Page 13 of Her Wicked Knights (Their Hallowed Queen #3)

Tripp

Fucking homecoming.

I cringe at my reflection in the mirror.

I don't know why we're even doing this other than that it's what's expected of us.

I'd just as soon stay home tonight. I've got a sketch I started last night while everyone was at the game that needs finished and the last thing I want to spend my night doing is watching Marley and Jake.

Things have been tense between us since Rev and I told her that we saw her best friend and boyfriend together, clearly involved.

Neither of us has tried to bring it up again, and she has done a good job of avoiding us so that we can't bring it up even if we want to.

But not tonight. Tonight, my mom invited all the neighbors over for the occasion.

It's like she thinks it's a black tie wedding instead of a junior year homecoming. She did too much, like she always does.

I'm reminded of that when I go downstairs to find her in her long black dress, the bottom of it grazing against the marble floor. "Tripp!" She opens her arms for me, and I can't help but grin as I let her frame my face to get a look at me. "My handsome son. Who knew you cleaned up so well?"

"You did." I roll my eyes. "Don't act like you don't make me dress up for every holiday. Easter was just like four months ago."

"Five." She corrects me with a smile. "And that's different. This?" She shakes her head a bit. "You even did something with your hair!"

"Red or purple?" As if summoned by my mother's praise, my father steps into the foyer, holding a tie in each hand.

When his eyes drift to me, he grins. "Look at you, James Bond." He nods appreciatively. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"No girl." I shake my head, shutting that down before it can potentially turn into something more. "And I think the red."

"Boy, then?" Mom asks quickly… almost hopefully. She thinks she's so sly.

Truthfully, I don't think she cares if I'm into girls or boys or circus clowns, as long as I show an interest in something other than being alone.

She worries, and I'd be mad about it if she didn't also fret over my brother the same way.

Her worst fear seems to be that we'll both end up alone.

I guess it's a valid fear for a socialite.

"Rev." I answer honestly, and her eyes sparkle for a moment before I add, "And Colton. And Marley and Jake and Audrey."

"Audrey?" Mom frowns. "I don't think I know her?"

"Be grateful for that." I tell her honestly, which earns me a disapproving twist of her lips. "By the way, can I take the mustang? You won't be going anywhere tonight, obviously."

"Absolutely not." Mom says at the same time dad says, "I don't see why not?"

They look at each other, surprise stretching between them at what the other has decided.

It's not uncommon for them to have two different answers, but they always settle on a unified front.

They make it look so easy, too. I watched Colton's parents go through a divorce when we were younger, and even before that, everything turned into a fight with them.

"I don't know that letting our sixteen-year-old son take a car that fast on a night when other kids will probably be drinking and driving is the best idea.

" Mom shakes her head, worry in her eyes as she looks apologetically at me.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Tripp, but I'm not sure this is a good time to let you drive yourself. "

"The venue is only twenty minutes away." Dad frowns, clearly trying to have my back in this matter.

"Yeah, well..."

Whatever mom's next excuse was, it's cut short by the sound of the doorbell. She turns to it, but the doorbell was just a courtesy call before the door opens, and Mrs. Lavigne pokes her head in slowly. "Gwyn?"

"Ginny," Mom abandons her fight to sweep her friend into a hug. "Thank God you're here. There's too much testosterone here."

I scowl at her back, but she turns, shooting me a grin.

"Where's Daniel? And Marley?"

"Daniel is working, of course. He did tell Marley he'd break away to drive her, but she turned that offer down." Ginny laughs, turning to me. "And Marley should be here in just a minute. She was doing some last-minute primping." Her mom laughs. "My, my, Tripp. You look quite debonair."

Ginny's like an aunt, except for the fact that I'm entirely obsessed with her daughter.

She's been my mother's best friend since they became neighbors, before either myself or Marley were born.

Her compliment makes me roll my eyes, but she only smiles and offers me a wink, assuring me that she's just playing the part of my mother's partner in crime.

She doesn't ask about who I'm going to the dance with— maybe because she knows I only have eyes for her daughter.

I think she's known as much since we were kids.

When she found out about the pact we made years ago, she'd told me she hoped we held onto that promise, because she'd love to have me as her son officially.

