The Insiders Page 12

  “Thanks.” And he was off, running from the room. “Bye, Matt!”

  Matt chuckled, coming to stand next to me. “The kid’s in love with you.”

  Another small hand fitted in my hand, and that warmth skyrocketed to something deeper. Seraphina wasn’t looking at me. She stood at an angle, half turned away, but I heard her whisper, “It was nice meeting you,” before she squeezed my hand again, just so softly. I tried to form the words, but she disappeared from the room almost as quickly as Cyclone had.

  They were like air, there on the inhale and gone on the exhale, and I wanted to keep breathing them for the rest of my days.

  That lunch. That squeeze from Cyclone, the hand-holding from Seraphina—it was all worth it. They were worth it.

  “Thank you.” I ran a hand over my face.

  “So.” Matt regarded me with a cautious half grin. One of his hands went into his pocket, and the other raked through his hair. “What’s on the agenda now?”

  “You telling me about the Bonhams.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Me: Who are the Bonhams? Matthew won’t tell me.

  Kash: Headaches.

  Kash: Why?

  Me: There was a weird exchange between Matt and Quinn today. He won’t tell me. And you won’t let me go on the internet.

  Kash: You’re a menace.

  Kash: Bonhams are a trap door. Don’t step on it.

  Kash: Night.

  Me: Sigh. You’re boring.

  Me: Night.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Me: I want to know about the Bonhams.

  Kash: Trap door. And I’m not supposed to be texting.

  Me: Why?

  Kash: Nosey too.

  Me: I’m bored. An idiot took away my internet.

  Kash: Smart guy.

  Me: You made me laugh. That doesn’t compute with the dick image I have of you.

  Kash: Dick image?

  Me: You know what I mean.

  Kash: Um …

  Me: Stop flirting.

  Kash: Who brought up dick image?

  Me: I’m not laughing.

  Kash: Cameras say otherwise.

  Me: Dick.

  Kash: Go to bed. Text me when you wake up.

  Me: Only if you tell me about the Bonhams and why you can’t be texting.

  Kash: Don’t text me in the morning.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Kash: I’m coming back tonight.

  Me: Who is this?

  Kash: Bailey.

  Me: Bonhams. Why you can’t text, but are texting.

  Kash: You’re tenacious.

  Me: Tell the truth. Autocorrect had to help with that word, didn’t it?

  Kash: Let’s talk about my dick image again.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  He never told me about them.

  Matt only said he didn’t care for them, and I let it go. Shocking. But the main reason I let it go wasn’t because both of them refused to elaborate; it was because I had three glorious days.

  I got quality time with my siblings. There was minimal time with Quinn, who it turned out did charity work as a full-time career. She had events in the mornings, meetings in the afternoons, and banquets in the evenings. Miss Victoria came around once a week, I learned, but she hadn’t been back since that one day of our lunch, so I hadn’t met her. After the bit I’d learned about her, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to meet her, but I also wasn’t letting that overshadow anything.

  That first night after our lunch, I had dinner with my siblings. Marie and Theresa joined us, along with an older man named Barney, who turned out to be Marie’s husband.

  Marie and Theresa were a lot nicer than the first time I had met them, and the rest were relaxed. There were no rules, no pressure to be a certain way, eat a certain way. They could pick at their pizza if they wanted, or scarf down a whole bowl of mac and cheese. After that first night, I caught Marie eyeing me with guilt. Matt told me later that our “dinners” were an unofficial secret. It wasn’t that whenever Quinn wasn’t around they ate like that, but over the last few days, I got their routine. If Quinn wasn’t around, they still ate healthy two out of three meals of the day. There was a healthy snack, too, but the evenings were laid back. Burned pizza was one of Seraphina’s favorites.

  And the whole secret part was that no one told Quinn.

  I loved it. I loved it all.

  We were hanging out in one of the media rooms, three boxes of pizza on the floor and the latest superhero movie on the screen, when Matt’s phone buzzed.

