Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
L ater that evening, I sat in Camelot Courtyard with the other Ladies while we celebrated our escape.
“I can’t believe you almost handed him the garter belt.” Izzy laughed, and Morgan snorted into her lemonade.
“She’s our trusting little outsider baby,” she cooed. “Of course, she did.”
“But seriously, you should be a private investigator or a secret agent. I still don’t know how you put that together from his tattoo!”
I shrugged. “What? You guys don’t know what a garter snake is? They don’t have those in Camelot Court?” When they shook their heads, I rolled my eyes, hiding my smile. “Don’t tell me that’s another poor person thing only I would understand?”
They shared a look.
“Oh, definitely,” Izzy said, feigning seriousness to tease me.
“Those stay on the wrong side of the tracks, for sure,” Morgan added, nodding solemnly.
That made all three of us laugh, and I appreciated them making light of what Elaine had thrown in my face. Because sitting there with them, I didn’t feel like an outsider at all.
I saw myself becoming good friends with both of them. Which was a strange thought to have when you’d had one best friend all your life. But Gia had already hit it off with Izzy, and she’d love Morgan, too. I could tell.
“Safe to assume from here on out, I won’t trust anyone with a ten-foot pole when it comes to the challenges. Hey, speaking of which, do we know the results of this one yet? How were we even scored?”
“No idea.” Morgan set her glass down. “But it’s got to be pretty close, right? Especially since we all won the last one?”
“Maybe they’ll come tell us tonight.”
At Izzy’s hopeful thought, we shared another look and burst out laughing again. Clutching my stomach, I lifted my head right as Vivian walked by.
“Hey, Vivian. Thanks for your help at the end there.”
She bristled, glancing around Camelot Courtyard. “I didn’t do it to help you.”
“Well, obviously, Vivian.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “And I don’t think anyone thought that was the case, but still. It helped all of us , so…thank you.”
Izzy and Morgan were the opposite of subtle as their eyes jumped from me to Vivian and back to me.
“Yeah, well, Ben Devereaux is a liar, so you can’t trust a word he says. Plus, it’s obvious by now they’re twisting the truth to throw us off.”
I nodded. “The truth seems to be a loose term around here.”
My attention drifted across Camelot Courtyard and landed on Elaine. She stood in the corner with Angela, who wore a deep frown on her face as Elaine chattered in her ear about something.
Morgan followed my gaze and snorted. “Case in point.”
Angela extricated herself from Elaine’s soul-sucking presence and came over to our table, playing with the ends of her hair. “God, I can’t with that girl.”
She took a seat at the open chair beside Morgan and huffed.
“What’s wrong?” Izzy asked.
With a scoff, Angela waved her hand in Elaine’s direction. “Oh, Elaine is just on some trip that she’s going to be Queen of Camelot Court.” Skirting her gaze to mine, she shrugged a shoulder. “She’s set her sights on Kingston now that Landon is…otherwise occupied.”
“Sounds like her. If it’s not one, it’s someone else. Remember how she used to tell us all about her boyfriends in school?”
I kept my mouth shut, listening to the gossip for a sign Elaine has said too much. So far, it didn’t seem like any of them had learned about her secret threat. Another stroke of luck.
Since Elaine never shut up.
“And Peter!” Izzy added. “She said he was so into her, but he told me during the Honor Challenge he never touched her.”
“Ugh.” Vivian wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t talk about my brother’s sexual past in my presence.”
“What sexual past?” Izzy laughed. “Elaine lied, Vivian. She was bluffing about anything happening the whole time.”
“Still.” That was all Vivian said in response.
“It’s mind-blowing what someone can make you believe. It’s like we see the truth we want to see, and miss all the little signs.” I sat back in my chair, contributing to what they’d already brought up. “What about that boyfriend of hers that used to go crazy over garter belts?”
“He was a professor, and she stalked him,” Vivian blurted.
All our eyes went wide, the three of us at the table squawking at the same time. “What?”
“That’s what my mother said.” Vivian shrugged. “And technically, she didn’t lie. He did go crazy, just not like she made it sound.”
Morgan coughed as she said, “Restraining order.”
While we shared a laugh, Vivian shrugged. “Lie or not, it served her in the end, so I doubt she cares what we think.”
We all agreed on that. At least, where Elaine was concerned, empathy for others didn’t seem to be a strong suit.
Vivian shifted awkwardly, like she’d realized she’d spent way more time with us than she’d planned to, and she didn’t know how to leave. Or if she should stay.
Her eyes darted to me. “As long as she’s happy with her future husband, and doesn’t get in my way, who cares?”
I frowned, officially over friendship time since Vivian had to know I cared. Even if she didn’t know how close her words had come to hitting the mark.
“That’s my cue, everyone.” I pushed up from the table and forced a smile at Izzy, Morgan, and Angela before saying good night. Glancing at the Ice Princess, I jerked a nod. “Vivian.”
She frowned but didn’t say anything.
I pushed her from my mind as I left Camelot Courtyard. Since my two Knights were cleaning up and would probably be busy for a while, I went in search of Kingston.
