Prologue, part I #2
There has to be a way to change it. For my sake…
for that of my best friend… I can’t marry the King’s nephew.
I sure as hell don’t want to, and when one of Adrian’s closest friends eyeballs the little bit of cleavage I have before letting his gaze travel down the length of my lower legs…
he’s fucking with me again. He’s gotta be.
He usually is.
I don’t know why Connor gets his kicks picking on me.
Probably for the same reason that Adrian’s been Loni’s biggest bully since kindergarten; another of the countless reasons why my stomach sinks to my dainty fucking sandals whenever I think that I’ll have to let him touch me one day.
Still, if there’s a single person in Harmony Heights that I don’t have to put on my prim and proper Offering act for, it’s Connor Heyward.
Just like how I can see the real him behind the charming mask, he can see the girl I wish I could be—mainly because I lost my patience with his smirks and his winks and his ability to push every last button I have back when we were in middle school.
Years later, I’m not the Haven Smith whenever he pops up to bother me.
I’m not the pristine Offering whose only worth is in her name and her virginity.
I’m me, and if that makes these run-ins not as annoying as they used to be…
well, I only have two months left before the Order makes me someone else.
Unless—
I shake my head, acting as though I don’t notice the way his dark eyes are drawn to my chest. It’s Connor. He talks a big game, but he’s basically harmless. He flirts with everyone, and I’m not any special just because I don’t fall for it.
Because I don’t.
Because I can’t.
“You’re looking good. I know Bas said he was making this an open invitation kind of shindig, but I didn’t get my hopes up. Never thought you’d come slum with the likes of us.” He takes his eyes off my boobs long enough to glance at my hands. “You don’t have a drink. Let me go get you one.”
“Trying to get me drunk?”
He laughs. “It’ll take a lot more than a single drink to loosen you up enough to do what I have in mind.”
As if I believe that. Besides, he knows better to even joke about that. Guys in Harmony Heights might be able to sleep with whoever they want, but until there’s a wedding ring on my finger, I’m not allowed to let anyone touch me in the way that Connor is implying.
And, no, last summer’s fling with Jason Michaels doesn’t count. Everything we did was over the clothes, and though I might’ve lost my head and let him go even further, he left Harmony Heights—and me—before it got that far.
That’s what happens in a town like ours.
It didn’t matter that he wasn’t from here, or that he was only visiting for the summer.
As far as Jack Collins is concerned, I’m spoken for.
I’m meant for his nephew, and though I don’t know for sure, I’d put down all the money in my trust that Jack got wind of my relationship and put an end to it.
Since then, I’ve bided my time, hoping that Adrian finds the balls to stop the facade that he’ll actually marry me, and I can find one of the Owed I might actually be able to stomach marrying.
I know I’m not getting out of an arranged marriage.
To do so would be to leave Harmony Heights, to abandon my parents and Loni, and the life I’ve always known.
That’s something else I can’t do, and a reminder why I drove out to Bas Reynolds’s house in the first place.
“I’m not here for jokes, Connor. I’m here for my friend. Have you seen Loni?"
Someone has to save her from her bad decisions, and since we were kids, that’s been me.
I want to think that she’s learned her lesson, that since she’s been openly dating Desmond St. James—another of the Heirs, and the one that, rumors run, is going to Claim Loni during August’s ceremony—she would know better than to risk her future as an Owed on a mistake.
I want to think that, but when Connor tilts his head slightly, glancing up at the sky over our head, eyes darting to the rows of windows on the second story, I know better.
“Let me guess. The reason I can’t find her is because she went upstairs.”
“Maybe.”
Fuck. “With Desmond?”
Connor lifts his hand, scratching the back of his neck. “I was actually just talking to my good pal Des in the kitchen. But then I heard you were searching for something out back, and I only hoped it was me.”
He hoped wrong. “Who told you I was here?”
“Oh, sunshine, everyone knows better than to hide the fact that you’re out here alone from me.”
I wrinkle my nose. I have no idea what that means, so I just say, “What’s with this ‘sunshine’ crap?”
Connor nods at my dress. “You can’t expect to wear such a pretty yellow dress and not get a new nickname.”
Connor and his nicknames. Yeah, I should’ve known better. He has this thing where he’d rather use any other name than the one a person prefers. Kind of like how Desmond has such a stick up his ass, he has to be Desmond, so, of course, Connor shortens it to Des.