  I was curled up in the corner, my favorite place to sit.

  Cyclone was lying next to me, his head in my lap. Seraphina was sprawled on the floor, her head propped up on her hands and her feet kicking back at the end of our couch. Marie had started to watch the movie with us but then left thirty minutes in, saying she’d be back the next morning.

  Quinn was at another charity event for the evening.

  The buzzing started, and Matt declined the call. No one paid him much attention. This had happened over the last few days. He had an active social life, but he’d been spending most of his time here and staying at Kash’s villa with me. He slept in Kash’s bed, and I was in mine.

  But tonight the buzzing just kept going.

  Buzz.

  Buzz.

  Buzz.

  After a full twenty minutes of his phone going off, Seraphina sat up. “Just answer it! It’s so annoying.”

  He laughed, reaching for the phone just as it started again. Hitting a button, he was speaking into it, “Yo. What do you want?” He sat up straight. “Oh, hey.… No. It didn’t come up that it was you—

  “Oh. Okay.” He looked up at me, alarmed.

  I started to sit up straighter, so did Cyclone. All three of us were waiting, but Matt got up, his phone to his ear. He left the room and we could only hear fragments of the conversation.

  “Yeah?… No. I mean, it’s a movie.… She’s here. What?… I’ve been there. Yeah.… Why?… Oh.… For real?… No shit, huh.… He is?”

  Suddenly his voice got louder, clearer. He was coming back.

  Cyclone scrambled off the couch, grabbing the remote, and the movie was turned off. The screen went to black and he moved to the wall, hitting the switch so the room was bathed in light.

  Matt came to stand in the doorway, his phone pressed to his ear. Seeing the screen off, he lowered his hand and took all of us in.

  He swallowed stiffly, his eyes finding mine. I saw the worry, and my chest started to grow tight.

  He murmured, his mouth curving down, “Yeah.… Yeah. I will.… Thank you. Yeah.”

  Ending the call, he scrolled through something on his screen before his eyes darkened and he put his phone back in his pocket.

  Then the fakest thing I’ve witnessed in a long time happened.

  He plastered a huge bright smile on his face. “Guess what, guys?”

  Seraphina scrambled to her knees. “What?”

  Cyclone was hanging off the end of the couch. He thrust his arm in the air. “Dude, just tell us!”

  “Dad’s coming home.” Matt looked at me. “Tonight.”

  “What?” Seraphina jumped to her feet, lighting up.

  “When?” Cyclone was right with her, shooting up to start jumping on the couch.

  “Uh…” Matt checked the time on his phone again. “In like an hour. You guys are supposed to hurry and get ready for bed.”

  “What?”

  “Why?” Seraphina asked right after Cyclone’s whine.

  “Because your mom’s planning a whole night of movies. So if you wash up, clean your teeth, get in your pajamas, you pick the first movie to watch with Dad.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Really?” Seraphina asked

  Matt was tense as he clipped his head up and down. “Yep. Go and get ready, then come back in here with your blankets. Your mom said something about a sleepover even.”

  Cyclone jumped off from the couch. “Yes!” And he took off running down
the hall.

  Seraphina hurried after him, but stopped, turned, and came back to give me a tight hug around my neck. “Thanks for tonight. It was a lot of fun.” Before I could reply, she hurried from the room, yelling over her shoulder, “Bye, Matt! Love you.”

  “And then there’s the two of us, until Kash gets back also.” Matt regarded me, a deep sigh leaving him. He slid his hands in his front pockets. “How’s it going?”

  He was coming back.

  Not that I cared.

  Not that I’d been waiting.

  Not that I’d been looking forward to seeing him again.

  I had done as he asked, called him once I got my phone again. That set the precedent. We talked the next day. We texted in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Good times. And there were also the good night texts and good morning texts.

  I disliked those the most.

  Yep. Detested them. Loathed them.

  Why hadn’t he told me good morning today?

  I didn’t care. Not one bit.

  I was lying. I was a caring fool.

