Free Homecoming Masquerade, The by Spencer Baum Page B

and Ryan could just go on being themselves for the rest of the year.
    The problem was, the real Nicky,
the one she showed for Ryan, would never wear black to Homecoming. The real
Nicky saw Coronation as the atrocity that it was. Even though she didn’t speak
with Ryan about her hatred for the immortals, for Thorndike, for Coronation, it
all was implied. She was being herself, after all. So when Nicky walked through
the door of Renata’s mansion in a black dress, Ryan was confused and disappointed.
He had to be. He knew the real Nicky, and the real Nicky would never have
entered this contest.
    “Can I tell you something if you
promise never to tell anyone else?” she said.
    “You can tell me whatever you
want, but I’m not promising you anything,” said Ryan.
    “Okay, I can understand that.
You trusted me once, but now you don’t. I don’t blame you. But here’s the
thing. I still trust you. I trust that you’ll understand why what I’m about to
tell you needs to be a secret.”
    Ryan looked at her with skepticism.
    “I really enjoyed spending time
with you these past two weeks, and I know that wearing this dress has—”
    “Is this what I’m not supposed
to tell anyone? That you enjoyed spending time with me?”
    “No, I’m just trying to...”
    Nicky was stumbling over her
words on purpose. She had allowed Ryan to get so close that he might know she
was lying if she didn’t make it good.
    “Just trying to what?”
    “It wasn’t my choice, Ryan. None
of this was my choice.”
    Ryan pulled back so he could get
a better look at Nicky’s face.
    “What do you mean?” he asked.
    Nicky leaned in close and
whispered in Ryan’s ear.
    “I have backers. People who want
to ensure Kim doesn’t win, but have to be secretive about it.”
    It pained her to lie to him, but
it was necessary, and part of the plan. “The secret consortium” behind Nicky
Bloom was both Jill’s and Nicky’s script tonight.
    The secret consortium story was
Jill’s idea, and it was a good one. Not only did it give credibility to Nicky
and her campaign, but it did so in a neat little package that practically sold
itself. It was such a juicy little story that people couldn’t help but spread
it around. The notion that people in this very room had become fed up with the
Renwicks and tried to take matters into their own hands was a compelling one,
and every time a person passed on the story, it became that much closer to
truth. In DC, truth had nothing to do with reality and everything to do with
what other people said.
    “I figured as much,” said Ryan. “Some
insider types who can’t stomach the thought of a Renwick who lives forever, but
are terrified to take them on directly. They’ve put you here, right?”
    “Exactly,” said Nicky. “They’ve
put me here to win.”
    This was the other thing that
made the secret consortium such a good ploy. It gave Nicky an out with Ryan. It
removed culpability from her. She was just another victim of the Washington
machine, forced to enter the Coronation contest against her will.
    “Let me guess,” Ryan said. “The
Crenshaws from North Carolina are a part of this. And the Hernandez brothers.”
    “You know I can’t give you any
names,” Nicky said. “The whole point is that they wanted to do it in secret.
They want to beat the Renwicks, but in a way that they remain invisible while
it’s happening. My backers are scared of Galen Renwick.”
    “Your backers are right to be
scared,” Ryan said. “But if you’re going to win, at some point they’re all
going to have to come out of the woodwork, aren’t they?”
    “Yes, and that’s why my first
task was to build a relationship with you.”
    Ryan’s feet started dancing out
of rhythm. Nicky pulled him back to the beat.
    “That really pisses me off,
Nicky,” he said.
    “I’m sorry.”
    They danced a few beats. The
music was a slow tempo waltz.
     “You’re telling me I was just a
pawn in your game,” Ryan said. “I