Seems like I’m ‘sunshine’ for now.
“Whatever. I need to find Loni.”
Before it’s too late.
Connor clicks his tongue. “Sorry. That’s a no-can-do. Loni is definitely occupied.”
She’s occupied. She’s upstairs. And she’s not with Desmond.
Shit. “Is she with Adrian?”
The tiniest hint of surprise crosses his features before he shrugs. That in and of itself is all the answer I need.
I huff out a breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Unfortunately, I know he’s not. And that right there is why I got dressed, drove here after suffering through the third degree from my mother about where I was going after dark, and went searching for Loni before she got herself into trouble.
Adrian. Of course she’s with Adrian.
He might be my supposed fiancé, but I've spent years watching Adrian Heller pretend that he hates my best friend. Years watching Loni act as though she didn't care. Years watching them look at each other when they think nobody is paying attention and seeing exactly how they do it.
Nobody puts that much effort into hating somebody, not unless they're trying very hard not to admit that the truth of the matter is very different. And then, some time since senior year began, that hatred turned to something else entirely.
Loni might be ‘dating’ Desmond, but I know her. She’s in love with Adrian, and that can’t end well for either of them.
Especially if they’re on the second floor…
I’ve heard stories. Rumors. When one of the future Owed grabs a girl at one of these parties, he’ll take her upstairs where he can get to know her better.
They won’t ruin an Offering, but there are so many girls—like Lindy and her crew—who want to snag one of the higher-ranked members to better their own position in the society.
Not every woman in the society is an Offering.
Not everyone is part of the Used, either; the society’s answer to legalized prostitution, it’s what happens to any Offering who gets ruined before they’re Claimed.
Plenty are regular members living regular lives…
but not me. Not Loni. And certainly not the King’s nephew.
They shouldn’t be up there, but it doesn’t occur to me to accuse Connor of making it up. He’s a lot of things, but he’s not a liar, and Loni… I know her well enough to accept that it wouldn’t have taken a lot of persuasion on Adrian’s part to get her alone.
And though I can’t quite explain why I say it, I point out to Connor, “Adrian is supposed to marry me after he’s branded into the Order, you know.”
In the next breath, something changes in Connor’s expression.
He doesn’t lose his easy smile, even if the corners of his mouth go tight.
His eyes lose some of the warmth that’s usually there when he’s messing with me.
Instead, he becomes another one of the cold, cruel Heirs as he makes his quick retort: “Yeah, and we both know that you’re not the one that Adrian really wants. ”
Ouch. I mean, he’s right. I don’t want Adrian, either, but I also don’t want him to destroy Loni.
“Obviously—”
“So why does it matter what they’re up to?”
He’s a future Owed. He’s not an Offering.
Of course he doesn’t understand what’s at stake if Loni is fooling around with Adrian…
“Okay, then, it doesn’t.” Whatever it takes to end this conversation so I can search for Loni and cover for her if necessary.
“You said you saw Desmond in the kitchen, right? Maybe I’ll go say hi to him. ”
And keep Loni’s boyfriend distracted while she’s engaging in an affair with another guy from our school…
Connor rises from his lean so quickly, I’m startled. I take an awkward step back, nearly tripping off the top porch stair when his hand lashes out, grabbing me by the upper arm.
Once I’m steady, I shake him off.
He stays too, too close. “What do you want with Des?”
I tilt my chin up, trying to calm my racing heart at the same time. “Why do you care?”
Connor opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, the patio door slides open. Sebastien Reynolds steps outside, holding a red cup of his own.
He does a double-take when he notices that Connor is looming over me, plus how I’m seconds away from pushing him out of my personal space. A small smile tugs on Sebastien’s pouty lips, lighting up his impossibly pretty face before his brow furrows and he playfully punches Connor in the bicep.
“This is where you went? I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on Des so he doesn’t—” Sebastien stops for a moment, peeking over at me before saying to Connor, “You know.” Don’t worry, Bas. I know, too. “But, instead, I find you out here flirting with an Offering.”
Connor takes a purposeful step away from me at last, giving me space as he throws up his hands. “Guilty as charged, buddy.”
“And?” I ask. “He’s Connor. He flirts with everyone.”
Sebastien salutes me with his drink. “If that’s what you think, Haven. I mean, you’d be wrong, but I’ll leave you to figure that one out on your own.”