Page 47 of The Debutantes
“What the hellwasthat?” I explode.
Milford stiffens. “I tried to tell y’all.”
“Bullshit.”
“I know what it looks like, okay?” he argues. “I didn’t want to go back there.Y’allare the ones who made me. But those guys aren’t bad. They’re just—I don’t know. Having some fun. My dad says most of them have arrangements with their wives, or whatever. But it’s just a stupid Mardi Gras thing. A bunch of old guys playing King for a day, like in Deus. Like Les Masques.”
“Les Masques isnotthe same thing,” Piper argues. “It’s a decades-old tradition about celebrating women. It’s not… whatever that was.”
April scoffs, so quiet I almost didn’t hear it. But clearly, Piper did.
She turns on April, arms crossed. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Y’all,” I step in. “We need to go.”
Because the Jester’s still on our tail. I’m not the only one who’s thinking it. Piper’s already fishing her keys out of the tote bag, and April’s scanning the street, anxious.
“Thanks again, Milford,” I spit. “Really, you were agreatescort.”
I turn and lead us away.
“Wait,” he says, suddenly urgent, and for a second, I thinkhe’s going to apologize. It wouldn’t help, not really, but I still want to hear it.
But what he says is “Y’all won’t tell anyone, will you? Because I’ll deny it. They will, too.”
Yeah,I think, shooting him a glare.I bet they will.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I tell him through gritted teeth.
We turn and go, leaving him there on the street.
When we make it back to the car, the street is empty. I let out a shaky breath.
And then I realize April is crying. Not hard, just one tear slipping down her pale cheek. She wipes it away, but she doesn’t look sad. She looks angry as hell.
Piper’s noticed, too, and she’s watching April like a cat who wants to befriend a small duck but is sort of worried she might accidentally eat it.
“Hey,” I say softly. “You okay?”
April shakes her head. I take a step toward her, but then I remember I don’t know her that well, don’t know how to comfort her yet.
She wipes another tear. “They knew her. These two guys I saw on the balcony. They knew Margot.”
Piper straightens. “How do you know?”
“They said I was too young to be there, like the ‘other girl.’ And when I asked them if they meant Margot—”
“Wait, youaskedthem? We didn’t agree to talk to any of the members. They could have recognized you, or—”
“Let her finish,” I tell Piper.
It looks like it takes literally biting her tongue to stop herself, but Piper nods.
“When I said her name, they looked all freaked out,” April continues. “Then they told me I had to leave.”
There’s a new look on April’s face now. Not just anger, but like she finally understands.
