Page 38 of Hidden Empire
After this semester, though, Dad says he’ll arrange for an Italian tutor if I really want to learn. Matteo found the offer to be insulting until Dad reminded him how impatient when teaching he is, so if he wanted to be the one to help me, he’d need to work on that. A tutor seems like what I’ll be getting.
Gabbie could be a possible friend, but I’m wary. Without asking, she’s drawing attention to me, and from the looks of it, it’s not good attention. I don’t want to fight with someone over being queen of campus. Especially not someone who looks at me the way this one is; like I’m dirt beneath her boots.
Clara Bell is also an heir, but to The Doves, a gang exclusive to Australian women who are killers for hire. Only according to my brothers, Clara is twenty and hasn’t taken a life. The rumor is that she was sent here to toughen up, but it looks like she has more interest in being a queen than an executioner.
“What the fuck are you on? A Moretti? Yeah, right.”
“I’m a Moretti,” I speak up, feeling embarrassed for staying quiet while they fight about me in front of me. “Dante Moretti is my dad.”
The mean one’s eyes roll. “Sure he is.”
“You were the girl sitting with Matteo at dinner,” the girl next to her muses. I have no idea what her name is. She’s probably one of The Doves, too. “He had an arm around you.”
Nervously, I nod. “Yes, well, Colton walked up, and he felt the need to make a statement, I suppose. My brothers are very protective.”
“I bet,” Gabbie chimes back in, giving Clara a killer smirk. Wow, her teeth are like movie-star perfect. “You’re the talk of the town, princess. Your name is getting more buzz than anyone else’s, that’s for sure.”
I swallow hard. “I don’t really think?—”
“You know, if you really think so, there’s a game for that sort of thing,” Clara muses, lifting a brow and tilting her head.
Gabbie sniffs dismissively. “It’s a stupid game and literally means nothing to anyone. You’re the only person who cares about it.”
“Not true,” Clara disagrees, folding her arms. “It only means nothing to people who are too scared to play it.”
Too scared? What kind of party game is scary?
“You’re not scared, are you?” Clara asks, eyes narrowing on me.
“I’m not really here to play a game,” I respond evenly.
Clara sighs. “All you have to do is find a guy to pose within, say, ten minutes. I have to do the same. Whoever looks the hottest with their guy wins and will forever be known as the queen of campus. I’ve won the two years I’ve been here.”
It’s a challenge to look sexy? That’s what determines superiority for us? Well, that’s a bit of a bummer.
“I really don’t care about being queen of anything,” I confess. “It feels kind of pointless. Why should we fight over an imagery title?”
“Does it feel pointless, or does it feel like you can’t win?”
My god, what is it about these mafia kids and being so damn competitive. Can’t we all chill out for a second? If this is what parties are like, I’m with Matteo; they suck.
I could go back to my room right now. A hot shower and some warm pajamas with a movie would put me right to sleep. I could even go into the boy’s room and wait for them to come back. All of that sounds so much more tempting than this little game.
But I haven’t even had a chance to look for Dmitri yet, so it looks like I’m staying. I’ll do this quick, silly competition and be on my way to look for him. I don’t care if I lose. What Gabbie said is true. I don’t need to prove myself, my family has already done that for me.
“The only rule is you can’t touch skin. It’d be too easy that way. You could just let him eat you out or something,” Clara clarifies, and I blanch.
“I wouldn’t do that,” I insist, feeling the need to make that clear. I couldn’t imagine the first time I let someone touch me being for a game, let alone a game with an audience.
“Well, aren’t you Little Miss Innocence,” Clara drawls, boredly checking her nails. “If we didn’t know about you until now, I assume that means you grew up without your dad. And if you didn’t know you were a part of this world, then there’s no way you made it through regular high school without doing something daddy wouldn’t approve of.”
She’s so off base it’s painful.
“Have a lot of experience with public school, do you?” I ask tightly. “You know it’s not like the movies, right? It’s very normal to abstain.”
“Abstain,” she mocks, chuckling. “God, if I had known I was challenging a virgin, I might not have even bothered. This will be too easy.”
My cheeks are flaming, and I hope the party lights are helping to hide that. “Being a virgin isn’t a bad thing,” I defend, unwilling to pretend to be something I’m not.