“Where the hell are you from?” she asked in a holier-than-thou voice.
Her pink dress was all princess-like. For a split second, I thought about tearing it to shreds and kicking her in the pussy. It wouldn’t hurt like kicking a guy in the balls, but I bet I could get her to scream.
I wasn’t a violent person in normal circumstances. There were times when my rational, calm brain locked itself in a closet, and all that was left was rage and bloodlust.
“None of your business,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
She giggled as one of the other guys in the cell with us pulled her back. He had a soft smile on his face. He had deep brown skin and eyes that almost felt innocent, but I wasn’t falling for shit at the moment, not when I was literally in a fucking cage.
“The wristband you have on,” he pointed out in a smooth deep voice. It was deeper than I thought. It took me by surprise for a second before I glanced at my wrist.
“Yeah, what about it?”
He gestured to the other cages with other teens in them. Some were taking their shoes off, and some women looked nervous but were tying up their hair.
“Here in Aridole, we have an elite system. The way to determine the tops are by trials and challenges. Some years it involves us, and sometimes, it doesn’t.”
“Us?” I asked because I wasn’t seeing how I had anything to do with it.
“Expendables,” the guy said. He had the decency to flinch. “Don’t think too hard about it. If you aren’t an heir or inheriting most of your parents’ fortune, then you’re seen as—” He waved his hand in the air, and my stomach tightened.
“Expandable,” I finished for him.
He nodded. The girl rolled her eyes and started braiding her hair. “Why even explain it to her? You’re too fucking nice, Mac.”
Mac ignored her and kept his soft gaze on me. He moved toward me and pulled me closer. My body tensed instantly. I prepared myself to take him down, but there was no ill intent wafting off him or even the desire to touch me in that way. His warm breath fanned over my ear. If it weren’t for the situation, I might have looked at him differently, but I couldn’t at the moment. Instead, I focused on what he whispered into my ear. “It’s a hunt this year.”
A hunt?But what does that have to do with me?
Mac pulled back, stripped off his suit jacket, and rolled his sleeves up. He, too, took his shoes off. His kind gaze flickered up, and he stared at me as if I should be following suit. He had to know this was insane.
“We need to call the police,” I said.
The girl laughed, and it grated against my eardrums. Punching her was sounding better and better with each second that passed.
“Stop, Nelly. If you want our school at the top this year, you do your best to stop and help,” Mac stressed.
I glanced around. “So this is against other schools? Don’t you guys think this is excessive?”
“It’s not just against schools. There is also a chance we will have different kings at Press Prep,” Mac said.
“Kings? Are we back in medieval times?”
Mac huffed out a laugh, but he was still getting ready for the hunt.
“Fine.” Nelly started ripping her dress, and I gawked. There was no way that dress didn’t cost her a few hundred, if not thousands, of dollars.
“It’s simple. I’m sure Mac already told you the theme tonight. You need to run fast and climb. The main people after us are the ones for our school, but there are no rules against other schools grabbing and hiding us. And trust me, you don’t want that.”
Again I wanted to stress the idea of calling the police. Someone needed to get ahold of a phone.
“And don’t think about calling or messaging anyone. It won’t matter here in Aridole. There are four major sectors run by certain families that stand at the top. Not even the law here is free of these rules. So you better get your shit together, or you’re going to be crying.”
I didn’t even know what to say. My mind was reeling from the insanity. Nelly snapped her fingers. “Come on. Damn, girl, you don’t exactly have the brains to survive, huh?”
I flipped her off and went to rip the too-expensive dress. It went from ankle length to resting right under my ass. Taking the heels off was the easiest part. I didn’t feel bad at all for ruining it. I hadn’t wanted to come in the first place, and this was why. How in the fuck did a simple party with rich kids turn into this?
“Shit.” I didn’t have any hair ties. My mother, in all her newfound preppy glory, had taken all of them, saying they looked tacky. She’d fucked me over for the millionth time in my life.