Abandoned Girl (Neighpalm Industries Collective, #1)

by Winston, Lexie

  There's a brief silence before Chuck’s deep voice adds in his thoughts. "Harlow, I'm sure Doc Davies will understand if you say no to the position. Let's face it; this is an opportunity you shouldn't turn down." A sly look covers his face. "And, who knows, maybe that other dream you had will have more opportunity out in California, now that you have a family name behind you." While I hate to admit it, this might be the most convincing argument yet. The Bostons have that old-money reputation, and they’re looked upon favorably in their world of wealthy businessmen, but the Summers are a whole ‘nother level. Neighpalm industries makes them the 1% of the 1%. The Boston name can get many doors open, but I’m pretty sure those doors don’t even exist when you say ‘Summers.’

  I can see Poppy’s ears prick up at this. Chuck knew what he was doing, and now he’ll be like a bloodhound after the truth. Ugh, I still love him despite how sneaky he can be.

  "What's he talking about, Hally? Is there something else that you need from Nana and me?"

  I shake my head. "No, Poppy, you and Nana have done enough already. I want nothing more from you except for your love." His eyes warm, and he smiles with joy at my response, but I can tell he’s not going to let it go and will probably hunt down Chuck later for the information.

  "So." Nana has her hands on her hips, that steely look now turned on me. "What's it going to be?" My nerves come racing back, but so does the excitement at the unknown.

  Closing my eyes, I weigh the pros and cons. Should I take a chance on this wonderful couple? Everything could be amazing, rainbows and unicorns and shit, but I do run the risk of having my heart broken if things don't go well with the rest of their family. Or do I hide my head in the sand and let the never knowing eat away at the inside until I’m probably as bitter and twisted as my mom?

  Opening my eyes, I see everyone watching me with anticipation.

  "Will you look after Jenny and DS for me while I'm gone?" I ask Max, and she screws up her nose.

  "Jenny, gladly, but the satan spawn can go to the devil." Everyone laughs, but I know she’s only joking.

  I look at Melinda and Chuck, not knowing what I'm going to ask, but I guess I'm looking for permission or acceptance. From the look in their eyes, they can see that in the way only parents can.

  "This will always be your home, Harlow," Melinda says softly. “You will always have a place with us, but I think this is something you need. You need to go and discover all about the other side you always wished you knew. We’re only a flight away if you need us."

  "Come on, Hally," Poppy teases, “I never took you for being chicken.”

  With those words, I straighten my spine and take a deep breath. “I'm in!" I tell Nana, and a large smile crosses her face.

  "There's my brave girl." Poppy pats my thigh again in encouragement.

  Nana claps her hands together, her excitement spilling over in a very unrefined way which is not like this woman, and picks up her phone again. "Excellent! Chuck, can Howard and I use your office here at the house to call Bradley? We really should tell him about this. I'm not quite evil enough to spring it on him; though his face would be priceless, I want to spare Harlow that extra drama. He’ll want to tell the kids, I’m sure, and who knows how long it will take to get a hold of all of them."

  Chuck tilts his head, raising an eyebrow in question. "I thought they all still lived at home. None of them are married, are they?" he asks her, and she shakes her head.

  "No, none of them are married, though God knows enough gold-digging whores have tried."

  I duck my head at the venom in her voice while also fighting a reaction at her choice of words. She sees my actions and shakes her head, giving me a stern look. "Shoulders back, sweet pea. You are not and never will be one of those women, and don’t you dare flinch when someone says that. Summers women are cool and collected in the face of insult, and we are adept at sly social innuendos ourselves. I will give you a lesson about that on the plane on the way home," she assures me before turning back to Chuck. "They all still live at home, but they’re also often away on business, and this is certainly something you don't want to blindside them with. Men have such fragile egos, and Jacinta, well, let’s just say she has her own hangups." She sniffs, making a show of looking away from her husband in jest.

