by Rachel Shane
But…
But. The one word that could ruin everything, right there in the back of her mind. It was that word that made the anger sizzling inside of her cool and evaporate. Here they were, at the end of their broken friendship and yet it so clearly resembled the beginning. The day she met them, when Brett swooped in and rescued her just like he did now. That day, he was the Team Manager for the football team, and though he was essentially the team’s bitch, he was still a part of them. And after all, hadn’t managing and enforcing the plan for extracting her records been what she’d excelled at tonight? She wasn’t on the field, scoring the goals. She was on the sidelines, doling out positions and ensuring everyone had their eye on the ball.
“Maybe,” Harper said, testing out the word on her tongue like a chef might test out the flavor of a new recipe before adding it to the menu permanently. “Maybe I could be a Coach or a Team Manager instead. Major in Sports Management.”
Brett’s eyes lit up. “You’d be amazing at that!”
Poe nodded. “Yep. You love bossing people around.”
Harper’s heart was so full, she wrapped her arms around Brett, nuzzling her face into his shoulder to whisper a subtle, “Thanks,” into his ear. For getting her records back. For helping her find her future. For being her rock this whole year even if he didn’t know it. He squeezed her back hard, his fingers locking behind her. But then she pushed away and he dropped his arms fast, as if his fingers were springs uncoiling. She did the same thing to Poe, who stood there rigidly for a moment, before lifting her arms and encircling Harper. Poe’s bony shoulders protruded against Harper’s arms, all hard edges compared to Brett’s soft, blurred ones. Both fitting perfectly against her skin.
She pulled away, wiping at her eyes. A lump clogged her throat. “I’m sorry.” It was a whisper. It was a white flag. It wasn’t a defeat but an olive branch.
Harper glanced up to see similar tears in Poe’s eyes. Stoic, defiant Poe.
The girls had ruined each other last year but now it felt almost like they were helping each other become whole again.
“Me too,” Poe whispered back, her voice almost hard to hear among the din of the quad.
“Me three,” Brett rushed in. “I promise this time, I’m keeping both your secrets.”
The trio stood there for a moment, hatchets buried, their hearts on the mend.
Poe lifted out her phone. “We’ve already lost one sister for good. How about we find the other one?” She snapped a photo of the back of the records, making sure to obscure anything confidential, and uploaded it to the app. Brett’s chest stilled as the evidence whooshed over the transom. A new clue popped up.
Congratulations you did it! You completed them all. How does it feel to have some balls?
Get your ass on over to Tenley Square and find the ice cream parlor there.
I’m following your progress so I’ll be there too. And don’t forget—this scoop’s on you!
Brett squinted at the screen. “Wait, this says you’ll be there, but clearly you’re not.”
“I hadn’t planned on forgetting I set this up.” Poe laughed. “I guess I assumed I’d be cheering you on the whole way. But now I can be there, it seems.”
The trio took one look at each other and bolted in the direction of Tenley Square, a street adjacent to campus filled with a college student’s essentials: bars, bars, ice cream, late night greasy pizza, and more bars. Their feet trampled down grass in unison. Harper clutched her chest and Brett and Poe slowed their pace, forcing her to do the same despite the way her legs seemed to protest.
Bright lights splashed onto the cobblestone streets in front of the ice cream parlor. When Harper’s sneakers skidded to a stop in front of the door, her whole body deflated. The place was empty. Only a lone worker stood at the counter. Brett let out a strangled cry.
Poe wrenched open the door anyway. “Hey!” she yelled to the worker. He glanced up from beneath his blue brimmed cap. “Was there a little girl in here recently? Dark hair.”
“Lots of bracelets,” Brett added.
The guy nodded. “Yeah, she sat here for about an hour. Left maybe…ten minutes ago?” He studied the clock.
Brett raked his hand through his hair. “Maybe she went back to the lounge?”
His voice was a low thrum that shivered in Harper’s chest. She shook her head and lowered her voice to match his. “I think…I think I know where she is.” She met Brett’s eyes. “Follow me.”
This time, she didn’t run. She placed one foot carefully in front of the other. Each step was taking her closer to revealing the one secret she didn’t even know she had until an hour ago.
CHAPTER 29
BRETT
Harper was practically skipping toward the mascot, however beheaded he may be. This was the finish line. The cherry on top of a night that extended beyond his expectations, even as it went off the rails. He’d spent so long hating Harper and Poe he’d forgotten how much he missed hanging out with them.
A dark figure came into view standing next to the mascot and Brett broke into a sprint. He rushed forward but then came to a stop several feet away. He spun around, his eyes glistening. “Wrong sister.”
