Page 73

“You too,” I lie. And then, because I can’t help myself… “I thought I saw you with Adrian before.”

“What? Oh, yeah. Me and your hubby go way back.”

A punch to my gut. Damn. I don’t know how I don’t buckle over at that.

I don’t why I care.

Forcing a smile to my face, I ask, “Really? How do you know him?”

She blinks. “From school, Loni. Remember? We all went to Harmony Heights High together. You know that.”

Right. Of course.

Yeah.

I open my mouth, hoping that whatever comes out doesn’t reveal the setting jealousy that still has a hold on me, when Sophie gives a careless toss of her thick hair over her shoulder and I get a front-row seat to the large oval brand on the side of her neck.

The same brand that covers Adrian’s palm.

The mark of the Order—and Sophie wears it proudly on a very visible place on her body.

“Something wrong, Loni?” she teases. “‘Cause you’re gawking, sweetie.”

“You’re one of the Used,” I point out needlessly.

A frisson of relief flutters through me.

Adrian doesn’t touch the Used. He’s made that perfectly clear. And while we’ve both tiptoed around the subject of any previous lovers we both may or may not have had over the last decade, it’s almost like he wanted me to understand that—to him, at least—the Order’s personal sex workers are off-limits.

So maybe they are just old friends that he stopped to say ‘hello’ to. That makes sense to me now.

But one of the town girls who iced me out because she was hoping to get an in—any in—with the Order…

Yeah. that makes sense, too.

“I am,” she confirms easily before she lets out a throaty laugh. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised. I was never going to be an Offering, and thank God for that.”

I’ve never heard any of the women seem glad to be one of the Used before. I’m sorry, but raised as an Offering…

I lower my voice. “You don’t have to do that, right? I mean… you could leave the Order, couldn’t you?”

My gaze flickers to the brand standing out on her neck. Maybe not. Even if she tried to leave, the scar on her neck will tell anyone who knows what that symbol means exactly how she was affiliated with the Order of the Owed.

As an Offering, there’s no escape for me. Even when I tried, deep down, I knew I was only buying a little time. Now, did I think they’d use my dad against me to get me to behave. Naively or not, I didn’t think that Jack Collins would stoop that low.

If they would do that to someone they considered ‘valuable’, what would they do to a glorified prostitute?

“I could help you get out,” I murmur, keeping my voice as low as possible while still allowing Sophie to hear me over the pumping music. I’m feeling a little magnanimous now that I know that she isn’t after Adrian. “If that’s what you want.”

“Thanks, Loni, but no thanks. I’m happy where I am. Honest.”

I never wanted to be one of the Used. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t those who choose it. Those who enjoy the attention, the gifts, the safety when they find one of the Owed who will give her whatever she wants as long as she’ll fuck him in return. I shouldn’t judge Sophie because her path doesn’t look like mine. For all I know, she pities me for being forced into a marriage that, from the outside, I could never want.

Do I want it?

I… it’s getting harder and harder to say no.

So, instead, I just nod. “Got it.”