Page 141 of The Dollhouse

No one offered me anything to drink, which I thought was a power move on my parents’ part, but that was fine. As much as a stiff drink might help me deal with my family and the Oakes, it was probably best if I remained clear-headed throughout the night.

The Oakes. God, I still couldn’t believe they were here. Fuck Willow. Fuck her hard.

Oh, wait. Bryan had done that already, in the bed that was still sitting upstairs, as if nothing had happened. Yeah, I still couldn’t believe my mother thought I’d move back into this house. Fuck to the no.

The chitchat before the meal turned into one borefest. I stared at whoever was talking, but I didn’t participate. Pretending I was listening was hard enough, trust me, when the topic of conversation was on what so-and-so had worn to church earlier, how so-and-so did her hair.

That’s what Mrs. Oakes and my mother talked about, anyway. My father and Mr. Oakes talked of more manly things, such as business deals, throwing charity balls to get around some taxes because they could write off the cost. Blah, blah, blah.

Like I said. Boring as hell. Even if I wanted to talk, I didn’t think I’d have anything worthwhile to contribute to either conversation. Really, I was just waiting for Willow to show her face, to come downstairs and join us. If she knew what was good for her, she’d wait until the last possible minute to come down.

My mother excused herself to check on the kitchen staff to see if they were about done cooking dinner, leaving me alone with my father and the Oakes. I gave the Oakes a fake smile, wishing I had Roman and Carter here with me, wishing I wasn’t alone in this stupid fucking house.

I couldn’t say how long it was before my mother returned, but when she did, she wasn’t alone. I had to resist every urge I felt inside when I saw my sister standing beside her, wearing a white dress, as if she was the purest angel ever to step foot on this earth. I wanted to roll my eyes, but if I did, I might just roll them so hard they’d pop right out of my skull and keep rolling away.

Willow wore white. I wore black. Seemed fitting, really. She was the pretend angel, hiding all of her vices and sins, while I had embraced the dark side, reveled in it and the pleasure it could bring. I’d found myself two handsome devils, and I never planned on letting them go. Of course, Lake was the farthest thing from a devil; I considered him my conscience.

“Look who finally decided to join us,” my mother drawled out, gesturing for Willow to sit right beside me. Duh. Because there wasn’t anywhere else in the entire fucking room where she could sit. It had to be right next to me.

And, since she was playing the good daughter, the daughter who would never tarnish the Marbella name by running away or dying her hair pink, Willow did exactly as mother said and sat beside me. A haughty expression resided on her face, and her blue eyes studied me and my black dress. Low, she whispered, “You look… I don’t think good is the word I’m looking for.” A roundabout way to insult me; she’d taken after our mother there.

“It’s funny,” I whispered back. “I thought only virgins wore white.”

Willow’s eyes widened, and it was more than obvious she hadn’t expected that. I didn’t care if there were four other people in the room with us; let them hear. They already knew what kind of things my sister got up to when no one was looking.

My mother, who currently stood beside my father, hissed, “Zoey Marbella, none of that. What happened in the past is water under the bridge. Family is eternal. The sooner you realize that, the sooner we can get back to being one big happy family.” I couldn’t resist the urge to roll my eyes that time; luckily there was no popping out of the eye socket involved. “Now, dinner is ready, so we should move this to the dining room.”

Mr. and Mrs. Oakes got up first, whispering amongst themselves as they were led out of the room by my mother and father. Willow, on the other hand, didn’t move a muscle. She remained sitting beside me, staring at me like she wanted to rip my hair out with her own hands.

“I see you’re alone tonight,” she commented on my lack of escort. “Where’s your boyfriend? Boyfriends, whatever. It looks like no matter how many you have, they all leave you in the end. Maybe you need a lesson about keeping a man happy—here’s your first.” Willow leaned in toward me, lowering her voice to a bare whisper to add, “Some people say a way to a man’s heart is his stomach, but I’ve found the best way is through his dick. Keep his dick happy, you keep the man happy.”

My jaw ground. It took everything in me to not turn towards my sister and heave a punch square at her nose. I wanted to, though. I wanted to hit her so badly, but if I resorted to physical violence here tonight, I’d blow everything else, so I kept quiet. Damn, it was hard.

“You should’ve known you couldn’t keep them happy. I mean, just look at what happened with Bryan,” she went on. “How are his parents doing, by the way?” Her lips, dressed in a nude matte color, curled into a smile.

There were a lot of things I could’ve told her right then, a lot of things I wanted to say. In the end, I settled with, “I don’t know what you think happened when Bryan left, but—”

Willow interrupted, “Cut the shit, Zoey. I know Bryan found you. I know you saw him. He found you, and now he’s missing. His parents won’t call the cops and report it, but I know you did something.”

I waited a beat before saying, “And what is it you think I did?” If Willow and I didn’t follow my parents and the Oakes into the dining room soon, our mother would return to get us and not be too happy about it.

When my sister said not a word, I got to my feet, tugging at the dress and smoothing out its fabric. I glanced around to make sure Willow and I were alone, and then I met her eyes and said, “What do you think I would do to the boy who fucked my sister behind my back?”

My voice took on a low tone, reminiscent of Roman’s usual voice. He would’ve been proud of me, I think. Sometimes it wasn’t about losing control. Sometimes it was better to keep control, better to be calm, cool, and collected, especially when talking about something like murder.

Willow got up, getting in my face, too stupid to realize she shouldn’t be messing with me. “I think,” she whispered, “you’re the reason he didn’t come back. I think you’re the reason he’s gone. You, or one of your fucking boyfriends.”

“Say you’re right,” I spoke, unblinking as I glared at her, “and we are the reason, do you think it’s smart to piss me off? Maybe the people who piss me off have a habit of disappearing. Tell me, Willow, do you think Mom and Dad will try to find you if you go missing, or will they think you ran away like me and wait for you to come home?”

My sister was the one who broke away first, the one who blinked first. She pulled away from me, her eyes shifting to the side, and she said not a word in return as she moved around me, heading to the dining room.

Good. Cat finally got that fucking tongue.

Smirking to myself, I trailed after her. We found our parents had already taken their seats at the head of the long table, Mr. and Mrs. Oakes on one side. That left my sister and I to sit opposite them.

Fantastic. Couldn’t wait to have a three-course meal while staring at the parents of my dead ex-boyfriend while also sitting in between my mother and my sister.

“I had Penny take away the extra place setting,” my mother said, calling to everyone’s attention that my date hadn’t come with me.

---