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Chapter Twenty

Jolie

Last week, the guys had extra security measures put in place, including silent alarms to alert them when anyone enters the property. They’re imperative to have so we can hide those of us who are presumed to be dead. We can’t risk anyone seeing them yet.

Sinclair set off the alarms today. She turned up, bags in hand, and demanded that we are going to a party. Not just any party, though—something for the wealthy. She even brought me a gown, shoes, and a mask, since it’s a masquerade party. She also invited Kai, who is currently off getting ready in his own room.

After a full day of primping and priming our bodies, I stand and look at myself in the mirror. The dress she has picked out for me is perfection—a beautiful black satin A-line gown, with long sleeves and a deep V neck that drops to my belly button. My cleavage is on full display and it’s sure to catch Kai’s attention. There are also two daring slits, one on each side, cutting to my hips.

Sinclair squeals as she spins in her dress. It’s a two piece; the bodice is silver and covered in sequins, and the skirt made up of multiple layers of ruffles in a soft peach with a waistband that matches the top. She looks spectacular. Sinclair is already wearing her matching mask, which is adorned in silver glitter.

She hands me a simple, yet intricate, black lace mask. I’m glad she went with black, so it doesn’t shine like a beacon on my face.

“You look amazing,” she remarks, fluffing up her skirt. “Jimmie is meeting us there. I have the limo picking us up in fifteen minutes, so we better find Kai.”

“Let’s do this.”

Heading down the stairs, I see Kai patiently waiting for us in the kitchen. My breath hitches at the sight before my eyes—he looks so handsome in his black suit. He turns to face us and slips his mask on. It covers his entire face, unlike ours, which only covers our eyes.

“I’m the luckiest man alive,” he says, giving me a once-over. “I have the hottest date... no offence, Sinclair.”

“None taken. I agree with you. Her legs look bangin’ in that dress.”

I have to agree. The way the material sits at the top, combined with the two slits right up to my hips, does not leave much to the imagination. But the fabric that does fall—while minimal—covers the parts that no one should see. Also, Sinclair gave me some Hollywood tape to stick to my underwear and tits, and that way the dress won’t give anyone an unintended peek at what little I have on underneath.

Kai grabs my hand and tucks it securely into his elbow as the three of us head outside. The limo has pulled right up to the front steps, and the driver is standing there waiting with the door open, tipping his hat as we approach. Sinclair gets in first, and I follow behind her, with Kai getting in last. Once we are all seated, the driver gets back inside, and we are on our way.

Kai pops open a bottle of champagne and pours us all a glass.

“To a night we’ll never forget,” Sinclair says, holding up her glass for us all to toast.

I wonder if we should learn not to jinx ourselves.

We all clink our glasses together, and Sinclair giggles.

The drive isn’t far. We pull up to what looks like a fancy hotel and the driver gets out, coming around quickly to open our door. Kai slides out first this time and holds out a hand to help both Sinclair and me out of the limo.

Adjusting the front of my dress to make sure all the important parts are still covered, I glance around. My mouth falls open in shock at the sight of the red carpet rolled out just for us, leading into the building. I was right in assuming that this is a hotel; it’s a high rise made mostly of glass, and the parts that aren’t are a beautiful black-and-white marble. Spotlights flicker around, lighting the area, and I’m sure people can see them from five miles away. A doorman dressed in a black suit with a pop of red awaits our arrival at the entrance. This place definitely has fancy down to a tee.

Kai takes my hand, guiding it back to the crook of his elbow, just like when we left the house. Once he leads us inside, we pass through the hotel foyer and reach a set of double doors that must lead to a ballroom. He pushes the doors open, but I can’t see what’s inside because the room is dark. Lights flicker on, making me gasp as people shout, “Surprise!”

Tears well in my eyes as I take in the room. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, string curtains cover double windows, and fairy lights are strung up overhead to give the place a magical feel. Brennan, Creed, Chester, and Trace stand before me, all of them looking incredibly fuckable in their fitted suits. Not far behind them, blending into the background, I instantly spot Boston, Case, Marlow, Davis, and Laughn. Even in full masks, they’re not hard for me to miss, their distinctive mannerisms setting them apart from the rest. My heart hammers in my chest, scared of what could happen if they get caught outside.

“Don’t worry, they’re trained to blend into the background and the lights will be kept low. But, if anyone says anything, they’ll wake up tomorrow with no memory of tonight,” Kai whispers in my ear.

“You can’t wipe someone’s memory completely,” I hiss out.

