Page 161 of The Dollhouse

“Nothing, of course. They’re just… so many tattoos.” My mother laughed it off, as if she wasn’t trying to insult the strangers. But she was. That’s just the kind of person my mother was, and she would never change. That said, after tonight, she’d get a taste of her own medicine.

“Why don’t you go back to Dad?” I suggested. “I’m going to grab myself a drink.”

My mother said nothing to me, which was fine, and I stood there, making sure she made it back to my father and the dean. As soon as the show started, Roman would have to get closer to them. Maybe even Carter, too. I didn’t trust my parents not to try to run away or step forward and try to convince me to not get up on that stage and swing my ass around. In fact, no one should try to run.

Before leaving the room, I pulled Roman aside and told him: “Let the others know that once I get up there, I would very much appreciate it if they could stop anyone from leaving. I want everyone here to see the whole show.” Roman’s dark eyes flashed with a possessiveness that made me heat up, but in the end, he nodded.

He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of me putting on a show, but this would be the last time. Any other future shows would be for his benefit. His and his alone, as it should be.

I headed into the kitchen, grabbing a knife and a fresh glass of sparkling bubbles. After returning to the room, I headed toward the curtains hiding the stage from the rest of the room. Also hiding the pole I’d be swinging around.

Turning to view the room and everyone in it, I saw most people weren’t paying attention to me yet. That’s all right. They would. They would start paying attention soon enough.

I raised the glass and hit the edge of the knife on it, a clinking sound echoing in the room. The various voices caught in conversations all began to quiet, and soon each and every pair of eyes turned to me. My parents, the other socialites from Hillcrest, Markus’s people, Roman’s people. They were a ragtag bunch, but they were all here for a reason.

The socialites were for the gossip. Markus’s and Roman’s people were for their lack of manners and their intense appearances.

“I’m not really one for toasts,” I began, surveying the room, staring at the hodgepodge of people we’d invited. “Maybe because I’ve never had a good reason to give one. Anytime toasts were given, I was in the room, standing somewhere in the back with my glass of sparkling water.” When I said that, I got a few chuckles.

The people not from Hillcrest had begun to spread out. Lola’s men had moved toward the dean, while Lincoln and Ed had moved to the mayor. There were other people from Hillcrest, but those were the most important. The ones who needed to stay. The people who could write my parents’ death certificates, so to speak. Their social ones, at least.

Markus stood near the hall with his girl, his wide frame blocking out most of the exit. Anyone who’d want to get out would have to go through him, and I highly doubted anyone here could take down that behemoth of a man.

“But, tonight, I figured it was time for a change,” I went on. “Time for a toast. It might be the only one I ever give. A lot of you probably heard what happened a while back. I left Hillcrest, and I never planned on coming back. I didn’t want to. This place didn’t feel like home to me anymore, although, if I’m honest, it never really did.”

The smiles some of them wore faded away as they began to realize this toast was not a good one.

“I tried my best growing up, you know? I tried to be the best, to be the girl my parents wanted me to be. I was a Marbella, and I had to live up to the name. I’m sure it’s something a lot of kids growing up here feel.” I paused, memories flashing in my head, memories of that day and the following night, when I’d left and didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do.

Fate had brought me to the Dollhouse, and the rest was history. Back then, I was so clueless about the world, how everything worked, and now… now I wouldn’t trade the life I had away for anything.

“Now, I don’t know what my parents told the community after I left, but I can imagine, and let me set the record straight—”

My mother tried to walk towards me, probably to stop me from saying this next part, but Roman set a hand on her shoulder, stopping her cold. And the expression on her face was priceless when she realized Roman wasn’t going to let her go.

“—I came home to find my then boyfriend in bed with my sister. My underaged sister, if any of you care about that stuff. It’d been happening for a while, or so I was told, and both of my parents knew. They knew, and they tried to say it was no big deal.”

“Zoey,” my mother hissed.

But I talked over her: “But that’s the thing. Itwasa big deal. It was a very big deal for me.” I started to walk the length of the stage, pacing before the closed curtain. “Up until that moment, you see, I never had any doubts. I thought this—” I gestured to the room. “—was supposed to be my life. Like I was owed this, by simply being born a Marbella. But I started to doubt, and those doubts grew so fast and became so strong I had to leave. I couldn’t stay.”

My eyes went to Roman, then Carter, and my mind flashed to Lake, who still sat outside with Wyatt. I smiled. “And what I found was my purpose. I found my heart again, and I had three men to help me put myself back together.” When various murmurs erupted in the room, I added, “Yeah, you heard that right: three. I have three boyfriends, and they’re all here tonight.”

I smiled at the shocked faces before me, unable to hide it. I continued, “And you know what? They’re everything to me. I never knew what real love was until I met them. Consuming, hot, the kind of love that takes hold of your very soul and refuses to let go. Until them, I thought love was just an obligation, but it’s not. It’s so much more than that—and the sad thing is, I doubt ninety-nine percent of you will ever understand that.”

And I didn’t mean Roman’s people. I didn’t mean Markus’s people. I meant everyone from Hillcrest. My parents, the dean, the mayor, every single rich socialite that spent most of their time at the local country club acting like they were better than the rest of the world. People like that… they would never, ever understand. I pitied them. I both pitied them and hated them.

“This,” I spoke as I raised my glass high, “is my last hurrah in Hillcrest. I didn’t come back to stay. I came to say goodbye.” I noticed no one else had raised the glasses they held onto, and that was fine. I didn’t expect them to. This was a toast unlike any other toast they’d heard before. “But, because I’m me, this goodbye isn’t going to be quiet. In fact, I prepared a little something for you all.” I brought the glass to my lips, chugging the contents before placing the glass in the same hand that held onto the knife.

Turning around, I pushed through the curtain and set the glass and knife down on the floor just before the makeshift stage. And then, not saying another word, I grabbed the curtain and started to walk, pulling it aside. I revealed the first half of the stage, and then the next half.

Now that the curtains were drawn open, the shiny silver pole on the stage was plain for the whole room to see.

I heard gasps, the crowd’s shock audible, and I smirked to myself as I went around the front of the stage to the few steps on the left side. I walked up it, moving to stand before the pole. “This,” I said, “is goodbye.”

On the floor of the stage before me sat a speaker, and I bent over to hit a button on it. Music began to play, the kind of music that instantly brought me back to the Dollhouse. I closed my eyes, momentarily picturing the dark, sexy place. The strobing lights near the stage. The smell of sweat and sex in the air.

I would come back to them. To the Dollhouse, to the girls, to the life I’d built for myself after leaving this horrid fucking place.

My eyelids slowly opened, and I smiled.

And then I put on a show none of them would forget.