Chapter 14
ASHLEY
Royce: I spoke to the Colonel about Mom’s case. He said he’ll look into it…
Uncle Henry: Do you trust him?
Royce: Fuck no. But I had to try, didn’t I?
Uncle Henry: Yeah, I guess so. I’ll keep an ear to the ground. Also Katie told me you’ve got a girlfriend! When did that happen?? Can I meet her?
Royce: Fuck no.
T he confusing appearance of not one but two ducks atop a white shoebox was explained—kind of—when I opened the garment bag that accompanied the box to discover a gorgeous, full-skirted ball gown in black and white.
They were further explained when I opened the shoebox to discover one white shoe and one black.
Both Manolo Blahnik Hangisi satin pumps, so they matched despite being different colors.
“All right, let me guess,” I called, heading out of my room once I was dressed. “Royce and Nate?”
“Guilty as charged,” Royce replied, coming into view dressed head to toe in inky black, which set off his blond hair and green eyes in the most incredible way. Holy fuck, my man was hot. How the hell had I ever thought we could just be friends?
I licked my lips to subtly check if I was drooling before collecting my thoughts.
“Wait, that means Nate has the white ducks?” My memory resurfaced of the night of the last duck game, how I’d unknowingly been sabotaging Nate without even meaning to.
How I’d almost choked on one of his little white ducks when he’d told Jocelyn we were dating.
“What’s so funny?” the gorgeous demon himself asked in a low voice, appearing out of the shadows from the hallway. “You’re smiling, and it looks…evil.”
“Rude,” I muttered, scanning his crisp white suit. “Well, that’s going to get filthy in no time. Does this mean we’re teaming up?”
“Sure does,” Nate replied, returning the favor with a slow perusal of my gown while he fixed his cufflinks. “Is that going to be a problem for you, Duckling?”
I flinched at the use of that nickname, sucking a sharp breath even as my core fluttered. “Nope,” I lied in a strangled voice. “No problem here.”
“Great!” Royce clapped his hands, reminding both of us that we were not actually alone. “Because I intend to win this one, and I know the two of you won’t accept second place.”
“You know what the Colonel always says,” Nate murmured with an eye roll. “Second place is just?—”
“First loser,” Royce finished for him. “Trust me, I remember. Heath! Carter! You guys ready? Carly will be here in two minutes!”
When they’d mentioned Carly was joining us for the drive out to the Society party, I’d been relieved.
If it were just Royce, Carter, and Heath, I’d have told her to get a fucking Uber so I could get my rocks off on the drive over.
But with Nate? Things were only getting worse by the day.
So I was glad for the distraction, knowing she’d chat the whole way out to the hunting lodge that the party was being held at.
As gorgeous as Nate and Royce looked in white and black, the effect of Carter in head-to-toe red —a color I’d started thinking of as his signature color—was startling. It suited him, and not just because it was the color of blood.
Heath looked equally stunning in royal blue, which complemented his complexion unlike I’d ever have been able to imagine, but when they stood together…the picture became less amazing. Then when Carly arrived, a frustrated scowl on her face, I almost burst out laughing.
“Oh fuck you, Ash,” she groaned when I bit my lip to hold my laughter. “I am fully fucking aware that I look like a black-tie Spider-Woman, okay? You try combining blue and red into a ball gown and tell me how good it comes out.”
Royce snapped his fingers, grinning wildly. “I was going to say Captain America but you’re right. Very Spider-Man.”
“Spider -Woman ,” Carly corrected. “And if I had my own duck color, this wouldn’t be quite so humiliating.”
Nate shrugged, an amused smile playing across his lips. “Gotta earn the ducks, Carly, you know that. You haven’t played anywhere near enough games for your own color.”
Carly grumbled and pouted, but quickly changed her mood when she spotted the champagne in the back of the huge limo we were taking to the party. “That’s what I’m talking about,” she said with a happy wiggle as she passed the bottle to Heath. “Open, please.”
He obliged, pouring a glass for each of us as we took our seats. To my irritation, I found myself sandwiched between Nate and Royce. Not that I was mad about sitting beside Royce…but having Nate pressed against the other side of my body was a frustration I could really do without.
Taking a big sip of my champagne, I tried to remind myself of all the reasons why I was not attracted to him.
Number one being his personality. Number two being the brutal rejection that night of his party when he’d told me with no room for misunderstanding that he would not share with his friends.
And I didn’t like him anywhere enough to break up with the other guys so… stalemate.
“So, do you guys know what this game is about?” I asked in an attempt to distract myself. “More paintball? Ducks?”
The guys all seemed to glance at Nate before Carter answered.
“We’re playing, so we don’t know exactly what the game is.
Some of us”—another pointed look at Nate—“are privy to higher levels of information than others so might be able to guess once we see the location and clues. But not enough to give an unfair advantage ahead of time.”
I nodded my understanding, curious about the whole thing. “So you guys don’t plan these events? Who are the people who facilitate the games, the ones in masks? For some reason, I assumed they were all Society members, but that doesn’t make sense or they’d be playing…right?”