  Then I noticed Matt’s silence and began looking on the floor.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for the shoe you’re about to drop.”

  “Ha ha.” He rubbed at his forehead, ignoring my lame grin. “I’m sorry. I actually took two calls just now. One was Kash, letting me know about Dad, but the other was Quinn. She…” His hand dropped. “She asked me to make sure you weren’t on the property when my—when Dad gets home.”

  I reeled from that one.

  “He’s been in DC working on a big project, and I guess it was a tense time for him. Something happened. She thinks it’ll be better if he doesn’t add anything extra on his plate.”

  Right. Extra. I was the extra.

  Backward.

  I was feeling shoved out of the house. One by one, all the doors were closing in my face until I was so far out that I was outside the gates. That’s what Quinn just did.

  I was getting kicked out.

  “I see.” I looked down at my lap. There was a slight tremor with my hands, so I stuffed them between my legs, stopping it.

  It was fine.

  I mean, it’s not like I expected to see him again.

  Or hoped to see him again.

  He hurt Chrissy. I drew that in, remembering, hardening. He hurt my mom.

  “She doesn’t even want me in Kash’s villa?”

  He hesitated, before slumping down on the couch next to me. “No. Not even there. Look, it’ll be fine. I tend to have a whole security team on me when I leave, and since Quinn would rather both of us”—he nudged me with his shoulder—“not be here … I can’t help but go at her sometimes, so I was thinking we can head downtown to my place. I have a place. You’ll be safe. Kash has given me the safety approval before.”

  “Francois Nova?”

  He nodded. “It’s where I normally stay. I moved out of this house years ago. We could go there. A few of my friends are heading to a new nightclub, if you wanted to go there too?”

  “Friends?”

  Another nod. “I could go for a night of debauchery, to tell you the truth.”

  It sounded wrong somehow. “I don’t know, Matt.”

  “Come on. It’ll just be one or two friends. I told you, Kash is good with it. I’ve got the whole security team and everything. And it won’t be anything big. These guys are cool. Might do you good to meet a few of the girls, if they’re there.” He stopped, rolling his eyes. “What am I saying? If there’s a new club opening, they’ll be there.” His shoulder bumped mine playfully. “Maybe it’s time to meet a few of the gang.”

  “You have a gang?”

  He stood, making up our minds for both of us, and catching my hand, he hauled me with him. “One thing you need to learn about this world: we might live in an exclusive club, but it’s a small exclusive club. And once it’s out who you are, everyone’s going to want to get their hooks in you. Might be a good idea to meet them one by one, in small doses, and when they don’t know who you are.”

  I wasn’t fully following his theory, but I didn’t have a choice. Quinn wanted me gone, and Matt was doing her bidding. He was just going with me.

  I nodded, giving in. “Should I pack a bag then?”

  “Nah.” His mouth twitched in a half smirk, and he threw his arm back around my shoulder as we headed out. “As long as you have your phone, you’re good to go. I’ll have everything at my place.”

  “I.D.? You have women’s clothes at your place?”

  “When you go with me, you don’t need I.D.” He just laughed. “And being rich gives you the luxury of being prepared for anything. Come on. Let’s go forget about family ‘stress’ by getting wasted.”

  It wasn’t what I’d normally do.

  I was in.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  You’re not wanted.

  We want you gone.

  You’re too much of a problem.

  You’ll just disturb everything. You’ll upset everyone.

  Here I was, sitting in the back corner of a booth, a DJ playing blaring techno music, neon lights flashing, fog being pumped through the club, sipping drink number I-had-lost-count, but I couldn’t get those thoughts out of my head.

  You’re not worth it.

  You’re not worthy.

  You’re nothing.

  I was trying, seriously trying to block it out. I couldn’t.

  Matt walked in front of me when we arrived. He was right. No one stopped us or carded us when we went inside. He didn’t even need to go to the bar, though that’s where he was leading me. A girl in a skimpy leotard for a uniform, holding a tray of shots, met him halfway, and he kissed her cheek as he snagged one shot for me, another for him. Before moving ahead, he grabbed two more. I declined my second, wanting to pace myself. Not Matt. He threw both back like a pro.

