Page 15 of The Toy Maker

“See?” I motioned to Kitty with a dramatic wave. “It’s just inhumane.”

She held her hands up innocently. “It’s Jason’s rule, not mine.”

Jason, the invisible owner who never seemed to come out of his workshop/apartment. There were plenty of rumors about him being passed from Cherry to Cherry, but I had no way of telling which were true.

Because no one could describe him the same way, it appeared likely that no one had actually gotten a close enough look or they weren’t saying if they had.

According to Sarah, The Toy Maker had dark brown hair and green eyes, but Jade challenged her, saying he had blue eyes. Kitty never joined in their debates about how he looked or what astrological sign he could be. She just nodded along and laughed when we suggested our own ideas about his life.

A knot tightened in my stomach. I had promised myself this was only temporary—a means to an end. Or a steppingstone, nota defining moment. And yet, I felt something dangerously close to acceptance settle in my chest.

“Are you ready to be official?” Jade asked with a soft nudge to my side. She could really be a delight when not under stress.

The last time I heard the term ‘official’, I was under the bleachers with Matt Kennedy. “Never been more ready in my life,” I lied, forcing a smirk. I said the same thing to Matt, although I was less sure about that step than this one.

Because the truth was, I wasn’t just committing to the job. I was committing to the version of myself that could do this. The version that could walk into a room and command attention. The version that could ignore the creeping fear that this wouldn’t be as temporary as I kept telling myself.

The long nights, the aching muscles, the endless rehearsals had brought more than soreness and ice packs into my daily routine; it also brought a lot of exhaustion-induced honesty between all the Cherries, who were mostly there to stave off student loan debt.

Being a part of their world for two weeks had already given me more to look forward to than years at my old firm. I didn’t have to worry about my managers breathing down my neck about deadlines or punishing me for my coworkers’ tardiness. Plus, I felt like, for the first time in a long time, that I had friends.

That terrified me more than anything. Because the more I felt like I belonged here, the harder it would be to leave when the time came.

Sarah sprinted from the gym and skidded to a stop in front of the desk. “Have you told her about the induction? Did I miss it?” She had piled her blonde hair into a loose bun on her head that wobbled whenever she moved or talked.

Kitty looked at her in the same way my mom looked at me when I said too much to strangers. “Not yet.” Her lips pressed into a thin line.

I scanned all their faces for information; Jade had a grin plastered across her face and a camera strap around her neck. Wait…

“What’s going on?” I asked before making the decision to run far, far away.

Kitty shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “You’ll just be playing.”

Play?“Play withwhat?” As soon as the question left my lips, I realized how stupid I sounded.

But the smiles they exchanged made it clear I had given them the opening they hoped for. “Any toy you want,” Kitty went on, and my heart jumped to my throat, “in front of all the Cherries.”

My jaw went slack, and a camera flash captured my reaction to the bombshell.

I clung to disbelief. “Oh,” I said with a nervous laugh, “I get it, this is a joke.”

Their faces remained steady.Shit. This wasn’t a joke.I suddenly remembered the giant corkboard in the backroom with over a hundred polaroids pinned to it, each one with a different Cherry looking just as stunned as I did.

“You could have told me sooner.” I tried to keep my voice from sounding too sharp, but it didn’t work.

“It’s supposed to be a surprise, Tara,” Sarah said with no remorse. “Surprise!”

I half-expected dollar store confetti to fall from the ceiling. At least then I could tilt my head back and choke on it.

Jade shook her head. “How do you expect to fuck yourself in front of strangers if you can’t even do it in front of us?” she challenged, raising a knowing eyebrow at me.

It wasn’t that the thought never occurred to me; I had just refrained from thinking about it so I could still sleep at night. Still, she made a solid point. “Fine.” I sucked in a shaky breath. “When am I doing this?”

And did I have time to go to the liquor store before it started?

“Two hours,” Kitty answered briskly. “Being late didn’t help. We only have so much time to get you ready.” She gave me a pointed look.

Only two hours. Then everything would change.