Page 154 of The Dollhouse

“It’s what I usually kill with,” Lola answered.

Stella’s response came quickly: “Me, too.”

Lake inched closer to me, leaning his head toward mine as he whispered, “Is it just me, or are they bonding? Please tell me this doesn’t mean we’re going to actually have an… you know.” He couldn’t even say the wordorgy. Ah, that’s my loveable, somewhat awkward Lake.

“You and I have a lot in common, girl,” Lola mused, stepping forward. “Suddenly everything Lincoln said before makes sense. I think I like you.” She tossed a look over her shoulder at Viper, “I think I have a lady boner.”

Viper didn’t say anything, but Lake did: “Is tonight over yet?”

“Don’t worry,” I said, patting him on the chest, on his Superman t-shirt. “There won’t be any orgies tonight.”

Lola must’ve heard me, for she whipped her head around at me and gave me a wink. “And if there is, big boy, you can just watch. You don’t have to be a part of it.” She giggled, a very unhinged sound if I’d ever heard one.

That was the whole point of inviting Lola and the others, I knew. She had no filter, didn’t care who she insulted or what she did. She would give the normal Hillcrest folk a heart attack tonight, once they arrived.

And Lola and Stella together? Well, hopefully they’d be on their best behavior, so there wouldn’t be any blood spilled, but they could talk about killing all they wanted. I literally didn’t care.

Tonight was it. Tonight the facade would crumble.

I left Lola and Stella, along with the guys around them when I saw more people beginning to funnel into the room. The waiters and waitresses had begun to make their rounds, circling the groups with trays of drinks and finger foods. We welcomed a few faces I knew from Hillcrest, people who often made the news or the papers because of their ridiculous donations to whatever charity any time they needed to save face or get other news out of the headlines, along with people whom my parents were quite close with. Family friends who recognized me and acted nice to my face after coming inside the house.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew they’d be gossiping about my hair and my choice of dress the moment they were alone.

I lost count of how many people entered the house, but it was a lot. To the point where every room downstairs contained a group or two. The workers were busy making sure everyone had drinks and food, should they so desire it, along with keeping their masks on.

Another group came through the front door, and I greeted them. Lake had wandered away, getting tired of the constant greeting and defending his choice of outfit—the rich people from Hillcrest, you see, could not fathom why Lake would be wearing a t-shirt and jeans to a party like this. Meanwhile, I stood near the door to grab my parents and usher them into the main room when they arrived.

Never knew how much work it was greeting people until now. It was damn tiring, and I didn’t know how people did it on a normal basis. Throwing parties like this was nothing out of the usual for Hillcrest. I wanted to take a nap after kicking all these people out.

The group that came in just now was made up of two guys and a girl. None of which I recognized. They didn’t look old enough to be one of the receivers of the invite from me, which led me to believe these were more of Markus’s people, like Stella, Lincoln, and Ed. They seemed to be in their mid to late twenties, though they were cleaned up like normal Hillcrest people.

“Hi,” I said. “Welcome.”

“Oh, my God,” the girl spoke, stepping closer to me. She had already put on her mask, while the two guys behind her put theirs on. “I love your hair. I freaking love it so much. I used to dye my hair. I did pink for a while. I’d still dye my hair if my job let me.” She kind of rambled, but I didn’t mind too much; her grey eyes seemed kind, and I instantly liked her.

I noticed one of the guys behind her was covered in tattoos. Though he wore a suit, the tattoos still peeked through. He had pitch-black hair and bright blue eyes, and when he went to stand beside the girl before me, I thought I smelled the faint scent of tobacco. The other man had thick muscles to rival Carter’s, along with dirty blond hair and the prettiest jade eyes. No tattoos that I could see on him.

Did every girl here, besides the trophy Hillcrest wife, have multiple boyfriends? Not that it bothered me at all, since having a bunch of girls here surrounded by their boyfriends would only serve to further shock my parents.

“I don’t think we’ve ever met before,” I said, offering her a hand. “I’m Zoey Marbella.”

“Oh, right,” the girl said, chuckling. She took my hand and shook it once. “I’m Ash. This is Travis and that’s Sawyer.”

“Are you from around here?” I asked, glancing at the two guys behind her, who were busy taking in the house and its decorations. They stood close together, and by a glance, I assumed they were friends. Friends sharing a girl, perhaps? I wouldn’t really know what that’s like, having all my boyfriends get along constantly.

“I’m not, but Sawyer is. He’s a Salvatore,” Ash said. The name rang a bell in my head, although, from what I remembered, some big scandal had happened a few years back, which forced the Salvatores to bring in someone else to take care of their business in the future. And yet here he was. Hmm. Maybe he just didn’t want anything to do with his family anymore.

That I totally understood.

“And Travis is a Scott,” she continued, glancing at the tattooed one. “They’re a big family in Midpark.”

“Related to Markus?” I asked.

Travis nodded, moving beside Ash and putting a hand around her waist. The possessive gesture reminded me of something Roman would do. “Yeah, he’s my older brother. One of them, anyway. I think Lincoln’s already here—”

“Lincoln’s your brother too?” For some reason, the information stunned me. The Scott family must be huge. I guess that made sense, since they apparently killed people. They were like Roman in that respect. “Any other family members coming I should know about?”

“No, not tonight. Killian’s at home with Tori. Though, I think Markus should be on his way.”

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