Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
My lips pressed tight together, penning in my first response. It wouldn’t be good enough to combat a single thing he said, since he was right. I told Jack I’d do anything for the tuition to Regalia. That place didn’t give scholarships and Jack would have to cosign a loan.
What else could I do? If only Jack’s price wasn’t so high.
“Wear something formal.”
I went downstairs to my old room. Band and model posters claimed the walls. Mom promised when we moved that I could decorate my room however I wanted. Quite a lot of power to put in a fourteen-year-old girl’s hands. I painted the walls purple and put wallpaper on the ceiling. Everything from the chairs, to the couches, to the bed was soft, fuzzy, and plush.
A vision of me and Winter burrowed under the covers, drinking tea and watching movies flashed in my mind. I turned my back on the bed, facing the closet.
St. Thomas’s was year-round, but Mom always let me come home for spring break and Christmas. The first meant bikinis and beach trips. The latter was balls and parties. As such, my wardrobe was composed entirely of two-pieces, ball gowns, and plaid skirts. Flicking through the sea of chiffon, I settled on an ombre floor-length sleeveless stunner with a sweetheart neckline.
Thirty minutes later, I was showered, done up, and waiting for him at the bottom of the grand staircase. Jack came down in one of his gray bespoke suits—alone.
“Mom isn’t coming?”
He glanced at his watch rather than meet my eyes. “She’s tired. She decided to catch an early night.”
“Right.”
“Shall we?” Jack offered his elbow.
I slid my arm through, accepting my fate. Tonight was a small price to pay if it meant getting justice for Winter.
Jack and I rode in painful, awkward silence. Once or twice we tried to start up a conversation. They fizzled out quickly.
“So,” Jack began, trying again. “How did you get to the house?”
“I took a cab.”
“That won’t do. A cab driver drops you off at a home like ours and they start wondering if they should help themselves to more in your wallet than their tip.”
I glared at him. “You know, you have a pretty low opinion of the working class for someone who married a former housekeeper.”
“Yes, and you have a rosy view of the world for someone who’s been exposed to its hideousness.”
Wincing, I replied, “Touché. I always wondered if that’s what Mom saw in you. Give back as good as you get—unlike the other starched-shirt, wedgied-by-their-manners bores around here.”
Jack laughed, shocking me. “That may have been part of it, but according to her, she fell in love with my humor and passion.”
“What did you love about Mom?”
The lines around his mouth softened the way they only did when thinking of her. “She was beautiful,” he murmured. “Still is. The most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. And when she laughs... it just about knocks you on your back.”
I shifted to the window, the beginnings of my smile fading. “If I do this, do you think it will make Mom happy? Will she laugh again?”
Jack didn’t reply, and I didn’t look to see if the lines were back. We didn’t speak for the rest of the ride.
I heard the party before I saw it. Music echoed through our small town, blanketing Regalia in sweet melodies. Our patch of earth was beautiful, but affluent communities tended to be. What set it apart was the entirely new way of separating people and putting them down. In the years since I’d lived part-time in Regalia, I never heard the words Royals and Dregs. Did they save that for the university? Another way to make college life harder than it needed to be?
Whatever the reason, the blanks were starting to fill in. My sister, stepdaughter to an owner of a tire franchise, wasn’t good enough for the old-money blueblood Royals. They singled her out—likely for breaking one of their idiotic rules. Then, they came at her relentlessly until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Which begs the question, is it just a handful of Royals I need to take down, or the whole fucking system?
Jack pulled up to the valet who opened my door. Fancily dressed couples streamed around us, climbing the marble staircase into Wilson Mansion. Fairy lights strung along the banister and the columns, casting a shimmering glow on my gown.
Jack and I were almost to the door when I heard my name.
“Lu-Lu? Is that you?” Katie left a handsome middle-aged couple behind and bolted up the steps. Her gown was even prettier than mine. An A-line strapless number with layers upon layers of blue and gold. “It is you.” Her eyes bugged taking in my dress. “Where the hell did you get that? Since when did the Wilsons pass Valentinos to the waitstaff?”
She locked on Jack, and our linked arms. “Ah, I see. This is your boyfriend. You know, you don’t have to”—she waved her fist by her mouth, poking her cheek out with her tongue—“suck dick to get an invite.”