I cut him a glare. “Keep laughing, sperm silo.”
He chokes on his good humor.
Jade hugs her arms around her husband’s waist. “He’s my…teaser.” A strange look of surprise crosses Arris’s face. His wife nestles the side of his neck. She kisses him there. “Keep him around…just a little longer. Show him what a real man looks like. Aren’t I allowed a little fun?”
Arris’s mouth draws into a tight line.
“He can live,” Arris says roughly. “For now.”
Arris links his hand in Jade’s. With that, he takes her and walks her out of the stables.
My heart is pounding like a jackhammer in my chest.
The security guard comes up to Everett. He takes a small box out of his bag. It’s got a syringe in it.
“Hold up,” I say. “What the hell is that?”
“Something to help him enjoy tonight.”
That’s all the security man says before he fills the syringe and sticks Everett with it.
Slowly, he pushes his thumb on the stopper, injecting Everett with clear liquid.
Each push sends a new wave of panic through me.
What the hell are they putting in him?
“Quit it!” I snap. “Get away from him!”
I’m a dog straining against its collar. I’ll rip their throats out. Both of them. Just for putting their hands on him. I test the limits of my bonds, but the ropes are tight. I’m helpless, and there’s nothing I can do as they untie Everett and drag him away.
48
CLAIRE
The sun drags low in the sky by the time we pack into the bus to leave the parade.
How long have we been out? I’m not sure.
Time has run away from me. This morning seems ages ago. I’ve been in my dress all day, and it’s chaffing under my breasts, damp under my arms. My hair has frizzled up around the flower crown. I’m escorted back in a tinted bus with the stallions. Horse head masks litter the floor, but the men are vibrant—sweating, talking loudly, laughing. I can’t make out their words; it sounds like they’re talking through tin cans attached to a string.
I sit in the back. My Belleflower King sits all the way in the front of the bus. They’ve worked hard to keep us apart and save the reveal for tonight. Even though it’s hot in the bus, he keeps his mask on and dips his water bottle underneath the mask to take sips from it. He won’t turn his double head to face me, and the secret is killing me.
I want to ask Rafe. He’s the only one who might spill the details. But he’s sitting too far away from me, talking animatedly with his fellow studs. His thick hair sits flat against his forehead, a sweat-band from the mask.
The bus bounces over the bumpy roads. Every time I ask for water, someone gives me a bottle of honey-sweet liquid. I let myself be parched.
The driver lets us out in front of the Dagney estate. There is no little Belleflower Princess to greet us at the door this time. This after-party is adults-only, after all.
I’m the last off the bus. I step off, and Arris catches my hand.
“Look at you,” he says. “Shining like a diamond.”
Jade stands next to him. She’s still wearing her smile, but it looks as fake as the masks.
“It’s the sweat,” I say with a small laugh. “I think I need to freshen up.”
“Of course. Come in first.”