Defiant Princess (Boys of Oak Park Prep #2) - Callie Rose Page 0,85
the decorations, because just stepping through the doors into the large space made my heart beat almost painfully hard in my chest as memories flooded me. But I shoved them away and made my way through the crowd to find the table Mr. Baldree manned. It held pamphlets with information about the school and its various programs and achievements, and it was completely deserted—all the parents were too busy mingling and schmoozing with each other.
Mr. Baldree gave me a quick rundown of instructions before he left me behind to go join the parents and students milling around the room.
I settled in for a long and boring night, silently making bets with myself about whether anybody would come up to my table all evening, when something near the door caught my eye.
All the students were dressed in their Oak Park uniforms, and most kids were meeting their parents outside before coming in. The newest group to enter the gym was made of just two people though. Mason and his father.
I had never seen Mr. Van Buren before, but I noticed the resemblance between them immediately. They looked uncannily similar, from the color of their rich, brown hair to their bright green eyes to the way they carried themselves. Mason’s dad stood so straight and tall he might as well have been carved out of marble, and his expression was cold, calculating, and domineering. Those same qualities seemed to rise to the surface even more strongly in Mason as he stood next to his father, and for a second, a flash of the old fear and hatred I’d felt for Mason hit me, like I’d been shocked with a defibrillator.
That was what Mason had come from. That man shared his DNA, had been the primary influence in his life.
The thought was vaguely terrifying.
Mason’s gaze passed over me as they walked farther inside the gymnasium, and for a moment, the facade cracked. His features softened, his expression warmed.
Then the two of them were gone, swallowed up by the crowd.
I had already seen Elijah’s parents once, but it was a much different experience now that I knew what I knew about them. His father projected strength and control, but I was sure he hadn’t seemed so controlled when he was high off his ass on coke. His mom looked exactly the same as she had last time I’d seen her—perfect, elegant, regal. It was hard to imagine her destroying Elijah’s guitars, and I wondered if she’d gotten one of the house staff to do it or done it herself.
Elijah’s uniform was crisp and pressed, and his mask of perfection fit him so perfectly it was hard see past it. But now that I knew him better, I thought I could glimpse beneath it—could see the acute misery below the surface.
He caught me staring at him and dipped his head slightly, looking almost ashamed.
Finn was the only one who didn’t seem to change entirely in front of his parents. He shot me a broad grin as they walked in, and when his folks moved quickly through the crowd and left him behind, he wandered over to my table.
Guess I lost that bet with myself.
“Hey, Legs. Got roped into working this thing, huh?”
“Yeah.” I picked up one of the tri-folded pamphlets in front of me. “Can I interest you in a brochure?”
He rolled his eyes. “Nah, I’m good. I see their strategy though. Get the hottest girl here to hand out the most boring shit. It’s the only chance they have of anybody taking one of those.”
The honey-brown of his eyes darkened as he spoke, and I shifted slightly, an ache building up beneath my skin. My body responded to all four of the Princes in ways I’d never understood, as if I were some kind of instrument only they knew how to play.
I was about to make some lame joke back when Finn’s expression grew suddenly serious.
“Hey. You okay? Being”—he gestured with his head around the room—“back here?”
He didn’t have to explain what he was talking about. It’d been the first thing I’d thought of when I’d walked through the door, and no matter how much I tried, I hadn’t been able to undo the lingering knot in my stomach.
I was surprised he’d asked, that he’d openly acknowledged that awful moment in our history. We didn’t talk about it often, although it colored almost every interaction I had with the Princes.
“That depends,” I said evenly. “Are you planning to wreck my life again?”