Page 48 of One Bad Knight

“It’s nothing,” I said, realizing how much my feelings were becoming transparent around her. By the way she said my name, I knew she detected the abnormality in me.

I cleaned us up and lifted Kat off the counter, setting her back on the floor. I adjusted her dress, so that it fell right again, though the back of it was a bit wrinkled now. But she smelled like sex, and the flush in her cheeks couldn’t be washed away. Inside I crowed at the mark I’d left behind.

Kat shot me a seductive smile before opening the door back to the party. Her smile disappeared away in an instant.

Her uncle John stood there with a dark expression of disappointment, looking back and forth between her and me. “Having a good time, are we?”

18

Kat

My uncle John pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fornicating in the bathroom, in easy earshot and full view of all our supporters? Have you lost your mind?”

We were in the study. The party had ended hours ago, but after he’d found me in the bathroom with Gatsby, he’d escorted me for the rest of the evening.

Gatsby had completely unhinged me until I screamed in the bathroom, and no one was left wondering where I had disappeared to.

The moment we were discovered, my uncle quietly asked Gatsby to leave the party. When I saw his shoulders bunch up as if ready for a fight, I put my hand on his chest and shook my head. He understood my silent plea and left. But I knew he’d stay nearby somehow, undetected.

My uncle tried his best to salvage my image, but I saw the looks, heard the whispers.

She’s gone off the deep end.

Poor John. Some of his supporters are so offended, they are cooling off.

Who does she think she is? Sweeping in, in that dramatic number and acting like that?

Who wants to be associated with someone like that?

Did you hear, she thinks she’s an artist? We all know that’s code for slut.

My uncle stood from behind the desk, leaning onto his hands as if he could barely support his own weight right now. He hauled me in here as soon as he’d said his last goodbye. I suddenly felt ridiculous in my dress and longed for yoga pants and a tee.

“What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?”

Shame rolled over me in hot, intense waves. I instantly covered my stomach with my arms, but I already felt bruised and beaten by the disapproval directed at me tonight.

I opened my mouth, but an invisible hand encircled my throat and squeezed. Not like how Gatsby had, in a way that made my toes curl and orgasm come like a freight train. Shame doubled down on me following that thought, and my mouth clicked shut.

“Do you know what you cost us tonight? You do not live in a vacuum, Kat. I’m out here, working to be reelected so I can help people. Don’t you care about the common good? It’s already been a close campaign, and I fear tonight’s escapade will shorten the gap, if we haven’t fallen behind already.” His fist pounded against the desk, causing me to jump. “Do you even know how you’ve threatened both our futures?” Then he shut his eyes tight before scrubbing a hand down his face. “No, of course you don’t know. You couldn’t possibly know.”

When my uncle could finally meet my eye, his were bloodshot. Dark bags circled under them.

Fear shot through me. His health looked to have deteriorated at an alarming rate, and I had been the one to cause him that.

My uncle slowly rounded the desk until he stood before me. He braced his arms on the desk behind him, his weight sagging against it. “I know you didn’t have a rebellious phase in high school. I waited for it. Prepared for it, but it never came. Is that what this is? You finally lashing out?” His voice darkened. “Because if you knew how important it was that I win this election, you wouldn’t be so cavalier to fuck random lowlifes just to get attention and feel like a little grown-up miss. This win is as much for you as it is for me. You can’t imagine how much these events mean for not just my future, but for yours. Your father would be so disappointed to see the path we are going down.”

My vision swam as I fought back tears and the bile that crept up my throat.

He was right. What stupid rebellious phase had I entered that I’d let someone ruin my uncle’s event?

All because Gatsby called me a fake princess, saying I only pretended to fit in when I didn’t. I’d let his words get under my skin. They provoked me. They stoked a secret fire in me that felt so smothered and choked out in this lifestyle that I exploded in an inferno of ridiculousness and embarrassed everyone.

“I’m—I’m so sorry,” I said, my words coming out just above a whisper. “I love my family, I love you more than anything else, and I never intended to hurt you. I’m so sorry,” I repeated.

My uncle sighed, his shoulders sagging as if he couldn’t hold onto his anger anymore. His anger gave way to something far worse. Disappointment. “I know you are. Now, now, no crying, let’s keep our composure, eh Kat?”

I swiped at the errant tear that escaped and tried to swallow over the lump in my throat.