Kyle is flabbergasted. “What?! No! What the hell, Rhett—”
“Then shut the fuck up and walk away,” Rhett replies. He looks at me again. “You need to go. Now.”
“Dude, you’re out of line,” Kyle warns him.
Rhett pushes him away, and Kyle nearly slips and falls. “I told you to walk away, Perry.”
“Fuck you, Flanagan! Just because your dad kicked the bucket doesn’t mean you get to treat everybody like shit!” Kyle snaps, and Rhett punches him so hard, he lands on his back, blood gushing from his nose. Kyle could fight back, he has the chops for this fight to be a close call. Right now, however, he just clutches his nose.
“Rhett, stop it!” I shout. “No more!”
He’s out of control. I can see the green fires burning in his eyes, as he grabs me by my shirt. “Leave, Elly. Fucking leave. You don’t want to be here when he—”
“Rhett!” a male voice booms through the hallway, bringing everything to a sudden halt. Everything happens so fast, none of us noticed the parents coming in. My mom’s in the double doorway, eyes wide with shock. A couple of feet to her left is Connor, and farther to his left is the man whose voice stopped this whole moment from degenerating into something much worse, because Kyle is already back on his feet, being held back by Gage and Kellan.
“Shit,” Rhett mutters, letting go of my shirt.
“I didn’t think Harry would raise a bully,” the man says. His cunning green eyes find me, and somehow I know who he is. I see features that are clearly common to the Flanagans—the blade of his nose, the broad shoulders, the forest eyes and the dark, curly hair.
Rhett moves away from me, shooting me a warning glare. “You watch your mouth, Fox. No backtalking. I’ve warned you.”
“Excuse me, who the hell do you think you are?!” my mom cuts in, visibly aggravated as she rushes to my side.
“Mom, leave it alone,” I say to her. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine! Are you harassing my daughter?!” she asks, staring at Rhett. I can tell he’s torn about how to handle this.
“I apologize on his behalf,” the green-eyed man interjects politely, offering a charming smile. “He’s been really upset since his father, my brother, died yesterday.”
I knew it! It’s the uncle. The one rumored to have—
My mom blinks several times, trying to process everything. “Who are you?” she murmurs, briefly looking at Connor, too, who stays back, stiff and sullen, hands deep in his pockets.
“I’m Kevin Flanagan. And you?”
“Ruby Fox-Keenan. Eleanor’s mother,” she says, then gives me a sideways glance. “Is this the first time he’s assaulted you?”
She means Rhett. Oh, no. No, no, no!
“Assault me?! No, mom, hold on! It’s just a misunderstanding, no one assaulted anyone here!”
“Why don’t you tell her the truth, Elly?” Kyle scoffs, shaking his head with disgust. “Tell her! Tell her how nice they were to you in summer camp, and how they’ve tormented you since you came to this school.”
“Kyle…” I groan, suddenly dying to beat him up myself.
If my suspicions about Kevin Flanagan are correct, then there’s no way I want him thinking his nephews and I were ever close. I’ve never dealt with the Irish mob before, and I sure as hell don’t want to start now.
My mom, the poor soul, has no idea what it is I’m desperately trying to prevent here. Kellan is as white as a sheet of paper, while Gage glowers at Kyle, who seems to stand by his statement. I know he means well, but goddammit!
“Is this true? Have you been bullied here, Elly? By these boys?” mom asks, pointing a finger at Rhett, Kellan and Gage, who look as guilty as they come.
“Mrs. Fox, I—” Rhett tries to speak, but his uncle cuts him off.
“You and I will talk about this later. I suggest you and your brother head back home. Your mother needs you,” he says, then gives my mother an apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry about this. I promise we’ll resolve it, and Eleanor here will have nothing to worry about, anymore.”
“There’s nothing going on!” I reply, genuinely exasperated. “We just had some disagreements, and that’s it! We’re not friends, we’re not enemies, we’re not anything. There is nothing anyone needs to fix here, and Kyle just likes talking out of his ass sometimes,” I add, scowling at him. Serves me right for trusting him in the first place.
