, and lots of students stand around talking. I’m not stupid enough to hang out alone, and it comforts me to see all the witnesses if Devlin tries anything. His murderous glare makes every instinct in my brain scream for me to run.
But oh my god… One whiff of his masculine scent gives my body completely different ideas.