That pact is as unlikely now as the chance that Marley walks in here right now and plants a kiss on my lips. She's into Jake so much that every ounce of her energy is spent on either him or Audrey.

Think of the devil, and she will appear. I catch the flash of red hair before I see Marley. Once I do, I don't care about anything else. How could I care about something as trivial as my parents not letting me take the mustang when she's headed right into the house, looking like... that.

I changed my mind. I don't care if I have to watch her dance with Jake all night or laughing behind her hand with Audrey. Just getting to look at her all night while she's wearing that dress will be a privilege.

The blue dress is pale and shimmery, tasteful and yet tempting, the way it fits her every curve.

I always like her in red— darker colors make her look more golden.

The pale dress though, makes her look perfectly angelic, all sweet and no sour.

She's heaven to Audrey's hell, as Audrey hurries to catch up to her, her red dress so tight it makes her walk like a stick figure.

"Guess you have the misfortune of meeting the devil spawn, after all." I mutter, glancing at mom pointedly.

"Tripp!" She gasps, her eyes flitting to Ginny.

Shit. Guess I should censor myself in front of her, if not my parents.

But to my surprise, when I turn to her to consider apologizing, she actually laughs a little, pressing her lips together like that will allow her to refrain from saying anything unkind.

And it works, because she turns to usher her daughter in the house while Audrey and Jake follow.

Beyond them, I see Colton's car ease into the driveway.

A moment later, both he and Rev step out of it, and I'm surprised at the sight of them dressed up like this.

I don't know what I expected— it's a semi formal event after all, it's not like they'd show up in jeans and a tee shirt.

But still, seeing Colton in a button-up is weird.

Rev in a suit is even weirder... but not unwelcome.

"Tripp." Marley says quietly, drawing my attention to her. I'm surprised she's talking to me at all, much less standing right in front of me, grinning. "You look..."

"Ridiculous?" I supply.

But she just shakes her head. "No. You look really good." Her lips twitch as I appraise her, and then her hand comes up between us and she grabs a lock of my hair between her manicured fingers. "When did your hair get so long?"

I haven't cut it all summer, considering I've been refusing to leave my house for most of it. "I'm due for a cut," I shrug.

"Don't." She smiles. "I like it."

I'm about to tell her that I like her hair, too, when Jake slings an arm around her, pulling her to him so that she teeters on the heels that are too high for her. "You walk pretty fast in those things."

"Not bad," Audrey concedes, flipping the sheet of her hair over one shoulder. "That means you could probably go another inch. Two, if you add a platform."

"I'll give her another two inches." Jake jokes, elbowing Marley in the ribs like he's searching for her approval. He doesn't find it, because she rolls her eyes at the same time Colton joins the conversation.

"Two inches, huh, Jake? Good for you for being able to admit that you've got a small dick. I'm curious, though, is the two inches when you're hard? Follow up question; can Marley even feel it?"

"Colton!" Marley gasps, properly affronted as Colton simply smirks.

"Don't tease them." Audrey scolds him. "You don’t want to ruin her first time tonight!”

I have to curl my hands into fists to control the rage I feel at that. My nails bite into my palms, and I do my best to temper my face, to keep anyone from seeing the disappointment.

Marley was my first kiss, my only kiss. And I was hers.

The thought of sharing any part of her with someone else is incomprehensible. Imagining that being with fucking Jake is so much worse.

I turn away before Marley catches my face, but I see hers as I do.

She’s scarlet, the blush on her cheeks spreading down to her chest and reaching up to the tips of her ears.

Her mouth is open in shock, and I think there’s more than embarrassment in the color she’s turned into.

She clamps her mouth shut, but I notice how she glares at Audrey as she stalks away, her outrage lingering.

“Way to go, Graves.” Jake grumbles, clearly annoyed as he follows his girlfriend, no doubt worrying that the mood has been spoiled, that Marley will change her mind from whatever they planned to do.

Audrey rolls her eyes and wraps an arm around Colton’s waist, looking up at him from beneath a fringe of lashes that are long and spidery and look like someone glued feathers there.

Colton pushes her off of him, clearly unenthused, and turns to go out the front door.

He’s stopped by Audrey’s voice. “Come on, honey. You don’t have to pretend in front of your friends.

They’re going to find out about us soon enough. ”