Page 81 of Gilded Fake

“I thought you were the king now,” Magnolia says to Colt, watching him take a bite with the same fork. I squirm in his lap, watching that fork that was just inside my mouth slide into his.

“I am,” he says, forking through the bowl for the next bite. He looks so unconcerned you’d never know the gossip circling the room was entirely about him.

“What are you doing over here at the loser table?”

“Watch it, Blondie,” Harper says.

“Yeah, yeah, you were queen for like one day, a million years ago,” Magnolia says, waving a hand. “No one even remembers last year. Colt was king yesterday.”

“And here I thought you sat with me because I was your hero,” Harper says with a wry smile. “What happened to me being Katniss Everdeen?”

“What happened is that you gave up the rebellion to go have babies with PTSD Peeta,” Magnolia says. “Or Gale? Hmm, I’m not sure which one Royal is. I think he’s a little of both. Anyway, point is, you ran off with Pale Geeta. Meanwhile, the rebel queen became the regular queen, and now there is no rebellion.” She sighs in defeat. “Mama Katniss is the best I can do, so here I am.”

Harper laughs and catches my eye. “No babies here.”

“Look at you, setting an example for our youth,” Colt says.

I reach for the fork, but he gives my thigh a firm smack before picking up the fork and sliding the next bite into my mouth.

“You’re really going to sit here and feed me my entire lunch?” I ask. “My mouth works fine.”

“Yes, it does,” he says with an exaggerated wink.

I roll my eyes, my cheeks heating.

Harper grins and shakes her head.

“What?” I ask, hugging my arms around myself and cradling my elbows. If there’s one person whose opinion I still care about, it’s her.

“Nothing,” she says. “I wouldn’t have predicted it in a million years, but y’all are cute as hell together.”

“Why not?” Colt asks, feeding me another bite. “She’s been obsessed with my dick since you joined the Swans.”

“A lot longer than that,” I mutter.

“Okay,” Harper says nodding as she studies us like she’s putting it all together.

It doesn’t bother me when she does it. I told her about us, so she knows our history, but this is the first time she’s seen us being together. I don’t mind it, though I’m not quite ready to see the rest of the school’s reaction. For now, I pretend the other tables don’t exist, that they’re not all craning their necks to see the restored king now back at the pariah table. At least I don’t have to be scared for Colt anymore. He’s royalty no matter what he does, and graduation looms. No one at Willow Heights is going to mess with him again.

“What do you think?” Magnolia asks, looking to Harper. “Do we ship them or no?”

“I can get behind it,” Harper says. “If anyone can tame Colt, it would be a girl like you, Lo.”

“I’m not trying to tame him,” I say.

“And that’s why I love her,” he says, depositing another bite into my mouth. I nearly choke on the food, my head spinning with the way he just dropped that bomb on the whole table, completely nonchalant, like they’re not the most important words spoken since humans created language.

“Good,” Harper says. “She’s my best friend, so you better treat her right.”

“Hey,” he protests. “I’m your friend too.”

“Yeah, but you can handle yourself,” she says.

“I can handle myself,” I say, giving her a look.

She shrugs. “I know. You’re a survivor. Just sometimes you need help. And that’s okay—that’s what I’m here for. But I know Colt’s track record, and I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

“Hey,” he protests again. “I’m not some dickhead who can’t keep it in his pants.”

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