Instead, there’s Dolly reaching for my hand and squeezing, and King with his iron grip holding me together, and Dixie patting my knee, and the twins with the force of King’s conviction magnified and reflected back at me. Because they believe in King, in our family, even when I’m starting to doubt that even they can make this one right.
“Let’s take a potty break and fix our faces,” Dolly says in her sugary, southern twang. “We’ll be back in three shakes of a sheep’s tail. You boys keep our spots warm.”
King’s hand closes around her arm, and he gives her a hard look. “Don’t give our sister any stupid ideas. Understand?”
“Why, I don’t have an idea in my pretty little head,” Dolly says, deftly detaching his hand. “How could I possibly give your sister one?”
She walks off, leaving my brothers gaping after her, though I can’t tell if it’s because of what she said or because she looks like sex on legs. She turns to peer over her shoulder, snapping her fingers at me and Dixie when she sees that even we are too captivated by watching her walk away to have moved.
“Oh, okay,” Dixie stammers, jumping up so fast she nearly knocks her chair over. Baron laughs and grabs it before it can crash to the floor, swatting her ass and making her yelp as she scurries after Dolly. I follow, my heart thudding in my chest as I join the girls. I don’t know if I want to hear what Dolly has to say to me. She and the Darling boys have some relationship I can’t begin to comprehend. She’s known them all their lives. She might be his first kiss. His first time. His first love.
Which means maybe she knows how to make him fall in love, and I have to just suck up the way it makes me want to puke when I think of them together, of how I’m the opposite of his type, how when he sees me naked, he must think I look like a little girl compared to her breakneck curves, or at least homely and plain. No one could see her naked and then be satisfied with me. But I need this information, and if I have to suffer her story to get it, I’m going to do it.
By the time I get to the bathroom I’m shaking with dread at what lies ahead. Dolly is already leaning over the sink, applying another coat of baby pink lipstick to her plump lips when I step inside on Dixie’s heels.
“So?” Dixie squeals, as excited as I’ve seen her since before the night of our shame. “Tell us everything. How do we get a Darling to fall in love?”
“You don’t,” Dolly says, dropping her lipstick back into her purse—today’s is a tiny pink jeweled thing that won’t hold much more than a phone.
“Wait,” I say, turning to Dixie. “You want Colt to fall in love with you?”
“Well, yeah,” she says, widening her eyes at me like I’m clueless.
I start to say he’s a snake, but then I stop myself, because anyone would say that about Devlin, too. And really, I don’t know Colt at all, do I? I’m assuming things about him, just like everyone else does. I don’t know him any more than the next girl. He shows me what he wants me to see, just like all the guys do. I’m not special. I get the same as any other girl in school, despite being their dog.
I turn back to Dolly, my eyes narrowing. “He fell in love with you,” I point out. “And if I had to guess, maybe Preston has, too?”
“You’re so lucky,” Dixie says on a sigh.
Dolly’s eyes widen, her gaze flying to the door behind me. “Preston does not love me,” she hisses, her tone fiercer than I’ve ever heard. “And don’t go around saying stuff like that. You’re going to get someone killed.”
I plant a hand on my hip and raise an eyebrow. “Why would anyone care if you and Preston hook up? Unless Devlin still loves you…”
My heart hammers as I wait for her answer, sure that I’ll fucking die if she says he does. Why else would Devlin kill his cousin for being with her?
“Shut up,” she hisses, pushing past me to lean her back against the door to keep anyone from entering. “Let’s just get this straight. I’mnothooking up with Preston, okay? Never have, never will.”
“Okay,” I say, raising both hands. “There’s nothing happening between you. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”
“Okay,” she says, eyeing me warily. “Now, as far as your question. Devlin doesn’t fall in love. Neither does Colt. None of the Darlings fall in love. Grampa Darling still arranges all their marriages ahead of time.”
“Annnnd you’re Devlin’s future wife?” I guess.
Explains why she doesn’t want anyone to know she “skips class” with Preston every few days.
“Oh my god, are you really?” Dixie asks, her eyes rounding like saucers in her pale face.
“Look, the Darlings aren’t like other boys,” Dolly says. “They don’t love anything but each other. Those boys… They’d die for each other. So if you think I’m coming between them, you’re wrong. And you won’t, either.”
“I’m not trying to come between them,” I say. I’d be lying if I said their devotion to each other doesn’t impress me, though. I’ve seen the same thing in my own family. My brothers are ride-or-die for each other all the way. The only time a girl comes between them is when she’s in the middle of a threesome. I can respect guys who are that loyal to each other and their family, even if that family wants to destroy mine. It’s an admirable quality.
“Colt would never pick a girl like me,” Dixie says with a sigh, back to the dejected girl she’s been all week.
“Look, you need to just forget them,” Dolly says, addressing both me and Dixie. “They don’t fall in love. I dated Devlin, but he never loved me. I don’t think he’s capable of it. If there was a way to make him fall in love, don’t you think someone would have done it by now? You can’t think you’re the first girl who wanted to make the Darlings fall in love.”
“You’re right,” I say. “God, I’m so stupid. Of course he’s not going to fall in love. I’m just like every other pathetic girl who wanted to snag them.”
“You’re not pathetic,” Dolly says, her expression softening. “Trust me, I get it. Isoget it, girl. But to those boys… They have football, and they have their family. That’s all they’re allowed. That’s their life. Sex is nothing but a commodity to them. Like food. They do it because they need it. They’ll eat you, shit you out, flush you down the toilet, and never think of you again. I’m not telling you this because I want them for myself, or because I want to hurt you. I’m telling you because you’re both badass ladies who deserve better.”