Page 67 of Swamp Princess

Looking out the window for a moment, she sighs wistfully. “I want a place where nobody knows my last name. I want a chance to fall in love without a guy choosing me because I can better his own means. I want a small house in the country, and I want the puppy dog who runs around the yard with the kids and a husband who comes home after a hard day of work. I want to work in my own bakery.”

Surprise splits across my face as I look at her. “I didn't know you baked.”

“I love to bake. Actually, it's one of my favorite things to do. I make the best cakes and I also love to decorate them. For my brother's birthday, I made him a three tier Marvel cake. Of course, I couldn't give it to him with his guests because everything needs to be pristine, so the one that the guests saw was a three tier black and white cake since my father threw him a black and white tie party. Secretly, when it was just the two of us, I pulled out the Marvel cake and we celebrated and ate that.”

“I would have never guessed that your brother was a Marvel nerd.” I chuckled at the thought of Remington picking his favorite avenger.

“Not many people get to see the other side of Remington but he's actually really kind and generous, and I'm really sorry that you don't get to see that side of him.”

“It's not your fault he acts out toward me, even if I've done nothing to him.”

She has nothing to say to me in return and we just finished the ride in silence, pulling up to the school. I follow her out and we, together, walk into the school and we split when we have to go our separate ways to our dorm rooms.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Is everything ready to go for the ball?” KG asks. He's been worried that everything will not fall into place the way he wants it to, and I keep trying to tell him that it will be fine.

“Yes, I took everything down to the yearbook committee and passed them a grant to play the video. Vee assured me nobody would watch it and put it in the queue.”

“Good.” He runs his hands down his face, finally relaxing. Me on the other hand, I feel like a shit person. That night with her, it was incredible, even if both of us were drunk, and even though Loyal won't admit it, he had a fun time with her that night too.

“We have to get ready for the football dinner tonight.” KG announces like we forgot that we actually had that tonight. It's just a bunch of our parents and people who donate to the school that come and praise our football team for a job well done, even though they fail to mention that we lose against the swamps.

“I really wish we didn't have to go to it tonight,” Loyal says as he steps out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. “I really don't want to go.”

“Well, you know how our fathers will be if we skip out on this dinner, they wouldn't care if we were puking up a storm, they would expect us to be there with a smile plastered on our face.” Kingston has a point and as much as I hate to admit it, this is to also get our fathers off our back for a little bit.

“I'm going to go ahead and get in the shower,” I tell the guys, walking toward the bathroom. I make sure that I have laid out my black slacks and my black button up with the sky-blue tie that we're all required to wear. On each of our ties, we have a varsity pin that is given to us the year we got varsity, which all three of us got when we were freshmen because we were that good.

Once I'm positive I have everything laid out, I get in the shower with my thoughts constantly on the Christmas ball. I shouldn’t feel like this, but I can’t help myself.

Once finished, I get out and start drying myself off when a notification from my phone catches my eye. I grab my phone, and it shouldn’t surprise me that it is a text from my father telling me not to embarrass him tonight.

Rolling my eyes, I respond, telling him I wouldn’t dream of it. I know it sounds a little snarky, but I know I can get away with it, at least over the phone. In public, I have to be the perfect son, or the consequences that I will face would be worse than anything I faced before. My father's image means more to him than my mother and me.

I want to know why our fathers are wanting Brinley out of the school so bad. I asked the guys if they knew anything, but they want to keep their noses out of it. I know KG said that he saw our fathers fucking Brinley’s mom, but they don’t want to know any more of it.

I know a scholarship for this school is something that most kids from the swamps dream of, and the fact that she got it, means she is smart. I also know she wants something more than what she has, so the only conclusion is that her getting kicked out would leave her with nothing and no future.

Brinley would have to plead her case to KG’s father. Having to plead her case to KG’s father would mean that she would be asking him for something and in return, he could ask whatever he wanted from her. Women from the swamps are desperate and would give him almost anything he asked for.

I have a feeling that they want something more for her than what they're saying they do. I have my suspicions on what they really want out of her but I don't want to voice them and risk my father's wrath, and honestly, if it wasn't the threat to my mother and most likely my sister would be next, I wouldn't do what my father asked me to do.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I notice that the guys are looking down at their phones too which means they're fathers also sent them a message. Tonight is more about them than it is about us. They like the fact that we are the top football players on the team, and that our stats beat previous All Star players that were on our team.

We're the ones that get to stand up and grab the trophies and get honored through the night, but really, our father’s stood there and puff out their chests like they're the ones who did it. I know they live vicariously through us, and it's a pain in the ass.

“I'm guessing your father's sent you the threat of not embarrassing them tonight at the dinner?”

“Exactly.” Both of them answer at the same time with looks of frustration plastered across their face.

KG chuckles as he's fixing his tie. “I would rather go out on the night, partying and drinking then be there.”

“Me too.” I start getting dressed as I think of what I would rather be doing than this dinner tonight. “I would rather our whole team just throw a house party and hang out together, congratulating one another for the stats and our victories. Hell, I would rather run future plays with them and think about how we could beat the swamp’s team next year.”

“They have some really good players on their team, but since Blaise is in this school and it seems like he's going to be staying, he'll most likely try out for the football team next year, and he's one of their absolute best,” Loyal says.

“Yeah, but we know we can't let him beat us or our fathers will be pissed.” I remind him.

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