BadApple: I’m sorry. I will focus entirely on the Swans. I’ll have something 4 u soon. If I don’t, I’ve failed, n I will go back to FHS.
I push back the chair and let my head fall against the top of it. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I have four days. It’s not just about taking down the Dolces anymore. I’m not sure that’s even a goal. Right now, I’m having a good time with Royal. Yeah, he’s treated me badly at times, and he’s done the same to other girls. But if I can keep him, he won’t go after anyone else. I can handle what he dishes out. If I was his girlfriend, I’d have sway over him. I’d keep him in check, keep him from hurting anyone. And whatever he’s done to me, it’s not bad enough for me to have called it quits. In truth, I get more of out it than he does. We both get good sex. But that’s all he gets. I get status, immunity, popularity, friends, even a fancy dinner on occasion.
While I may be wavering on taking them down, I still need something for Mr. D. That’s what I really need the secret for. If he wants to use it to take out Mr. Dolce, then I’m an accomplice. I can live with that. I don’t need to do it myself. I want zero part of the glory, the spotlight, the target on my back. I’m one teenage girl with no money or connections. What can I do, anyway?
Royal has told me so much about his sister, things I don’t think he tells most people, personal shit and feelings. He’s opened up to me, been real with me in a way I think he needs, that he can’t get anywhere else. He’s told me about his family, and I’ve told him about mine. And while I love hearing it, love him being real with me so much that I might actually love him if I’m not careful, it’s not what I need to win the game. I need the Swans.
I could gather all the information in the world about his sister, and it wouldn’t bring down his family. I’m not sure anything I can do would. It’s up to Mr. D now. I tried, and I’m fucking done. I’m done being a conniving little snitch. I just need one big haul, one last con. It breaks my heart to have to think of it that way, but this is my life, and I know when Royal’s done letting me walk in his world to amuse himself, I’ll still be here. In Faulkner.
I need to focus on the real goal—getting the fuck out of this town. To do that, I need my scholarship. And to keep that, I need more than the good grades I got on finals, despite spending three nights a week fulfilling Royal’s demanding ass. To keep the scholarship, I need something to give Mr. D, something to get him off my back.
Permanently.
So I need to dig deeper, try harder, not let Royal’s dick distract me, no matter how much I enjoy the distraction. I need dirt, the good dirt, a secret worth ten thousand dollars—my first semester’s tuition. I need something that will pay off my debt to Mr. D once and for all. Because right now, I don’t have shit. Royal’s impervious to it all. He could murder someone and walk away shining like a superstar.
I’m going to get Mr. D his trophy, and then I’m tapping out. He can use the information for whatever he wants.
I sit there for a while, trying to convince myself not to dig myself in deeper, but I’ve struck out with everyone else when I dug for info on the Swans. I should have learned better than to accept favors after Mr. D. But I’m not really asking a favor. I’m taking payment for services rendered. Finally, I sigh and scoot up to the computer again.
BadApple: u said U O me a favor
SilverSwan: what do u need?
BadApple: r u going to grant me 3 wishes, genie?
SilverSwan: what?
So, he’s probably not Mr. D.
Is Silver Swan a play on silver fox? Does that mean he’s old? Maybe the grandfather Darling that Colt told me runs that side of the family? I think of Colt’s dad, the way he had a cane that made him look older than he is. But his hair wasn’t silver. Maybe one of the other Darling families. Dixie said there are five.
Silver is also an anniversary. I do a quick internet search—twenty-five years. If he’s been a Swan for twenty-five years, he’d be in his forties, which puts him at the right age to be one of the five Darling sons, who are our parents’ age.
Time for process of elimination.
BadApple: NM. Can I ask u anything?
SilverSwan: U can ask.
BadApple: u won’t tell me who u r?
SilverSwan: I said I’d repay u 4 helping L. doesn’t matter who I am.
BadApple: it might.
SilverSwan: who r u, Harper Apple? R U with the Dolces?
BadApple: r u a Darling?
SilverSwan: yes
BadApple: r u in jail?
SilverSwan: no
BadApple: Have we met?
SilverSwan: u didn’t answer my ?