“Guys! Jolene’s trying to talk here!” Magnolia said.
“Sorry!” Darcy said. “Fallon, if you’re going to stay here on the call, you’re going to have to sit there and just be quiet for now.”
Wow. She really wasn’t scared of him at all. She seemed perfectly at ease telling him to sit down and shut up when he was being a nuisance.
“Apologies,” Fallon said sadly. “I seem to have shown my whole ass.”
“Oh my God!” Darcy cried, shooting him a harried look. “Stop trying to use human phrases! At least not in front of other people! We need to practise more!”
“I mean, he kind of did show his ass there,” Jaya murmured. Magnolia snorted, then nodded in agreement. Suddenly, a loud, young voice came screaming from their square. “I WANT TO SHOW MY BACKSIDE TOO!”
“Killian!” Magnolia said, twisting to address what looked to be a teal blur behind her. “Put some clothes on!”
A deep masculine voice suddenly said, “I’ve got him. Killian! Take those trousers off of your head immediately!”
“I CAN’T,” wailed the child. “FALLON SHOWED HIS AND NOW I MUST SHOW MINE TOO! STAND, FALLON, AND LET YOUR BACKSIDE BE JUDGED! BECAUSE MINE IS MUCH BETTER THAN HIS AND YOU ALL KNOW IT!”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Fallon murmured, frowning. “I think mine is quite good as well. Darcy seems to like it, and-”
“Jolene?”
In the chaos, it took me a second to figure out which square my name had come from. It was Cherry, looking at me with a patiently expectant expression, who had spoken. A Zabrian male with a golden complexion and shockingly bright teal hair had come to join her, sitting quietly at her side.
“Would you like to talk a little bit more about what’s going on?” Cherry asked.
“Where even are you guys right now?” Darcy asked, plopping herself down onto Fallon’s lap, as if that was how she was going to get him to listen quietly.
“We’re at Zohro’s,” I said.
“Wow,” Darcy said. “That dude actually got a bride, huh?”
“Oh, snap!” said Fallon excitedly. He looked to his wife, perhaps sensing some oncoming admonishment, but she merely smiled and said, “You know what? That was actually pretty good.”
“What is it?” I asked nervously. I pressed my thighs together. Did I have to pee? “Why is it so weird that Zohro got a bride?”
Was something wrong with him? Beyond the fact that he was a murderer, that is?
“Because he did not want one.” That was the male in Cherry’s square speaking now. Her husband, I could only assume. “He made a great show of telling Fallon and I what fools we were for agreeing so quickly to the bride program.”
“He didn’t want a wife?” I frowned. “But he said he’d marry me, like, immediately.”
Darcy gave me a knowing, feline sort of grin.
“Sounds like you must be something pretty darn special then, Jolene. Because Zohro is one prickly motherfucker, and I can’t see him wanting to marry just anyone.”
“Oh, no,” I said, spreading my fingers in the air as if to ward off her words. “I’m not special. Trust me. The only stuff I’m good at is, like, ranch stuff and horse stuff and getting pregnant without planning to, apparently.”
“Well, sounds like you’re special to Zohro,” Jaya said. “Trust me. These guys? They don’t do things by halves. And when they choose you? They really fuckingchooseyou.”
Had Zohro actually chosen me? I hadn’t really stopped to consider why he’d said yes to my proposal when he could havesimply waited for another not-so-pregnant lady to come along and be his wife instead.
Why me?
“The reason I called all of you this evening,” Tasha said, “is because Jolene arrived here via less than official channels. And, unfortunately, like some of the earlier brides in our program, she didn’t know about Zohro’s conviction until today.”
“He hid it from you,” Cherry said, as if it were a statement, not a question.
“No, actually,” I replied. “He told me almost right away. At least, the next morning after I arrived. Which was today. And now I just feel…”