“No, just the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”

He takes my hand and leads me into the room. Sinclair wanders over to Colt, his smile still visible through his ridiculous mask. All the girls that came to the party have classy masks, while most of the guys have full face masks consisting of skulls or wolves. But not Colt—he’s wearing a pirate mask.

I don’t draw attention to Team Hades by looking at them, even though every part of me is screaming to go to them. They have split up and are randomly standing around the room, keeping their eyes on everything going on.

Kai moves us closer to his team, and Chester is the first to pull me into his arms. “Little Angel, I might just kill someone tonight. You look positively edible.”

“Well, I guess you’ll have to wait until we get home to have dessert then.”

He growls a possessive warning in my ear, and curses as I’m stolen from him by Trace, who takes my hand and uses it to pull me between him and Brennan.

“I thought I would save you from him before he pisses on you to mark his territory,” Trace whispers, making me laugh. I glance back over at Chester, laughing even harder as I see him giving death glares to any guy that looks in our direction.

“You should mingle, but we’ll all be watching. Go have fun. This is your party after all,” Brennan says from behind me. I spin around to look at him and a smile tilts my lips as I peer through the eyes of his mask and see his beautiful blues shining back at me.

“Thank you.” With that, I walk away from them, feeling all their eyes on me.

People say hello as I walk through the crowd towards the tables that are set up to one side of the room. Summer jumps up when she sees me and waves me over, her floor length pale-pink gown complimenting her blonde hair. All her guys are seated, and even with their masks on, I can tell them apart. Khale is scowling at me as usual. After all this time, he still hasn’t warmed up to me, but I can’t blame him when he had the threat of Laughn hanging over his head.

“Happy birthday,” she squeals while throwing herself into my arms.

I look over her shoulder and raise a brow at Leland—is Summer drunk already?

“Thanks, I’m all grown up now apparently.”

“The Macarena” starts playing, and Summer yells out that she loves this song while bouncing in place. Who would even play this song? I scan the room and see Colt standing by the DJ before he grabs Sinclair’s arm and drags her to the dance floor. The rest of his team jump up from their seats to join them, and Summer takes my hand to drag me along with her.

We fall in line next to Blayne and follow along with the song. I laugh at Colt’s ridiculous moves as he shows Danika how it’s done. Jimmie even joins us, but none of his team does.

The feeling of being watched hits me hard, and when I look up, Laughn is standing at the front of the room hidden in the shadows next to a large speaker.

As if the song choice couldn’t get any crazier, “Cotton Eye Joe” comes on next. This time Blayne whoops. Do you have any idea how hard it is to do that dance in heels?

We laugh and dance through a few songs as some teams join in and others stand on the sidelines and watch.

I start to overheat from the dancing and all the bodies on the floor. Deciding a drink is in order, I shuffle out from between Blayne and Summer and make my way to the bar.

The smell of fresh laundry assaults my senses, letting me know Boston is near before he even moves up beside me. “Having fun?” he asks in a low tone, not looking at me. We both just stare ahead and wait for the person manning the bar to finish serving a girl at the opposite end.

“Yes, I am. Thank you for coming, but you didn’t have to.”

“We know we didn’t have to, but none of us would have missed it,” he says, linking his pinkie with mine. “I also haven’t forgotten I owe you a punishment for going into my room and driving my car.”

“If I remember correctly, Laughn was my punishment. I’m more than happy to?—”

“No,” he bites out. “You would enjoy that way too much. I think I might tie you up and spank you.”

I cross my legs to try to ease the throb radiating through my core.

“What can I get for you?” the bartender asks, interrupting my dirty thoughts.

“Um, something wet and watery,” I say, the cloud of lust buzzing around so thick that I don’t even realise what I’ve said until Boston chuckles.

“My work here is done,” he whispers and walks away.

“Okay, something wet and watery coming right up,” the bartender says with a laugh.

He brings me back a bottle of water, placing it down on the bar top in front of me. I thank him and unscrew the cap, taking a long sip. I decide to make a pit stop at the toilets before heading back to the dance floor.

It takes a good five minutes to find the bathroom, and a relieved sigh slips through my lips as I push the door open. I hold back the agitated groan that wants to break free when I see Betty at the sink, washing her hands. I don’t know what I did to piss her off, but she obviously hates me.

“Hi,” I say, placing my bottle of water on the edge of the bench.

“You need to stay away from Jimmie,” she snaps, looking at me through the mirror, not even bothering to turn around.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You have more than enough guys already. Both Team Hades and Team Zeus. You don’t need Jimmie too.”

“Don’t you mean had ? and Jimmie is my friend.”

“He doesn’t need your friendship. What happens when he pisses off Chester or Creed and they hurt him? I know all about the threat against Summer.”