“They are Society,” Nate replied in a quiet voice. “They’re graduates who are hand-picked by the elders council to assist in running the games. Technically, until we leave Nevaeh, none of us are fully Devil’s Backbone.”
That was surprising but also made a lot of sense, considering the need for workers to run the games and events.
Royce gave a small laugh. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if most of the masks were hired employees and not Society members at all.
Remember that ninety-nine percent of Devil’s Backbone come from the wealthiest, most well-connected families in the country.
These aren’t the sort of people who hand out champagne to college kids. ”
Carter grinned. “True. But so long as the members do due diligence and get NDAs signed, it’s not really an issue.”
“I guess so…” I murmured, taking another sip of my champagne. Part of me was pretty sure I needed to keep my wits about me for whatever the night might bring. The other part of me wanted a nice, fuzzy buzz, so I could actually relax and forget all the crap between Nate and I.
For the rest of the drive, Carly dominated the conversation by complaining about our political history professor, Dr. Harris, and his awful habit of spitting when he spoke. It was nice to laugh with her and ignore all the life-and-death bullshit piling up around our necks.
The limo dropped us off in front of the expansive hunting lodge out in the mountains overlooking Prosper, and we joined the other formally attired players making their way into the lodge itself, where a small orchestra was playing classical music.
Masked staff handed out more champagne, and I had to agree with Royce’s suggestion that they were not actually Devil’s Backbone members. They were well-paid waiters in masks.
“This all seems far too…tame,” Carly murmured as she passed me a fresh drink. “I dunno about you, but I’m waiting for something crazy to happen.”
I chuckled lightly, snagging a canape from a server. “Agreed. Maybe it’s like that gala last year when we had to wait for the party to end?”
Carly pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Maybe? Anyway, how are you feeling? I didn’t want to drag the mood down in the car, but at the same time…are you up for this?”
“Aw, are you worried about me?” I grinned, sliding my arm around her waist to give her a little hug. “You know I’m not actually insane, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “Obviously, no more than the rest of us. But you were literally abducted, imprisoned, and gaslit for two weeks. It’d be perfectly understandable to not be okay just five days after getting out of that shit. And yes, you idiot, I’m always worried about you these days.”
I drew a long breath, taking her a little more seriously, considering her genuine concern.
“I’m fine,” I murmured, my eyes wandering around the room and pausing on where Royce and Nate stood chatting with a guy I didn’t recognize.
“I mean…I’m not great by any means, but I’m a hell of a lot better than I was a week ago.
It helps to have everything out in the open, though.
It also helps to have people like Royce’s deadbeat dad working on the problem, so it’s not resting on us to resolve. ”
Carly let out a little laugh, shaking her head. “Did you call him deadbeat to his face? Oh my god, you totally did, didn’t you?” She let out a low whistle. “You’ve got balls, Ash, I’ll give you that.”
I shrugged. “Just calling a spade a spade. Oh, look, something’s happening.” I pointed across the room to where a series of masked, robed creeps had entered, each carrying a gift-wrapped package.
“Yes!” Carly enthused, clapping her hands together. “Here we go. Um, no hard feelings when I win, okay? I’ve got Heath and Carter on my team, so it’s basically a done deal.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Girl, you’re dreaming.” But any further banter was squashed by a hush falling over the party, even the orchestra packing up their instruments.
Once everyone was silent, a bell chimed.
“So dramatic,” Royce whispered in my ear, having snuck up on me. Not that I minded, and I leaned back into him as his hand rested on my stomach possessively.
“Welcome to the Devil’s Backbone Society wilderness weekend,” one of the masked dudes was saying when I refocused my attention away from Royce.
My brows raised, and I shared a look with Carly as she mouthed Wilderness weekend?
“Each team will now be presented with a package that they must take with them, along with a map to your lodging for the night. You have two hours to reach your assigned cabin. If you do not arrive before the timer runs out, your lodging will be locked and you’ll be disqualified.
” The masked dude who seemed to be in charge gestured dramatically as a digital timer lit up above where the orchestra had been seated.
The countdown started at 2:00:00 but immediately flicked down by a minute.
“Your time has started. Enjoy the weekend.”
One of the masked helpers approached and handed Nate one of the gift-wrapped boxes, while Royce grabbed my hand and started hurrying toward the exit.
I glanced back at Heath and Carter, wanting to wish them good luck, but Royce and Nate were already elbowing people out of the way to get out of the lodge first. Competitive fuckers were going to end up in a brawl before we even looked at the map.
Speaking of maps… “Shouldn’t we look at the map, so we don’t go the wrong way?” I asked, hurrying to keep up in my long skirt and high heels. Stupid attire for an outdoor game, honestly. Whoever thought this would be fun was clearly a sadist or mentally deficient.
Nate tossed a smirk over his shoulder. “Nah, we know where we’re heading. Remember that survival camp we told you Royce got sent to?”
Well, shit, that was convenient. I wasn’t going to argue with the advantage, though, so I just gathered up my skirts and followed the two of them blindly out into the night.