  Poppy stands up, grabbing my hand, and pulls me with him. "Why don't you do whatever it is you all do as normal, and when we've made the call and some plans, we'll come and find you, and then we'll go from there. Sound good?” he suggests, and everyone else starts to get up and ready for the day. Max and Chuck are both dressed similarly to me, ready for a day’s work. We've got a couple of horses that are due to head out in a week or two to a movie set, so we need to work with them, make sure they're ready for what’s required.

  I nod my head and kiss him on the cheek, more than okay with getting a few more hours of normalcy before my whole life changes. "Sounds good, Poppy!" Leaving him with a smile a mile wide, I follow the others out the door to where I left my boots and head to the stables to check on the owl before joining the other two.

  Chapter Eight

  Harlow

  Maxine could not wait to get me alone the first night Nana and Poppy had arrived. Not long after I’d finished for the day and had just taken a shower, she arrived on my doorstep with a bottle of champagne and a couple of crystal flutes that she’d obviously stolen from Melinda. She popped the cork with a twist of her wrist, poured us both a glass, and handed me one while holding up hers to toast me. "Congrats on becoming wealthy!"

  I take the glass but screw up my face at her. "Really?"

  She blows out a sigh of air and flops onto one of my couches, managing, in a way that only Max can, to not spill a single drop. "Yeah, I know, so not you, but you've got to admit the world has just opened up to you. Oh, and let me tell you about your new family. Brad's great in a ‘he’s a cool uncle,’ dorky kind of way. Kind and generous to a fault but a little awkward. He's a genius and has never been great at social interaction because his brain’s always got so much running through it. Actually, that's probably why you tested out in a lot of your courses. You get that from your dad."

  That word has me freezing, the glass halfway to my mouth. Dad. I roll it around in my brain before trying it out loud to see how it sounds. “Dad.” It feels...weird, and Max is looking at me like I've lost my mind. Shrugging, I take a sip of the champagne. "It feels funny; I'll stick to Brad for now."

  Her confusion clears in her eyes, and she nods sympathetically. "It will be a huge adjustment. Imagine going from living here to living in a house with ten people."

  Ten people! How could I forget that part? Apparently, I have six adopted brothers and an adopted sister. Of which none are blood-related except for one of the brothers and Jacinta.

  "Don't worry though! They’re all so busy with their lives I don't think they’re all there at once," she reassures me as she grabs a vet journal from the coffee table and flicks through it.

  My curiosity gets the better of me, and I give in to this weird and slightly uncomfortable drive to know more about the people who will become my new...family. "How do you know all this? I thought you hadn't seen them in years." She gives me a pitying look, throwing the journal back on the table.

  "Harlow, you need to keep up with social media. It can answer everything at the touch of a button."

  I screw my nose up in disgust. "No, thank you, social media is for posers."

  Now she just looks annoyed, her face all frowny and her lips pursed like she tasted something sour. "No, it's not. Yes, there are a fair amount of posers on it, but it's a realistic way of keeping in touch in the twenty-first century. It's also a great marketing and networking tool." She puts down her glass of champagne and pulls out her phone. Her fingers fly across the glass before she turns it toward me. Taking my own glass of champagne, I sit down next to her and bring my legs up underneath me, getting comfortable. Groaning with the stiffness that is settling into my body now that I've stopped
for the day. An especially sharp pain in my knee makes me take notice, but when I stretch the leg back out, the ache eases. Might as well be comfortable as I settle in for my “lesson” with Miss Maxine.

  On the screen in front of me is a tall, elegantly dressed woman with jet-black straight hair and blunt bangs that sit just above her piercing aquamarine eyes. Her makeup is flawless, and she's dressed in a fitted knee-length royal blue sheath. She, too, has a glass of champagne in her hand as she watches a catwalk show surrounded by other similarly dressed women. The photographer must have timed it perfectly to catch the full-frontal shot as she had turned her head from the show in front of her. It looks like she’s staring straight at the camera. There’s a smile on her face, but her eyes show a different story. Those eyes look wary and on edge, as if she’s always prepared to put on a show for whoever is watching.

  “That's Jacinta, and from this photo, I know she attended the Chanel show at Paris Fashion week, and she sat next to Evangeline Masters and Selena Cross."

