She stopped, frowning at me in her path and pulling out her phone to check her texts.
“Wannagotothedance?”
“Huh?” She looked up at me from her phone.
I coughed a little, clearing my throat. “The dance. Um. Prom. Wanna go? With, um… me?”
She turned her head, looking around us, eyes wide. Several people were watching on. Shit. I hadn’t intended on having an audience. This was just where I knew I could catch her every day.
I opened my mouth to say something else, maybe to apologize for asking her like this, or to tell her how long I’d liked her and that I’d like to get to know her better. That I saw her. How, yes, most of the time she was smiling and putting on such a great show for everyone, but I saw how sometimes she looked sad and lost when she didn’t think anyone was looking.
I wanted to tell her that I got that, that I felt like that too sometimes. Yeah, my dad was super successful, but I barely knew him, because he was gone so often.
But whatever I might have said was cut off by her caustic laugh once her eyes finally came back to me.
“Go to the prom? With you?” She said it so loud that people who hadn’t been stopping to look before did now. Like they did at car crashes.
And that was what it felt like. Her words hit me like a semi-truck as her beautiful features turned cruel. I wish I could say she was ugly in that moment, but no; even as she cut me into pieces, she was gorgeous.
“My grandmother was best friends with the Rockefellers.” She snorted, then pointed behind me. “You know they only put up with you because of your rich daddy, right? You aren’t a blueblood.”
“Jesus, you don’t have to be a bitch, Bellamy,” Montgomery said from behind me, and I felt my face go red from my friend having to defend me.
Bellamy only shifted and shrugged. “Sorry if I’m the only one who will tell it like it really is.” Then she turned and flounced away from us, all like she hadn’t just dug a knife right in the center of my chest.
“High school was a long time ago,” she said, bringing me back to the present. “I don’t live in the past. The girl I was then is most certainly not the woman I am now. Just as I hope the boy you were, sitting in the lunchroom and gawking at me every day, is not the man sitting across from me now. And as for my life now… if I remember correctly, you were at the exact same Darlington socials surrounded by women who wanted you to be their sugar daddy. So don’t sit and judge me, unless you can do the same to yourself. We both play the game, Emmett. It’s Darlington. It’s who and what we are.”
After high school, I left for college, determined to become my own man. No one would ever look down on me the way she had that day. They could try, but I learned my own worth and place in the world while I was away. And then I came back to Darlington to claim the place that was deservedly mine.
My palm itched to smack that pantiless ass of hers to show her exactly the man I’d grown to be. Fortunately for Bellamy, Mrs. H entered with our breakfast.
As if Mrs. H could sense the tension in the room, she quickly served the meal and then walked over to an armoire, pulled out a white box with a black ribbon, and placed it on the table in front of Bellamy. “It’s for tonight’s Trial. Every night before a Trial, you will get a box with what you are both to wear” was all she said before leaving us.
“Should we see what’s inside?” Bellamy asked as she fingered the black ribbon on the box.
“Go ahead and open it.” I took a deep breath, needing the distraction to regain my control. Bellamy definitely had a way of getting under my skin, but I refused to allow her to see just how much.
She pulled out a tuxedo for me, which I figured as much, and then she stared into an almost empty box. All that remained was a paint brush and a pair of silver high heels.
She held the paintbrush and lifted an eyebrow as she asked, “I’m assuming this is all I get?”
I took my first bite of food and swallowed down the deep laughter that wanted to escape. “Looks that way.” I nodded to her plate. “Eat all your breakfast. I’m not asking. I’m not suggesting. I’m telling.”
I paused, waiting for some sort of snarky response. I was prepared to get up, remove my belt, and teach Bellamy exactly what happened if she disobeyed me, but I’d much rather save it for when my belly wasn’t growling and the coffee had time to kick in. Luckily for me, Bellamy wasn’t in the mood for a battle quite yet. Though I saw her nostrils flare slightly, and I could see she was grinding her perfect white teeth, she remained quiet and dug into her meal.
“Bellamy,” I finally said, cutting into the silence of our eating after several moments. “About tonight. I want you to know I have some expectations for the Trials.”
She looked at me mid-chew but didn’t say anything.
“I want there to be no mistake. There will be a lot of men at the Trials. All eyes will be on you, but there is one rule I will never allow you to break. You are mine. Only mine. You will not touch another, speak with another, or even look at another man unless I give you permission to do so. Mine. Are we clear?”
She nodded as she swallowed the toast, needing to sip from the coffee to help wash it down.
“I also expect perfection. I want our Trial to be better than any of the Initiates before us and even those who follow. I don’t do mediocre. I never have. If the Elders want a show, we will give it to them. If they demand we do anything… we do it. I don’t want them to see sass, to see resistance, or any other kind of disrespect. And with that said, I want you to know that I will always protect you, care for you, and guide you through the entire process. You are mine, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. I don’t just demand your respect, but you will soon see that I’ll earn it every step of the way. Yet I need you to allow me to lead. I need you to submit and trust. Are we clear in that?”
“Yes,” she squeaked out. “Yes, sir.” She placed her fork down and leaned forward to give emphasis on her next words. “I want to pass these Trials just as much as you do. And like you… I don’t do mediocre. I’ve been groomed my entire life to be perfect. You are about to see just how perfect I can be at what the Order throws our way.”
4
BELLAMY
Apparently, perfection meant walking down the elegant stairwell of the Oleander naked as a jaybird—oh, except for the silver Louboutin heels. I held my head high and my back straight, just like we learned in Cotillion classes all those years ago. Granted, I didn’t think they had a scenario like this in mind back when Mrs. Marshall was instructing us in the squeaky high-pitched voice about “manners” and “breeding” and how they’d “impact our marriageability.”
Sometimes, it felt like Darlington County had been left back in the 20th century… or on a night like tonight as I descended into an exquisite white-marbled den of sin lit by a gas chandelier, like the 19th.
Other naked women walked in as I entered the ballroom. Men in tuxes and silver robes waited for us. My eyes widened slightly when I passed by a group of faces I recognized—Montgomery Kingston and his friends Beau and Rafe. Shit, I was prancing around naked in front of people I knew. When Emmett had fucked me so enthusiastically, at least it had only been in front of the Elders, but tonight… tonight would be in front of everyone.