“Maybe if you spent less time worrying about my friendship with Jimmie, and more time on your relationship with him, he wouldn’t still be a virgin.”

That makes her turn to face me. “He doesn’t want me... he’s in love with Khoda.”

I’m presuming Khoda is one of their team. “You can’t force someone to love you.”

“And we can’t all be forced to love our teams like yours,” she says before lowering her voice. “It would be so much easier if we did.”

I nod at her and open a stall before I wet myself—smelling like piss all night isn’t my idea of fun. By the time I finish, Betty is gone. Washing my hands, I grab my bottle of water and head back out to find my guys. Davis is leaning against the wall, waiting for me. He doesn’t say anything, just silently pushes off the wall and follows behind until we are back in the main room. I make my way to the table where Brennan, Trace, Creed, and Chester are seated while he hangs back and then he disappears again in the crowd. Kai is still off dancing with Sinclair and Jimmie.

I take another sip of my water, my mouth dry just from the intense looks I’m getting from the four men seated in front of me. As I sit beside Brennan, he turns to me.

“Is everything okay?”

I nod at him. “Yeah, I just bumped into Betty in the bathroom. She wants me to stop being friends with Jimmie. I think she has the idea in her head that I want more than friendship with him.”

Creed snorts and I whip my head to stare him down. “What’s so funny?”

“You know I like Jimmie—he’s cool—but he isn’t your type.”

“Creed, I don’t have a type. I have a bunch of assholes that I’m linked to. Honestly, I would thank your lucky stars that I’m made to love you.”

“And I will die loving you,” Chester adds.

“Take it down a notch, Ted Bundy,” Trace says.

“Stop changing the subject,” Brennan interjects. “Back to Betty—she said something weird?”

All their attention zeros in on me. “She told me I need to back off because I have Team Hades and Zeus, but she didn’t say ‘had’ or use past tense when referring to them.”

“Shit,” Brennan swears under his breath, pushing his chair back and walking away. I watch until he is out of sight.

“Where is he going?” I ask, turning back to the rest of the men at the table.

“To make them leave. Betty might have seen one of them. It’s probably nothing, but they have risked enough,” Chester says.

“How do you know that?”

He taps the side of his head in response. “Since you have been back, he can sometimes kinda know what people are thinking. It’s random and not consistent,” Trace replies before Chester can.

Brennan is back at the table within minutes. “Creed and Trace, I need you to help me get them out of here unseen. Chester, you and Kai are to keep an eye on Jolie until we have finished.”

Chester nods as Creed and Trace jump up from the table and disappear with Brennan.

“I’m going to dance again. Want to join me?” I ask Chester, batting my eyelashes in the hope he agrees.

“Not in a million fucking years.” He shakes his head. “I’ll stand here and watch.”

I take another sip of my water and head onto the dance floor. The old school songs and dancing haven’t stopped and they’re now up to Michael Jackson. Colt and Kai are in a dance battle over the best moonwalk. Everyone cheers them on, but I can only laugh at how ridiculous they look. They’ve also both ditched their masks at this point as sweat drips down their faces.

“Come on, Jolie!” Colt shouts over the music. “Show us your moves.”

“No way.” I shake my head and back away from them.

“Are you chicken? Cluck, cluck.”

I bend down and undo my heels—my feet could use a break anyway—and once they’re off, Jimmie reaches out and takes them from me. I turn my back to them and scrunch up my dress on either side to stop me from tripping on it and slide backwards.

“What was that?!” Danika wheezes as hysterical laughter falls from her lips.

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad,” I say, trying again, but this time I stumble and Kai races to my side.

“Are you okay?” he asks, not letting me go.

“Just a bit dizzy, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll get you some fresh water.”

“Please.” He makes sure I’m balanced before he releases me. Colt moves in closer to my side and Kai nods at him before rushing off to the bar.

“Alright, Jolie, it’s time to get your chicken dance on.”

Colt whistles, and the DJ changes the song. Who decided to put Colt in charge of the music? Regardless, I’m sure they’re regretting it now.

Flapping my elbows to the music while Colt does the same, my head spins and I feel a million miles away. I realise I’m about to fall a split second before it happens, but then the lights cut out. Our descent into darkness is punctuated by the ramblings of everyone wondering what happened.

As I try to call out for help, my lips refuse to move and desperation claws at my throat. Suddenly someone is picking me up.

“Shhh,” an unknown voice whispers in my ear. “You’ll be okay.”

The struggle leaves my body, and everything goes black... but I swear right before my eyes fall shut, I hear someone calling my name.