I stared at the rose. Today should have been easy. Every single girl we passed today had all held their breath, expecting to be the one to receive the flower that would mark her as ours for senior year and into college.
We had all made the necessary changes so our schedules fell in line with Sian’s. It was why we were now in the same classes as her. Once a woman was marked by us, she became ours in every single way that counted.
Only, Sian had thrown a wrench in the works. I pulled out my cell phone, expecting the call. Our fathers were all waiting to hear the news.
My dad was going to be so pissed.
He expected great things from me, being his only male heir. My mother had been a disappointment to him, giving him only one son, and the rest were four girls, no other sons. I was treated like royalty, and to many, I was. The heir to the Flores empire. One of the most dominant companies in the world. We were everywhere, and those who dared to defy us, well, their little company never lasted for long, that was for sure.
No one rejected a Flores and my dad, Lucas, would see this as a failing on my part. I wasn’t allowed to be a failure.
“You know the rules, William,” Dante said. “There is no room for her to tell us no.”
William’s jaw clenched.
Silence fell around us.
All of us had to be thinking the same thing. Exactly how far were we willing to go to be accepted? I never thought I’d have to do anything I didn’t agree with or that was illegal, but that was my fault for thinking there could ever be room for negotiation.
Our cell phones went off at the same time.
I tapped mine against my thigh, wanting to avoid this conversation for as long as possible, but instead, I had no choice but to answer.
“Hello,” I said.
“Well, son, is it done?” Lucas asked.
I rubbed at my temple. The easiest thing to do was to lie. We had time to convince Sian to belong to us. He’d find out the truth, and then I’d be in trouble.
“No. She rejected us,” I said.
I heard my friends say the same thing to their parents.
Silence.
Deep breathing.
I waited.
“You know that’s not acceptable.”
“Dad, we presented her the rose.”
“And you’ve been told what you have to do. Do I need to do everything for you, boy?”
“No, sir.”
“Get it done. I won’t ask again. The next time I call, she better belong to you.”
The line went dead.
I turned off my cell phone and looked at my friends. They all looked royally pissed.
“Well, there’s no use sitting around here,” William said, grabbing his bag.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m going to go and charm the pants off our girl. It’s either that or my father is coming to handle this. I don’t know about you, but if he comes, he’ll make shit worse.” He bowed. “If you’ll excuse me.”
He was the first to leave, followed by Mateo.
“Are you okay?” Dante asked.
I glanced at him and nodded. “Fucking peachy.”
He snorted. “Your dad?”
“Told me the same as what your dads have all told you. I’ve got to get it done.”
“Do you think this is worth it?” Dante asked. “None of us have ever tried to be friends with this girl. To be honest, I didn’t even give her a fucking thought until we were told what we had to do.”
“I noticed her,” I said.
We were all like brothers, this little unit. From the moment we were old enough to understand our lives were different, we’d all been inseparable.
Dante was the one who was able to handle my moods.
“If we leave him alone, William is only going to fuck it up,” Dante said.
“I got it.” I grabbed my bag, and with Dante beside me, we made our way out of our shared dorm and down the long flight of stairs, heading out into the main quad of the school.
It was an afternoon break. Classes here ran from eight in the morning, until five in the afternoon. Detentions always took place at six in the main hall.
I’d never gotten a single detention. I’d done a lot of shit to warrant one, but no teacher would dare take me on. They knew they would lose.
With it being a break before the next bunch of classes, people milled around the quad. The whispers were already happening. Some of the girls looked at me and Dante longingly. It was no shock as I’d enjoyed my fair share of pussy at this school.
In fact, up until senior year, we had a scoring book for all the pussy in this place. We graded them from one to ten, and even listed what they would do for us. Seeing as the selection was so important, the book had been put away for a later use, if we ever decided to use it again.