Bully King - J.A. Huss Page 0,21
flipping the light on and taking a look at the bathroom.
And… yeah. Jaw-dropping. The bedroom design continues with the same floors, paint, and trim colors, but the sink and all the finishes are gleaming gold. Which normally I find tacky, but rich people always seem to be able to pull it off.
The soaker tub is freestanding on the far side and there’s a walk-in shower too.
I back out and take a long breath. Things have quieted down in the hallway and all the men have moved to other parts of the house, so I allow myself a moment to just… let my guard down and lie back on the bed.
Mona.
That’s the name that comes to mind right now. She was being kidnapped too. Not that I’ve actually been kidnapped. I glance at the French door that leads… well, somewhere that is not here. Outside, from the look of the sunshine filtering past the semi-sheer white curtain over the window. I could just leave.
And go where?
I literally have nothing. The Chairman took my whole apartment. My entire life was just stolen from me. Isn’t that what I heard Cooper say too? I think back. Yeah. He said, Looks like he stole your life. Just like he stole mine.
So where the hell am I going to go?
I know all the girls my age who go to school at Prep, but they’re not my friends. I’ve never actually needed friends. I had my parents. I’m a loner.
I like this about myself and I don’t want to change that.
But I might have to if I want to survive.
Because up until two weeks ago I have never been alone. I did have someone on my side. My mother. And my father before he died.
But she’s gone now. So I am truly and utterly alone.
I need to change that.
I get up and walk over to the French door, try the handle, find it locked. But it’s a stupid lock, just one of those twisty things on the knob, which twists and unlocks.
So I open the door and find myself on a cute little patio facing an expansive green lawn. Through some trees I spot the side of the mansion next door. I look left and right, see nothing and no one, then close the door behind me and start walking towards the other mansion.
I know Mona lives next door to Cooper. I can’t say how I first learned this fact, and I have certainly never been to one of her infamous parentally unsupervised parties. But I know that Lars lives on one side of Cooper and Mona lives on the other.
This house I’m creeping towards might be hers and there’s only one way to find out.
I can hear her yelling long before I stalk up to the closest window and peek in. She’s not in this room, but her bellowing is loud and filled with threats. So. Good. My fifty-fifty chance panned out.
Now what?
She’s obviously still in the middle of her crisis and mine seems to be on hiatus.
I shuffle in place for a few moments, then duck behind a line of shrubs when I hear Dane Valcourt’s voice from behind me.
He’s not close enough for me to hear his conversation, and I’m not the least bit interested in spying on him anyway, so I just stay hidden and go over my options.
I could break into Mona’s house. Make her my BFF and get her on my side. But that’s kind of a stupid plan.
Mona doesn’t do friends either. But for the exact opposite reason as me.
Everyone hates her. I mean, don’t get me wrong. They will still show up for her parties, drink all her booze, and smoke all her weed. But they don’t like her.
They use her, she uses them. That’s how it goes with Mona.
And while I will take some mutually beneficial arrangement over nothing, I need more than just a business partner right now. I need a friend.
And that takes time.
She must be going over to Swan Camp. That’s why they dragged her home. That’s why Cooper dragged me here. I’ve heard about Swan Camp. Everyone has. The secret society at High Court isn’t much of a secret. I’ve heard girls talk about it through the years because I live on campus year-round and in the summers I used to help my dad in the gardens before he died. There are lots of kids who stay the whole summer. Maybe their parents are on vacation, or maybe they actually like staying here