Because there by the mascot wasn’t Maya. It was Valentina.
Poe sucked in a breath and then marched with hesitant steps toward the sister who’d abandoned her. Brett tried to be as quiet as possible, as if his presence might disturb the delicate balance of the universe. He understood what it felt like to lose someone he cared about.
“How did she even know we’d be here?” Brett whispered to Harper.
Harper bit her lip. “I think she overheard me mentioning the mascot at midnight earlier and must have banked on Poe and you coming too.”
Tears dripped down Valentina’s cheeks, streaking her mascara and glistening in the moonlight. “I called my mom.”
Poe drew in a shaky breath. Brett and Harper hung back just a little, giving them space even though they could still hear every word. Moonlight bathed both girls’ hair in shimmer.
“It’s…it’s true. She found out my dad cheated on her when she first got the will.” Valentina dragged her palms down her soaked cheeks. “She didn’t want me to know. God. My dad cheated on my mom and neither of us had any fucking clue until he died!”
Poe stood statute still, as if she was frozen in place on stage while another character performed a monologue.
“He—he left a letter with the lawyer explaining how the cheating happened after a super big fight my parents had and only found out about you a few years later. He felt guilty as hell about both the cheating and the baby and even though he hadn’t done the right thing in life…at least he could do it in death by giving you an inheritance. There you go. An apology from a dead person.”
Poe took Valentina’s hand, squeezing tight. “Thanks for that.” Her eyelashes fluttered shut a few times. “But I do have a few questions. Like how come you have a different last name? And…” She swallowed. “How come you came back?”
“My mom’s a progressive feminist. She wanted me to have her name and my dad didn’t protest.” Valentina lifted her glistening eyes to meet Poe’s. “And I came back because…I never should have left.” She bit her lip. “But there’s something you should know. My mom—she’s going after your half of the inheritance because you violated the stipulation.”
Poe sucked in a sharp breath. When she spoke, it was through clenched teeth. “I knew that was a risk.” She interlocked her fingers behind her head and spun in a circle. “Shit.”
“But,” Valentina said and Poe glanced up. “She can’t dictate what I do with my portion. And I want to split my portion with you.”
Poe rushed forward and wrapped Valentina in a hug just as another figure tromped over the grassy hill, huffing and puffing. Maya’s hair swung in tune with her steps. She gasped when she spotted the group.
“Oh thank God.” Brett rushed after his sister and pulled her into a hug.
Ma
ya pushed him right off her and marched up to Valentina. “Is this her? Are you ShadowGirl?”
Valentina broke from the hug and squinted at Maya as she wiped stray tears from her cheeks. “Huh?”
Brett bent down to face his sister. “ShadowGirl’s not here. The clues weren’t from her. Poe sent them years ago and forgot.”
Maya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I already figured out they weren’t from her because I logged into your Readable account when she didn’t show up at the ice cream place. ShadowGirl sent you a DM a while ago asking to meet at the mascot at midnight.”
Poe gasped, cupping her hand over her mouth, and side-eyed Harper.
“ShadowGirl’s supposed to meet me here?” The possibility zoomed through Brett’s body like an electric boat. He spun around in circles, first fast, then slowly. When he didn’t spot anyone else on the horizon, he sagged against the marble pedestal, clutching his chest as if her heart might explode with disappointment. “Maybe she’s not coming,” he whispered.
“I think she’s already here.” Poe jutted her chin toward Harper.
Brett’s heart thumped, but there was no one approaching from behind Harper. He stood on his tiptoes, craning his neck over her shoulder.
“Look closer,” Poe mumbled beneath her breath.
Brett’s eyes slid back to Harper. She nodded, biting her lip.
Brett stumbled backward, knocking into the mascot from the force of the revelation.
“I figured it out when you told me about the clues,” she whispered. “You’re Blake?”
Brett clamped a palm over his mouth while Maya squealed. His whole world was crashing around him. Harper was ShadowGirl. The girl he hated and loved. Every light has a shadow.
Harper ground her heels in the dirt surrounding the pedestal. “Did you…did you sign up on the site on purpose?”
“To, what? Catfish you?” Brett’s eyes widened. “I went there because I had to talk to someone again, anyone who could fill the void you left. So I created an account where I could be someone else. Someone who hadn’t betrayed the girl I loved.”
Harper looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “And do you still? Love me?”
“I guess I never stopped.” Whether she was ShadowGirl or Harper, she was still the girl he could count on. The girl he knew inside and out. The girl he was still discovering, day-by-day, piece-by-piece.