  Then we went to the bar, but only for Matt to motion to a private box. The bartender nodded and we were sitting there for ten minutes, when two of Matt’s friends showed up.

  Chester and Tony.

  Chester was taller, looking like Prince Harry, and more slender than Tony, who had dark, combed-back hair.

  They looked like Ivy League bad boys. Wealth. Privilege. Superior. All of that emanated from them.

  The club was packed, since it was nearing eight on a Friday night, but not to those guys. Not to Matt. All three got the same treatment coming in. Eyes tracked them. I didn’t know who the parents of Chester and Tony were, but I had no doubt they were someone.

  That was an hour ago.

  Since then, it’d been a parade of girls coming over.

  The first one came over, an alluring smile on her face as she sat on Matt’s lap. The two had been whispering, nuzzling, kissing since. Her hands were on him, his hands weren’t on her. He sat on the outside of the booth, with one arm draped over the back of the booth.

  I was sitting farther inside, but the booth was huge.

  Chester had moved in beside me, but four people could’ve sat between us. Five minutes after the first girl came over, three more showed up. They didn’t sit on anyone’s lap. They stood at the end of the table, talking and flirting with the two guys. To their credit, neither Chester nor Tony seemed to be doing much flirting. They were aloof, but still conversing. The girls were the ones trying to flirt, drawing them in.

  And me—no one said a word to me.

  Not my brother. Certainly not the girl he was making out with. Not his friends. And the only thing I got were cold snubs from the other three.

  So it was me and my drink. An hour passed that way.

  “Francis.”

  One of the friends gestured past the walkway. He spoke in a slight break between the beats, so Matt heard, his head lifting from the girl’s neck.

  Three more girls were walking up to where we sat. The girl in the lead had rich, dark auburn hair that fell past her shoulders, grazing the tops of her arms and chest. Doe-like almond eye
s. This girl was stunning. Tall. Slender. She had the height and frame to be a model.

  One of the other two was shorter, around five four, with dark hair that had a small bounce to it. She had a heart-shaped face but a little more filled out. Her eyes, though … they stood out the most. They were hazel, a green tint to them. The third girl was blond. She was the same height as the first but wasn’t as slender. She had a few more pounds, enough to actually have curves, and I knew, by glancing at the guys, that she was the one they liked the most.

  They stopped, paused, and waited for their presence to be announced. These girls weren’t acting like the other girls. These three were different.

  They expected attention.

  And they got it, as Matt sat farther back from the girl on his lap, a name escaping him like a frustrated sigh. “Victoria.”

  Victoria?

  As in the Victoria who hung over Kash, who was mentoring Seraphina? That Victoria?

  She swung those eyes to me and raised her nose up a fraction of an inch. “This is the houseguest Ser was talking about the other day?”

  Fuck. It was her.

  Double fuck.

  She wasn’t stunning anymore. She was gorgeous on another level. There was no way anyone could compete against her.

  I mean, not that I was. But anyone else, no way. Anyone who was trying.

  Matt skimmed me with a look, a coldness in there that I was surprised to see. “Back off on this one, Vic.” He guided the girl off his lap, and as she stood next to him, a pout on her face, he leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. His gaze was solely locked on Victoria now, and he lifted his top lip in a half sneer. “No fucking with her.” He raised one eyebrow. “You got me?”

  No one spoke.

  No one moved.

  No one breathed.

  Her friends’ mouths opened an inch. Their own eyebrows rose at a slower pace, but they waited until Victoria’s mouth mashed together and a glare was directed toward me. If she’d had superpowers, I would’ve been incinerated right then and there, but she turned as a strangled growl left her. She stalked right back down the walkway before turning toward another booth of guys. Seeing them, Chester nodded. “Mattson and Atchins are over there.” He scanned them. “Don’t know the rest.”