  The names are familiar, but I'm not sure exactly who they are. Maxine can see me struggling, and she rolls her eyes with a soft sigh. "God, you're so out of touch; animals and college are all you've known for years. I swear this trip is going to broaden your horizons, or I hope it will." She mumbles the last part before pointing to each of the women. One, an icy blonde with a look of disdain on her face. The other is a redhead with a riot of curls and a smile a mile wide, giving a friendly and open look. Maxine swipes her finger, and in the next photo Jacinta and the redhead are laughing at something, their heads huddled close, and the icy blonde’s disdain just seems to get deeper. "Evangeline and Selena are two of the hottest actresses in Hollywood at the moment. Selena," she points at the snooty blonde, "is rumored to be involved with Declan Summers, head of Neighpalm Productions."

  Again, her fingers fly across the screen, and this time, the image that comes to the screen has me looking twice. This guy is smoking hot. He's wearing a suit and is talking to an older man, who I do recognize as an actor I've seen in a movie, but I can't put a name to the face. He's an older gentleman that has been followed by scandal throughout his whole career, and if I recall correctly, he has a penchant for younger wives. However, despite his obvious starpower, he’s completely overshadowed by the man next to him.

  Even through the photo, this guy oozes power. Declan can't be in his thirties yet, but he has the presence of a seasoned businessman. His suit is designer, and the cufflink I can see is probably some expensive stone. A chiseled, clean-shaven jaw lends an intense look to his face, and his dark hair is pulled back into a short ponytail, not a lock out of place. The angle is wrong, though, and I can’t see the color of his eyes, but I bet they’re mesmerizing.

  "Neighpalm Productions produces movies and also works as a talent agency. This guy could make or break your career, and rumor has it, it's the only reason Selena ever got anywhere." The words rush from Max's mouth, full of speculation and a giddy pleasure that comes from years of being in the 1%. When you grow up with money, reputations are something that can come and go pretty quickly, and it’s almost like a soap opera when you have a front row seat to watch it happening.

  "See, even though I haven't seen them in years, I know everything I need to about your new siblings," she declares smugly, her lips curled in a triumphant grin. It’s the one thing I hate about Maxine. When she knows something you don't, she gets smug about it. She’s been that way since we were kids, and it’s caused more than one small argument.

  I hold a hand up. "Yeah, no. You're the only sibling I need; you are more than enough. I just hope that we can establish some sort of friendship." My stomach rolls at the thought that we may not be able to, but I quickly brush it aside.

  "Who knows?" she says breezily with a shrug. "But with Grace and Howard on your side, you’ll be just fine. Howard's father started Neighpalm Industries with a couple of hotels and some real estate investments, and through Howard and then Brad, it’s grown to be one of the biggest companies in the US. Mainly thanks to Brad and his business brain." She taps her empty champagne flute against her temple then stands up to get the bottle before returning to her seat.

  She pours some more into my glass before she empties the bottle into hers and lets it drop to the floor. Taking a sip, she continues. "Neighpalm Ink is the latest venture. That's Oliver’s baby. He's the tattoo artist, the one who studied business as a backup. It's not huge yet since there’s only one shop in California, but last I heard they were going to do one of those tattoo reality shows to showcase the talents of the artists. Drama sells, baby, and I'm sure Declan is producing it." She chatters on about the rest of the brothers, but my mind drifts off into my own turbulent thoughts.

  How am I ever supposed to have anything in common with these people? All of them are mega-wealthy, with impressive careers and friends if Jacinta is anything to go by. How does the daughter of a junkie whore ever fit in? Sure, I've been with the Bostons for a long time, but Mom was always a part of my life. I was always looking over my shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop, even in college. She would occasionally turn up there too to demand money from me, making sure to throw some more threats at Maxine and her parents, assuring me that she knew people who could "fuck them up," and quite often she was accompanied by whatever grubby biker she had hooked onto for a while. She used to terrify me, even then, but thinking back now, all I feel is hollow. There’s an empty space where the love of a parent should be. It's been slowly eaten away until nothing remains. To be honest, I have no clue if Brad is going to fill that space or if he's even going to want to. It sounds like we may be just as awkward as each other, so this could be a perfect fit or a perfect disaster.