As I walked up the stairs, my thoughts circled over everything that had happened that day.
I still couldn’t believe what Vivian had let slip about Elaine, and I was shaking my head when I knocked on Kingston’s door.
But my mind drifted to thoughts of waking up with Kingston and Landon, and then searching for Max.
I hadn’t been able to find him before we left for the challenge, and like my trauma not being cured by his dick, my stellar blow job skills hadn’t completely erased what had been on his mind.
He was in a better mood than the day before, but with needing to focus on the challenge, I’d had to accept that I wouldn’t get to check in with him fully again until tomorrow.
As I waited for Kingston, I glanced down the hall at the bathroom, knowing he wasn’t in there but just hoping he was okay.
Worry prickled my skin like goose bumps, but I fought the fear and doubt from overshadowing the happy feeling I’d had in my chest after what happened the other night. With him, and with Landon and Kingston.
When Kingston opened the door to his room and let me in, he sensed my distraction and gave me a quick kiss before pulling me inside. “You were incredible today,” he murmured against my neck.
“You heard about what happened?”
“I got to watch it.” He nodded toward the laptop on the chair. “There were cameras in the main room, so the trial could be scored.”
“We had no idea.”
Kingston smiled. “You weren’t supposed to know. The rules specify that we can’t tell you so the cameras won’t sway how people act or react.”
With a sheepish glance at him, I guessed, “That means you saw my…disagreement with Elaine the first day.”
“I did.” He beamed. “And thankfully, the camera picked up her touching you first. So, she can’t do anything about it. If she wanted to try.”
“That’s a relief, at least.”
He nodded, leading me over to the chair.
After moving the laptop, he sat down and pulled me onto his lap.
“I’ll share the official scores with everyone tomorrow, but you’re in a good spot for the next challenge.
You made some decisions that scored you a lot of points.
You’re not in the top spot, but you don’t need to be for the next challenge. ”
“What about Izzy, Morgan, and Angela?”
“They did very well, too. If it hadn’t been for the lockdown, you’d be ahead of both of them.”
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t help it. Guess that means Vivian’s right there with me, huh?”
He shook his head. “She didn’t earn back as many points as you did. She’s closer to the bottom than I would’ve expected her to be.”
“And what about the future Mrs. D’Arthur ? Where’s she?”
“In my arms,” he said simply.
My cheeks flooded with heat because even though the logistics of that didn’t work with three men holding my heart, I did love that he’d said it, and the thought of it.
In theory, of course. I had no idea why it made me blush so hard, but then, Kingston always seemed able to turn me into a total dork.
I kissed him, soaking up the happiness for a minute before thoughts of everything else reared back up. When I pulled back and rested my head on his chest, wanting to simply be there with him, he tipped my chin up so he could search my face.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I’m not sure. Just…I had a really good time today with some of the other girls.
And then, there’s being here with you. I definitely need a four-person cuddle party to happen soon, but I’m not even worried about that.
I know we’ll get there. So…I’m really happy, right now.
” I chewed on my lip. “Maybe I’m nervous because of that? Waiting for the other shoe to drop?”
His eyes held the same understanding they always did.
And it shouldn’t have surprised me that Kingston felt the way I did, but I wasn’t expecting him to pick up on exactly what I’d felt.
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I spent most of today convincing myself last night hadn’t been a dream.”
“If it was, it’s definitely in my top five.” I teased him, deserving the nip on my earlobe that followed.
The only thing that topped it was my last memory with my mom and dad, and a placeholder for the spot that would inevitably be filled by my first night with all three of them.
“But…why is it so hard to believe we can keep good things?”
“Because life already took something from you. And when it happens unexpectedly, or by choice, I think losing someone we love, it drives home that nothing in this life is permanent. It adds a layer of grief to our happiest moments, knowing that, eventually, this will be taken from us, too. Hopefully, for natural causes and nothing unexpected but either way—” He held my gaze.
“I thought I’d failed once already, Quinn.
For me, even if that loss comes now, or in a hundred years, it won’t lessen the pain of losing you. ”
“You’d think we’d swear off letting anyone in to avoid all that,” I tried to joke.
“All we can do is hold onto the good for as long as we have it. Appreciate it. I’d rather have these moments and go through that pain, than never get the chance to love you.”
He kissed me then, taking his time like he was savoring it. Committing it to memory. And I followed his lead, because as much as it would hurt to lose any of them, I agreed with him. I wouldn’t give up this time or this chance to be with them.
And I’d fight like hell to hold onto it for as long as I could.
When he pulled back and pressed our foreheads together, our promise to each other came easily.
“I’m with you.”
“Good, then let me take you to bed and show you how much I appreciate this time I get to share with you.”
I looped my arms around his neck. “Now, you’re talking.”
He lifted me up as he stood from the chair, carrying me over to the bed and laying me down on it. And then, he made good on his promise.
We both did, because the world could’ve been falling apart around us, but at least, for that moment, we had each other.