THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance by Elena Monroe (ebook reader android .txt) 📕

I knew without any hints she clearly belonged to Vic, the petulant winner. He found someone just like him, only with less polish and more pink. When we were kids, he always had to win even if no one was competing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t give him any scars in our youth, only blows to his ego.

Abigail, I knew belonged to Reaper because of the precarious position I already saw her in. I had seen the girl fully naked, kneeling on her kitchen floor with nipple clamps and a blind fold. She had a side I wouldn’t suspect and it reminded me of how I had to cage the real me to survive Denmark like a bad memory.

I could tell the quiet girl in the back of the elevator trying to blend in with the textured walls belonged to Khaos—or rather, he belonged to her. Khaos and I had the same taste in people, clearly, since he was always trying to steal Bowen.

The silence didn’t last much longer when the girl with the raspy voice in converse and a leopard skirt started to introduce herself. I already knew this was going to start in judgments and end in carefully placed insults.

They were weary of me, and I was annoyed that they knew more than I did.

“I’m Justice, but everyone calls me Jus. You’re Bowen’s fiancé, right?”

Pleasantries weren’t for me, princess mode or not. “Yes, I’m Eve.” I didn’t feel the need to do a mini bio like when the new kids arrive on campus and the teacher makes them say interesting facts about themselves like anyone is listening.

The judgement closing in on me only made me close in on myself even more.

I was the new girl in a weird sense of the word. These girls didn’t know me and there had been enough time between the guys and I that it felt new again.

She paused, but I could see the motivation to say something else. She wanted to warn me against Bowen, yet her lips didn’t move.

Crossing my arms, feeling defensive, I stared into her eyes and saw how much she’d try to win even in this conversation. “It looks like you want to say something. Go ahead, I’ve been through worse than whatever warning you’re going to give me.”

Abigail’s mouth dropped at my words which blazed a smirk over my glossy lips.

Jus stood taller, mimicking my crossed arms when she smiled in a vindictive way. “I don’t normally give out unsolicited advice but he’s a different story…”

Her ill attempt at being a girl’s girl was being poorly executed.

It actually had me laughing out loud. She had no idea who I was or how much I knew her husband in ways she wouldn’t.

That’s what childhood friends do, rub it in your face that you’ll have all their other parts but that one is just out of reach and always will be.

“How well do I know Bowey?” Pretending to think, I watched her wicked smirk taunt me like I was going to come up empty. “Let’s see, his mother basically raised me, we spent every day together and slept in the same bed throughout our whole childhood, he made life bearable for me when it wasn’t. He was my everything. Still is. Then we ended up being ripped apart for years without any contact… But I still think I know him a whole hell of a lot better than you.”

Abigail’s soft side tried to soothe whatever Jus wanted to say next. “Just leave it alone. It’s none of our business.”

Making eye contact with Abigail, I came to her friend’s rescue. “Let her say what she needs to. We’re all going to be stuck together at Clave events so we might as well figure out how to be friendly now.”

Turning my focus to Justice, the doors opened and closed behind me. Tugging on the emergency brake lever, I felt the elevator adjust to a sudden stop when I waved a hand over the space giving her the floor.

The girl in the back with the short dirty blonde hair snorted through the hand already over her mouth. Holding her other hand up, she tried to gain control of her voice when she apologized through giggles.

At least she thought I was funny.

“Do you even know what he does for the Clave? How can you be with someone like that?”

I did know, and I already decided it didn’t matter because nothing would stop my heart from loving the rhythm of his name.

“I think we’ve established that I know everything there is to know about Bowey. We have managed to love each other since we were children, even driven apart by miles. We’ve both been tortured into being people who shouldn’t be able to love at all, but now I’ll finally have my happy ending with my soulmate. Every part of him I accept, good and bad because I love him more than anything. I understand that everything the Clave does is a lot to take in for someone just stepping into this world... The hunt, the initiation, the ball, the grove, the oath—it's all crazy, but I grew up in this. I knew what I was getting into from day one. I’m already brainwashed, so you’re warning the wrong girl. If you’re so worried about his job, what did you do to stop it?”

Waiting for her to digest that I wasn’t in fact shiny and new the way I seemed, she turned even more sour. All that gusto to warn me backfired and now she had to change strategies.

Saying nothing, I must have gotten through to her when I scanned the elevator for any more opinions about my Bowey when the silence only mounted for a few minutes. “Your funeral,” she quipped, letting me finally make my own mistakes