Page 72

It’s the damn gossip mills in Harmony Heights. By now, everyone knows I’m back. Just like how everyone knows that Adrian married me after getting rid of his so-called rival. Because I’ve refused to mingle with other women in the Order—either other Offerings or the Used—rumors are spreading that Adrian is keeping me locked up.

His genius idea to get the rumors to stop? He throws me a birthday party the first weekend in August.

August is a busy time for the Order of the Owed. The Claiming ceremony is usually scheduled either mid-month or closer to the end. It’s always in August, though, and so many members spend the second half of summer preparing for it.

I hoped that meant that only a handful of really curious lookie-loos would show up. Unfortunately, after I got Peaches settled down for the evening and joined Adrian on the first floor, I discovered that I was way off on that.

There were at least fifty guests milling around. Despite throwing the party together at the last minute, Adrian arranged for a full spread of food and drink set up on his massive dining room table. The more informal living room had a folding table with trays of elaborate snacks on them. Music blasted from a set of speakers that a local DJ setup in nearly every room.

And no matter where I went? Everyone stared at me.

Adrian told me it would be an informal affair. I took him at his word, choosing to wear a comfortable pair of leggings, one of my favorite soft yellow sweaters since the heat wave crashes and the AC is back to being at arctic levels, plus a pair of plain white sneakers. Adrian’s wearing a suit, as usual, but while most of our guests have dressed more casually, there are a handful of bombshell women roaming the house that I’m left feeling frumpy and underdressed whenever I run into them.

It might not have been so bad if Adrian stayed at my side. For the first hour of the party, he did, and while it got a little irksome, hearing the smug way he kept introducing me to every guest as his wife, when it became obvious that I didn’t recognize most of these people, I was glad to be able to cling to him.

We always ran in different circles when we were kids. Mainly because his bullying me made me the town outcast so, despite my lineage, I never really meshed with those who had ties to the Order. I didn’t really mesh with anyone except Haven, actually, and if I’m a little disappointed to hear that she was invited to the party but couldn’t come, I try my best not to let it sting.

So it’s not really a surprise that, ten years later, the higher-ranked members of the Order are all strangers to me. Adrian, of course, knows them all. I guess that’s why I admit that it was inevitable that, at some point, he’d go off to speak to one in private while I floated around the house—myhouse—like I didn’t belong.

I went and checked on Peaches. I refreshed my makeup and fluffed my hair. I didn’t change because that would be obvious, but I did go out of my way to avoid the most dolled-up woman so that I didn’t look washed-out in comparison.

Then, when I narrowly avoided getting caught in a conversation with two Offering who wanted to know how I snagged one of the most eligible bachelors in all of HarmonyHeights, I decided to do the unthinkable: I went looking for my husband.

And when I find him talking to a tall, striking brunette with big tits, big hair, and legs that go on for days, my heart just about stops.

I recognize her. Funny that, of all the people here, she’s the only one I do. That’s Sophie Vale, a girl I knew back when I was in school. She was a grade ahead of us, so she’s quickly approaching thirty, and my stomach twists when I notice that she doesn’t have a ring on that all-important finger.

What the?—

Jealousy.

A loaded word, and an emotion that I long thought buried deep inside of me.

Why would I be jealous over a man I hated? Who bullied me, who betrayed me, and who thinks that I’ve forgotten—that I’veforgiven—all because I was forced to stand there as he made Father Francis bond us together as husband and wife?

Adrian can make me his wife. He can’t make me love him. In this battle of wills between us, I’ve made my stance clear.

So why do I want to march over to where Sophie is laying her arm possessively over his shoulder and rip it off before beating the pretty brunette over the head with it?

I don’t. I can’t. It would give too much of me away, and that’s not anything Adrian deserves yet. He hasn’t noticed me yet, too involved in his conversation with Sophie, and before he takes his eyes off of her and sees me standing here, I bolt.

I wish I could say that I disappeared to the furthest reaches of Adrian’s huge house. That it was easy to shake off the sudden jealousy. That I found something else at the party to distract and that, when Adrian eventually tracked me down, I laughed and said something like, “I barely knew you were gone.”

That’s not what happened, though. I only went to the other side of the room, dashing out the door before turning around and watching from a position where I hoped Adrian didn’t see me. I got some odd looks from other partygoers, but I ignored them.

Oh, no. My eyes were on Sophie and Adrian only.

The conversation wasn’t a long one. To be fair, he almost immediately shook off her hand, his expression turning slightly bored long before he took leave of Sophie. He still lingered longer than my irrationally jealous mind liked. Irrational… that’s the only way to describe what I do next.

Moments after Adrian drifts off to another room, I march right over to the brunette. Then, hoping like hell my acting has improved since my drama club days, I feign surprise at walking right at her.

I throw up my hands. “Sophie? Sophie Vale? Is that really you?”

Her lips split in an overly ecstatic greeting. “Loni! Oh my goodness, look at you! I mean, I knew you were here. This is your party, after all, but it’s so good to see you.”

I wish I could say the same thing.

No.No. That’s not fair of me. It’s not Sophie’s fault that I saw her cozying up to Adrian and now I want to rip her hair out. So she clearly knows that I’m here. That it’s my birthday party. Unless she’s been living under a rock this last month, all of Harmony Heights knows that Adrian is my husband… so while I’m aggravated that I saw him flirting with her, shouldn’t she have known better, too?