He puts a finger to my lips. “No questions, remember?”
I glare up at him, but he only nods to someone down the hall, and a second later, Gloria and her Bitch Pack arrive, all wearing similar jerseys, their hair in high ponytails, with numbers painted on their faces. Only Gloria sports the number one on her cheek. Her sisters have the other Dolce boys’ numbers, and the three other girls have other numbers, which I assume belong to DeShaun, Cotton, and Dawson.
“Come on, then,” Gloria says, linking her arm through mine. “I’ve got face paint. We’ll get you fixed up in the bathroom.”
“Thanks, Lo,” Royal says, putting an arm around her waist and leaning down to kiss her forehead. “You’re a doll.”
Gloria and her squad bodily escort me down the hall to the bathroom. I’ve had enough attention lately, so I don’t fight it and cause a scene. But once inside the restroom, I jerk away and turn to face them. “What the fuck was that? I have a test first period. I don’t have time for this shit.”
“Don’t look at us like we’re going to attack you,” Gloria says, rolling her eyes. “You’re a Dolce girl now. You have to look the part.”
“And if I don’t?”
They all stand there blinking at me like it’s incomprehensible that I don’t want to look like their clone.
“Oh, bless your heart,” Gloria says at last, giving me a pitying look. “You think it’s a choice?”
“Why would you say no?” Eleanor asks. “It’s Royal Dolce. That’s like… If someone gave you the Canary Diamond, and you said, No thanks. I’m good. I’d rather have a regular diamond.”
“I don’t get it,” Everleigh says. “There are already six of us, and six of them. Why does she get to be a Dolce girl? Royal already has you, Lo. He’s the quarterback, and you’re top girl.”
Gloria sighs. “Royal can have as many Dolce girls as he wants. If he wants six for himself, he gets them. We’re not here to question them. We’re here to give them what they want.”
“And why would we do that?” I ask, crossing my arms and glaring up at her.
“Because they give us what we want,” she says, rooting in her bag. She produces a black mock turtleneck like the ones they’re all wearing and hands it to me. “Put this on under the jersey. Then I’ll do your hair.”
“Test, remember?”
“If you’re so worried about getting to class, stop fucking around and put it on,” she snaps, shoving me toward a stall. “Think of it like this. Royal’s the king. I’m the queen. You’re his mistress. We both know about each other, and we’re okay with each other, even if we can’t say it in public.”
“Ohhh,” Everleigh says. “So he shows up at the party with you, but he leaves with her.”
“Exactly,” Gloria says. “I get the photo ops, she gets the dirty talk.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “You’re okay with this? And you expect me to be?”
“Yes and yes,” she says. “Now, first period’s about to start, so hurry up.”
I’m not sure how I feel about all this, but I’m not missing my test, so I quickly change into the shirt and pull the jersey on over it, knotting it up at the hip like the other girls. Gloria steps behind me and pulls my hair into a tight, high pony, then stands back. “It’ll do for now,” she says. “We’ll do your face paint later.”
The bell chimes, and I curse under my breath and dash out of the bathroom and into class. “You’re late,” the teacher snaps without looking up. But then she sees me, her eyes taking me in with one glance. “Oh. One of you. You’re fine, just have a seat.”
I make my way to my seat, though I’m in that weird Wonderland reality again. The teacher isn’t going to count me tardy because I’m wearing Royal’s jersey? Christ. Every time I think I’ve learned the extent of the Dolces’ power, it goes further.
Everyone is watching me, whispering. I’m sure there will be a blog up by the end of the period letting everyone know I’m not just Royal’s ho, I’m a Dolce girl now. Exactly where I’ve wanted to be for so long. I don’t even know how I feel about that or what just happened. Was it the text I sent on Wednesday after Gloria convinced me to reach out first, the one he couldn’t even be bothered to reply to? All I said was that I hoped he was doing okay. Does untouchable Royal Dolce really need me to care about him?
It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I’m one step closer to that secret Gloria teased me with. I’ve wanted to get in with them since the first time we met, and now I am. Despite everything they’ve done, despite warring with them since I set foot in Willow Heights, somehow, I made it. I’m in. Now it’s time for the real work to begin.
Somehow, it’s not as exciting as I expected. I thought I’d relish taking them down, destroying them from within. But I’m not sure I even want that anymore. They’re brutal and terrible and insane, but they’re also complicated and sad and human. And the truth is, they’re not just fascinating. I like them. Not just Royal, either. Duke’s an obnoxious ass, but he’s not evil. He jokes, but when we were at the river, he held me to keep me warm. Though I don’t know Baron as well, he’s growing on me, too. He’s loyal and looks out for his brothers.
And Royal… I don’t even want to look at that mess. I just know that I’m in, and I don’t want out. Not now. I want more. I want to know more, do more. I want to fuck him again. It wasn’t just good, it was mind-blowing. If that’s all we are, I’ll take it. He’s not Maverick.
Not that I regret what Mav and I had. It was fun and easy, and I learned something from it—that casual is not my style. But I’m not casual with Royal. Even if it is for him, I think I can live with that. I’m going to have to. Because it’s too late for me. Something connects us, and it has from the moment we met. Something in his soul claimed mine long before his words did. And mine accepted his claim. Even when I didn’t admit it, didn’t know it, I was always his.
Now that we’ve given in to that, there’s no backing out. When he looked in my eyes while he was inside me, it was the most powerful thing I’ve ever experienced. It doesn’t matter if that time was the one people would say was ‘bad’ sex, or that he came too soon. In fact, that only tells me that he felt it, too. That our connection was so intense he couldn’t hold back even if he tried.
Knowing it won’t last, that it can’t, only makes the decision easier. I’m not the type to give into things without thinking them through. But with him, I am. He makes me feel crazy, and daring, and terrified, and excited. I can let my heart have this for now, my body take pleasure in his, without changing my mind. I haven’t forgotten what he did. He still released that video after he promised he wouldn’t. If colleges find out about that, he might have ruined my entire future. He destroyed my friend’s life, at least the current version, and made him drop out of school. And he’s destroyed so many people before us.