  A text message to Maxine's phone drags me from my musings. Looking at it, she declares that the pizza she ordered is here, followed by a totally unsurprising plan to raid her parents’ fridge for more alcohol.

  Standing up, she holds out a hand and drags me to my feet when I take it. My body screams in protest with the movement, and I barely manage to suck in a gasp at the pain. We'd been practicing jousting with a couple of the horses today and all the different kinds of moves they’re required to make. As good as we both are as riders, both of us took falls today, and even with the safety equipment we wear and the fact that we know how to fall, it doesn’t stop the bruises from forming or the muscles from screaming once you finally quit.

  I don't do it very often, but Maxine often works with the horses as a female stunt rider in movies. I look at her enviously; she isn't even walking stiffly. She bounds down my stairs with a bounce in her step and the empty champagne glasses in one hand, while I follow slowly behind. My knee shouting in agony with every step

  She turns around to look back up at me. "Jesus, Harlow, you're walking like an old lady. You haven’t been putting in enough hours on horseback."

  I grunt my reply. "It's not being on horseback that’s the problem; I fell oddly when Samson reared. I think I twisted something in my knee."

  The teasing smile drops from her face and immediately becomes concerned. "Why didn't you say anything? Should we head to the ER to get you checked over?"

  Shaking my head, I finally get to the bottom. Pulling up the leg of my sweatpants, I show her my knee, cringing when I realize it already looks worse than when I’d first inspected it. It's swollen and purple, and a whistle escapes her mouth when she sees it. "Holy shit! I didn't even realize you did that."

  I wave her off, not wanting a full-on Boston freak out over whether my knee will ever be the same again. "It wasn't too bad until I stopped and sat down. I think I should probably ice it."

  She nods enthusiastically and grabs one of my arms, wrapping it around her shoulder to help support me to the house. I just laugh in response. "You're a midget; that’s not going to help." She sticks out her tongue, unfazed by the teasing that’s become normal for us ever since I hit a growth spurt years back.

  Pulling a set of keys off a hook in the wall, I hand them
to her. “Could you drive me over to the house on the ATV, please? I’m not sure I’m going to make it on my own." Jenny snuffles her greeting as she pokes her head over the stable door to see what’s happening but quickly loses interest in favor of the hay in her feeding trough.

  Maxine disappears, and before long, the lights shine through the stable doors as she pulls up next to it, and I climb gingerly onto the back. Letting out the brake, she slowly eases us forward until we're moving steadily toward the house. Neither of us tries to talk over the sound of the engine, but when we get there, she shoves on the hand brake, turns off the machine, and leaps off running into the house.

  Confused, my eyes follow her up the steps as she disappears. The confusion clears up not five minutes later when Chuck and Poppy follow her out of the house, faces lined with worry. "Harlow, why didn't you say anything when this happened?" Chuck gently chastises me as he and Poppy support me, one on each side, and help me limp into the house. Once inside, they guide me to the living room where they assist me onto a sofa there with explicit orders to stay put. Melinda meets us with some over the counter medication, and Nana with an ice pack in her hand, brows furrowed in concern, and pursed lips as though she’s holding back from a lecture.

  As I get settled and put my leg up, I realize Chuck is still waiting on an answer. "To be honest, I didn't even notice it at the time. When you've got 1,600 pounds of horse flesh heading in your direction, you don’t stop to think about anything else. I just know I wasn't quite as quick as normal, and Samson must have realized because he shifted in mid-descent, so he missed me completely." Nana’s mouth opens, and I revert to bad habits, preparing to cringe and desperately apologize, but before she can say anything, Poppy stops her.

  "Now, Grace, don't say anything. The girls have been doing this for years, and just because Harlow is now ours does not mean we can start dictating what she does with her life. They are careful and take all the necessary precautions. They wear helmets and back vests and padding, but things happen."