Harper cupped her hand behind his head and pulled him to her. Her lips brushed his ever so slightly, a tease of a kiss. The start of something. He melted into her and all his nerve endings tingled with this new excitement.
Maya wrinkled her nose. “Ew gross.”
Harper and Brett pulled away, sharing smiles.
“While you guys…do that.” Poe circled her finger in the air. “I’ll take your sister back to the hotel. Let’s all crash there and have one of our old fashioned sleepovers.” She turned to her sister. “Valentina, you’re invited too.”
“Just sleeping this time?” Harper raised her brow.
“For me, yes. For you two…” Poe eyed them up and down. “Yes.”
The trio laughed, falling into their old rhythm…but also learning their new one.
EPILOGUE
A Few Months Later
The Gorgeous Kingdom: The Gorgeous Games, Book 4
Chapter 3
“It was you!” Prince Rupert gripped the hilt of the dagger with shaking fingers. He braced his elbows outward, ready to pull the knife from his gut. The magic still swirled in the air like dust and illuminated the hot sweat and tears dripping from his chiseled brow, making his skin sparkle like diamonds. “You killed her!” He let out an anguished cry and then ripped the dagger from his chest. His breathing came heavy as the blood gushed from his open wound, but he still had enough strength left in his shaking limbs to twist the hilt until the sword pointed at his bride to be.
Adora flinched and thrust up her hands. The leather pants she’d hidden beneath her wedding dress chafed at her thighs. “I saved her! This was the only way.” She stole a glance at the lifeless girl at her feet. Cressida’s dark skin had paled as the life continued to rush out of her and swoop into the air, mingling with the magic already hovering above them. “I know how to bring her back.” She took a deep breath. “But…”
Prince Rupert’s eyes went wild and the sword continued to shake in his hands. “But what?”
“But it requires a sacrifice. If you’re not willing, I am.” Adora lifted her chin and squeezed her eyes shut. “Do it. Do it quick!”
She braced for the impact of the knife to strike the place between her ribs and finally give her what was coming to her. What she deserved. The spell was already in motion. A life for a life. Her death to save the girl she loved.
“I’m willing.”
An anguished cry made Adora’s eyes shoot open. She gasped just in time to see Prince Rupert plunge the knife directly into his own heart. It was the spot Adora had been aiming for before but missed. Tell her,” he gurgled as blood spurted from his mouth. “Tell her…” He collapsed beside the girl he also loved a moment before Cressida’s eyes popped open.
Adora bent on her knees and wrapped Cressida into a hug but her eyes were staring with horror at her best friend, whose blood continued to ooze out of his chest, stomach, and mouth. She had no idea how to tell Cressida everything that just happened. The worst part of all wasn’t to admit she was the one that initially killed Cressida, it was to carry the burden of relaying Prince Rupert’s final wish…that he loved her.
“Ha!” Harper pointed at Adora’s first line of dialogue. “See? I knew Adora bested Cressida fair and square!”
Brett pulled the book that was spread between their legs closer to him. “It clearly implies she was planning to sacrifice herself on purpose.”
“Oh my God!” Poe paced the length of Harper’s bedroom. “Can you just admit you’re both right so we can get on with the night?” Her red dress clung to her curves.
Harper pouted. “We’re only on chapter three. I’m guessing the next thirty chapters are going to be about Adora seizing the kingdom!”
“With Cressida ruling by her side,” Brett added.
Poe raised her brow. “You have like seventy percent of the book left! Come on, I don’t want to keep my date waiting.” She strutted toward the door.
Brett and Harper both laughed at her comment because Poe decided this year, she’d be taking herself to the prom and she couldn’t be happier about it.
Harper stood and smoothed down her dress, a lacy white one just like the one Adora was wearing at the end of Book Three. Last night the trio had camped out at the midnight release party at the local indie bookstore but Harper and Brett decided to withhold reading from Book Four until they could do it together. She looked amazing in her dress and somehow, even more amazingly, was the way she looked at him with a mixture of awe and gratitude.
He straightened his bow tie and held out his elbow. “I’m ready.”
Harper looped her arm through his and planted a delicate kiss on his lips, then scrubbed at them with her palm to wipe away her lipstick. “Me too.”
When Poe spun around, he held out his other elbow. Poe rolled her eyes but linked her arm with his and the trio headed out the door to erase some old memories and replace them with new ones.
The End...
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book would not exist with the continual support of Chandler Baker, Diana Urban, and Lauren Spieller. You all save me on a daily basis.
Thanks to Denise Jaden for all your keen insight into my books. You were my first reader on this book, back when it didn’t resemble anything on the current page, and the book is all the more better for it.
