Folsom (End of Men, #1)(32)

“No.” I stand up and all of their eyes follow my movement. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.”

And with that, I walk out.





SIXTEEN





GWEN


The next morning I leave the news station, blood pumping. My interview, the public announcement of Folsom’s sixth son, is now playing on a loop on every station across the Regions. My hands are still shaking as I make my way across the parking lot toward my car. The fact that we were live was terrifying; all of those people watching me…I was terrified that I’d stumble over my words and say something stupid, but all had gone fine and now I’m on my way home. My feet ache, and I miss Folsom. If the Society had their way at his meeting this morning, I won’t be able to pop in and see him anymore, and the thought of that is crushing.

I pull into our long drive and hope that everyone is out, but by the time I reach the house and see the rows and rows of cars I know I’m in for a long day. I’m not in the mood for company. I go in the back entrance and nearly run Phoebe over.

“Oh good, you’re here.” She looks so relieved, I move toward her.

“What’s going on?”

She looks me over, assessing my wrinkled shirt and pants. “You need to go change into something nicer. You had to have seen the messages?”

I check my Silverbook guiltily. I’ve ignored Sophia’s air messages and calls for weeks, only answering when it wasn’t Folsom-related, but I didn’t mean to ignore my mother. I didn’t realize the sound has been off all morning. There are three missed messages from her, the words angrily flying out into the air, each with more caps than the last one. If I’d known what she was planning, I probably would’ve ignored her longer and stayed out.

I go up the back staircase and take a quick shower, avoiding getting my hair wet but scrubbing my face clean. I’ll put my hair up, I decide as I zip up my dress. I pile it up, pinning my out of control hair into semi-submission. I hesitate to put makeup back on and decide to add mascara at the last second. Once whatever this is ends, I’ll go to work and check on Laticus…and of course, dome six.

I take the staircase near the dining room and try to quieten my heels as I walk on the hardwood. I hear voices, but at least it doesn’t sound like a massive party.

The chatter dies down when I walk in, but then my mom claps and everyone else follows politely. There are pink and blue balloons and flowers swallowing up the room. Sophia is dressed in a pink floor-length gown. She cuts her eyes toward me and I see the resentment. I should be relieved she’s pregnant, but I’m the one with the boy and that will drive Sophia mad. She and her friends turn as one and stare at me until I feel the heat flood my face; one of them says something and they all throw back their heads and laugh. I swallow and make my way to her, stopping to hug my mother first then Governor Petite.

When I reach Sophia, I clasp her hands. “Congratulations, Soph! Can you believe it? Two babies in our family. We are so fortunate.”

She shakes her hands out of mine and lifts her glass of sparkling water in the air. “To my sister who always gets exactly what she wants.”

Her friends surround us and I back away, moving to sit at the table. Langley follows me and sits down, pulling her long red hair to one side. She’s had it out for me since we were little girls vying for Sophia’s attention. Out of all of Sophia’s friends, she’s the hardest for me to tolerate, but they’re all vipers.

“Gwen,” she purrs. “A boy, how exciting.”

I nod, forcing a smile onto my face. I’ve heard through the grapevine that Langley has an appointment with Folsom. The thought of her touching him makes me recoil in disgust. I have to wipe the image from my mind before I can look at her again.

“Sophia says you’ve been taking care of Folsom all these weeks. Is he…is it anything serious?”

“He nearly died,” I say. “So yes, rather serious.”

Her lips fold into a sulky pout and she shakes her head sadly. “Terrible. Do they know…?”

“He had a heart attack,” I say, not caring who she tells. Everyone should know. Folsom was being worked to death and it was our fault.

Langley gasps and clutches at the giant sapphire necklace that hangs between her breasts.

For a moment I think her concern could be sincere, but then she runs her eyes from my feet to my face, her distaste evident on her perfectly sculpted face.

“Just make sure he’s out of there by next Friday.” She leans into my ear. “We have an appointment and I’m going to fuck you right out of his system.”

“That didn’t even make sense,” I tell her, standing up. I bump into someone and turn around, eyes wide. “So sorry, Governor Petite. I didn’t realize you were there.”

“It’s okay, no worries.” She laughs. “And enough with the formalities. For someone about to become my daughter, I insist you at least start calling me Pandora. We won’t rush the ‘Mom’ title.” She winks before smoothing back a curl that has fallen into my eye.

My mouth falls open. I glance around the room for my mother.

“Oh no, did I let it out before Diana could tell you? I’ve asked your mother to marry me.”

I swallow and attempt a smile. “Congratulations.”