Page 92 of Defiant
Before I thought better of it, I reached for my phone, posed in the mirror, and snapped a picture, sending it to Jacob. The man wasn’t exactly thrilled to be staying home tonight while I was going to a dance with two dates—yeah, I’d told him, figuring it was a good idea not to keep it to myself.
He’d probably kill me when he opened his phone and saw me all dolled up, ready to go someplace without him by my side.
I bit my lower lip, glancing at the time on my phone. Vaughn was supposed to text me when he was outside waiting, so now it was just a matter of patience. I had my black jacket ready to go near the door, and I sat on the edge of my bed, my phone in my hand.
I really hoped tonight would go without a hitch. I didn’t want to have to worry about watching my back all night, wondering if Brittany and her crew were going to string me up in front of the whole school and humiliate me.
My phone buzzed with a text message, and I saw it was Jacob, Mr. Grumps himself. He sent me an emoji. Just an emoji—the face that wasn’t so smiley. The face that was unimpressed, its eyes and mouth nothing but lines.
A grin spread on my face, and I texted back: What? Don’t you think I look good?
His response was almost immediate, I think you look too good for a fucking high school dance.
I laughed to myself, imagining him saying that out loud. It was definitely something I could picture him saying seriously, glowering at me all the while. Before I could text him back, another message popped up. Vaughn was outside the gate. The guard had offered to let him in, but I told him to have the car park out there. I told him I’d be right out.
After grabbing my jacket and tossing it over my arm, I headed down the stairs, phone in hand. My mom was in the kitchen with Ollie, talking about how she was so happy for me to make friends, but annoyed that I was going with a date.
“She’s old enough to decide for herself if she wants to date,” Ollie said, causing me to pause at the base of the steps.
He was on my side? Really? That was shocking.
“She’s eighteen,” Ollie reminded my mom, as if she needed any reminder. “She needs to get some experience in, before she’s thrown out into the real world.”
Before my mom could retort—because surely she was about to—I walked into the kitchen, giving them both as big of a smile as I could muster. “Not to interrupt,” I deadpanned, “but my date is outside. It’s time for me to head out.”
My mom threw me a withering look. “You look beautiful, honey, but why can’t your date come inside? I’d like to meet the boy you’ll be spending the next few hours with. Things didn’t end well when you refused to let your date for that party come in, in case you don’t remember.”
Oh, I remembered plenty. I remembered that day better than I wished I did.
Ollie managed to laugh at her—yeah, the man actually laughed at what my mom said. Maybe her snide tone got to him, or something. “Piper, just let her go.”
She looked at him, appearing unsure, and I had no idea what was going on in her head when she gazed at Oliver Fitzpatrick, but I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to hear Ollie call my mom by her first name again, either.
“Mom, I promise I will be back before midnight,” I said. The dance officially ended at eleven, anyways, and I didn’t plan on getting into trouble like I had at the party. Hopefully everything tonight would go on without a hitch, and we could all move on from this.
Although, I had to remind myself, not all of us would be moving on. Some people were dead because of this. Some people’s families were torn apart and would never be the same because of this.
Had to make tonight count, because I honestly didn’t know how much more of this game I could handle.
I guess I really wasn’t cut out for this place, for the games these rich snobs played and the terrible secrets they kept. I needed a normal life, normal friends, normal boys to surround myself with.
Alas, that’s not what I had, and the thought of being without the current men in my life was an awful one. As much as I didn’t want their darkness, I had it anyway.
My mom heaved a sigh, and she was quick to hug me. “Fine. Just be safe,” she told me. “And have fun.” That last part was an afterthought, but I could appreciate it all the same.
I gave my mom and Ollie a wave before heading out of the kitchen, to the front door. Gathering my nerves, I slipped on my studded slut jacket and squared my shoulders, the same stance I would wear as Dante, Vaughn, and I entered the dance. Eyes would undoubtedly be on us; I doubted it was every day someone brought two dates to the same dance.
The early night air was cool, but nowhere near as cold as it had been when I’d first arrived at Midpark. As I walked down the long, winding driveway to the gate, which was already open for me, I couldn’t help but marvel at how much things had changed since then. The relationships I’d started, shit I’d suddenly found myself knee-deep in. Things definitely moved fast in Midpark.
A limo sat on the road, idling, waiting for me. After waving at the guard in the guardhouse—not Frank, since it was nighttime. I couldn’t remember this other guy’s name—I got in the back, sliding in as elegantly as I could, dress and heels considered.
I was immediately greeted by the hungry stare of Dante, his blue stare eyeing me up greedily as I shut the door behind me. He sat in the back corner, his tall stature stretched out and looking mighty fine in a sleek, black suit. He wore a dark red undershirt, and a black tie. The hair on the top of his head was styled in a short, spiky mohawk instead of lying flat over his forehead.
“Damn, babe,” Dante muttered, biting his bottom lip as he ran his eyes along my legs, taking in my heels. “You look fucking hot.”
He had a way with words, didn’t he? I was too flustered to snap at him for calling me babe.
As heat crept up my cheeks, I heard another voice in the limo say, “Normally I would hate to agree with him, but he’s right.”
