“Stay here until someone comes for you,” a deep but sort of familiar voice says. “Do not take off the bag.”
I nod. “You got it.”
I can’t quite pinpoint how I know the voice, but my mind strives to figure it out while I sit in complete darkness.
And I sit and I sit—and I sit some more.
I don’t know what time it is, and I don’t know how long I’ve been here, but eventually, I try to keep myself occupied by rolling through a few renditions of “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. It’s Julia’s ringtone, and I know the song like the back of my fucking hand.
I’m halfway through the chorus when I’m yanked from thechair and instructed to stand. It’s the same voice. The same distant familiarity that my brain still can’t piece together.
As the bag is removed, the entire room goes dark, and a slim blindfold slides over my eyes instead.
My elbow is grabbed, and I’m instructed to walk again.
On slightly shaking legs, the muscles cold with disuse for God knows how long, I do as I’m told and walk.
The whole way, my stomach dances with excitement, and I rub my hands together as someone shoves me forward, leading me back through what feels like another maze of hallways.
As we walk, my smile grows.
This is so fucking cool.
I’m shoved down into another chair, this one soft and velvety from the feel of it under my hands, and a hush falls over the room, the sound of my breathing all I recognize.
“Ace Tobias Kelly, I’d like to welcome you here tonight,” someone announces, the sound of their voice circling me. “This is going to be one of the most important nights of your life. Are you ready to take on the challenge?”
“I’m ready,” I say confidently. “I’m so ready.”
Someone steps toward me, and I hold my chin high as their hands work to undo my blindfold. As it leaves, I blink against the darkness of the candlelit room, trying to find my focus as quickly as possible.
The first thing I notice is that the chair I’m sitting on is more throne than dining room spindle chair, and two people in long robes are in front of me, their official nature unquestionable.
That’s not that big of a surprise, but what is a surprise is the identity of the person on the left.
And not a little one. It’s the biggest fucking surprise that’s ever been sprung on me in all my nineteen years.
“Mom?”
“Hi, Acer,” she says, a smile in her voice and afuck yeahgrin on her lips. She’s just pulled the biggest fucking coup in Kelly history.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, looking around the room for Lexi and trying to make sense of it all. I don’t find the brainiac former president, but my mom finds her voice with ease.
“Surprise, motherfucker,” she says without hesitation. “Your clearly very cool mom is one of the secret chairs of Double C.”
My eyes feel like they might pop out of their sockets if I don’t shove them back in.
The man, whom I don’t recognize at all, standing next to her in a robe of his own, turns and nods to the two cloaked figures in the corner, and they step forward, pulling off their hoods.
It’s Lexi and Connor. Instantly, I put the pieces of the familiar but mysterious voice together and know that it was Connor back there. He’s been friends with Lexi Winslow since they were thirteen. At one point, back in the day, he was her boyfriend. Basically, he’s been around my family and parents’ friends for years.
Not to mention, he was Lexi’s right-hand man for Double C all last year.
But now, the two of them are no longer Dickson students and are passing the torch…to someone who appears to be a devilishly handsome guy whom a lot of people know to be Ace Kelly.
Holy fucking shit!
I discreetly inhale a calming breath and force myself to keep my cool. No need to blow my load of excitement before they even get this cloak-and-dagger secret ceremony show on the road.
