Page 98 of The First Taste

She keeps smirking. “Swipe right.”

I tap the screen and like magic, there is a dark skinned young guy in a tight dark blue button up and tight pants. He’s posing at some sort of club and he’s really good looking, as evidenced by the five women surrounding him, eyeballing him jealously.

Natasha makes a gesture that I should continue swiping. I flick the screen a couple more times. Each time I am presented with a new guy. Every type of hobby is represented. Every ethnicity. And all of the guys are hot as hell.

Eventually, I look up at her. “What am I looking at, Natasha?”

“I want you to pick out the ten hottest men that you see there. I’m setting you up. No more wasting away out here in the middle of nowhere.”

I frown at her, skeptical. “I’m flattered that you care about my social life. I was under the impression that you don’t really give a flying fuck about me. It’s nice to know I’m wrong, I guess. But at the same time, I’ll pass.”

She leans forward, her smile turning forceful. “I think you should consider it. I’ve seen the way you look at Lord Grayrose. Like he is the ice cream van driver and you are chasing after him, waving your hands in the air. A pathetic little girl who wants what she can’t have. It’s disgusting behavior for one of his employees.”

If I rolled my eyes any harder, I would probably go blind. Pushing myself to my feet, I start to gather my notebook and my cup. There is no reasoning with this girl, even though my hands shake as I pick up the cup. She called me names.

As my mother would say, there’s no use haggling with the devil if the devil is going to spew hatred and bile.

“Well?” Natasha demands. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“Why should I? You’ve clearly made up your mind about the issue. You just called me disgusting. Anything I say after that is just going to wind you up more.”

She bangs her fist on the table.

“You’d better listen to me, Ella. What, do you think I have missed how you walk around here in those short little dresses? Lord Grayrose is a red-blooded man and he notices you wearing next to nothing. He is easily misled and doesn’t know what he needs.”

“But you do?” I ask. Skirting past the table, I toss my hair and head to the door.

“I know him better than anyone. I know what’s good for him!”

I pause at the door, looking back over my shoulder. “You really think that one day, he’s going to realize that he’s been in love with you all this time?”

Natasha brushes her hair back from her face and then crosses her arms.

“What do you care? You’ll be gone by then anyway.”

Shaking my head, I call out as I leave the room. “I’m here for the rest of the month. Then… we’ll see!”

“What!?” she cries, following me out the door.

I don’t turn around. Pretending she’s not there, I walk down the hallway and to the front stairway. Then I skid to a halt.

Most of the stairwell is stone, with the exception of a small strip of wood running down the middle of the ceiling, all the way up to the top floor. I’ve gotten used to how everything is a little shabby around here.

I even got used to the way that there is a huge hole burned in one end of the castle that nobody ever talks about.

But now the small wooden track has come loose in splintered bits, some sagging on the stairs, some fallen to the ground. When I glance up the stairs, I can see that it has fallen or come loose pretty much as far up the stairs as I can see.

It’s impossible to walk around the splintered wood without brushing against it or even making it break more.

“What the hell?” I say.

That’s the moment that the front door swings open and Saffron comes in, hauling her own heavy luggage. She looks at me, sees the damaged wood behind me, and her eyes widen.

“Oh my god. Are you okay?” she asks me. She drops her bag and rushes over to me with a rustle of her long pink silk skirt.

I give her a quick hug. “Totally fine. I just walked around the corner and saw that the ceiling fell down. Natasha?—”

I turn to indicate her. But the hallway is empty. I roll my eyes.