“I see… well, thank you for clarifying, Eleanor,” Kevin says. “Eleanor...” He lets my name linger on his tongue for a short while. “That’s a beautiful name.”
“Thank you,” I mumble, feeling like an ant under a magnifying glass, the sun close to obliterating me through its lens.
“You went to summer camp together, huh?” Mom asks, her gaze darting between Rhett and me. I never told her. She wasn’t even supposed to know. Damn you, Kyle.
I shrug, trying to seem as detached as I can, though I can feel my cheeks burning. “We didn’t hang out together or anything,” I say. “We were just in the same camp. That’s all. Now, don’t you have a PTA meeting to go to?”
Other parents are coming through, eyeing us curiously as they pass by, headed for the classroom at the very end of the hallway, where Gingersnap is already waiting with refreshments and cookies from the bakery across the street. It’s a good thing she didn’t see any of this. The last thing we need is the school’s attention, on top of the potentially murderous uncle’s.
My mom relents, exhaling sharply. “You and I are going to have a serious talk at home about this,” she says, and I nod briefly.
“Okay, now go,” I reply.
“I’ll see you in there,” Kevin says, smiling a little too broadly at my mom. Connor moves by his side, but he doesn’t seem too pleased with how Kevin is talking to her. Jealousy is a fickle thing. Connor is also involved with the Flanagans—that much I know by now, so… where does his heart stand in all of this, especially if the rumor about Kevin is true?
They both walk ahead, and I see the tense exchange of glances between The Hotshots and Kevin, and I understand that there is definitely enough for me to truly worry about, now. My mom’s about to head into the classroom, as well, but I grip her elbow, holding her back for a few seconds.
“Stay away from Kevin Flanagan,” I tell her, whispering. “Stay away from Connor, too. At least until I figure out what’s going on. Please, mom.”
She gives me a startled look. “What? Elly, what are you talking about?”
“I’ll see you at home. Just don’t talk to them, okay? If Kevin or Connor want to talk to you, pretend I’m sick or something. Walk away, please.”
Wow, I sound a lot like Rhett, Kellan and Gage now. Isn’t the universe an absolute bastard, or what? I leave mom with the PTA meeting, as more parents come in, and rush out of the school.
As soon as I’m in the street, I breathe out. I didn’t even realize I’ve been holding it in like this. It feels nice, inhaling and exhaling slowly. The sun sets in its usual, peculiar shades of pink and red, creating a faux sense of tranquility over Trinity. It’s a nice town, sure. A suburban dream, even. But there is poison beneath this pretty surface, and I think it’s looking to infect me.
“Elly!” Kyle’s voice startles me.
He runs out after me, but I am in no mood to deal with him right now. He almost got us all in the kind of trouble I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy. I walk down the street, as fast as I can, to get away from him.
“Elly, wait!”
“Fuck you, Kyle!” I shout, but I keep moving. “I told you those things in confidence, and you blurted it out in front of my mother, for Pete’s sake! That’s a serious breach of trust! It’s almost as bad as what The Hotshots did!”
“Don’t compare me to those assholes, please!” Kyle replies, catching up and rushing along with me, blood drying under his nose. He uses a tissue to dab at it, every other minute.
“You don’t know what you did! You should’ve just kept your mouth shut, damm
it,” I mutter, wondering if he deserves all this rage. After all, he doesn’t understand the danger he got me into. He was probably only hoping to shed light on the bullying, to see The Hotshots punished for what they did.
Only, they did it to protect me. And that sounds all kinds of wrong…
“Why don’t you tell me then, Elly?”
I stop and look at him. “You wouldn’t understand. Just let it go, Kyle. And stop telling people about summer camp. You’re making me regret I ever trusted you.”
He seems offended, which is rather rich, given the difficult conversation I’m going to have with my mother later. Had he kept his mouth shut, this would’ve simply been a minor bullying issue which would’ve kept me off Kevin’s radar. The damage he’s done might very well be irreparable.
“Just leave me alone,” I add and walk away.
Kyle doesn’t follow me this time. Still, as the minutes go by, and I get closer to home, I still feel like I’m being watched. I glance over my shoulder, more than once, the hairs on the back of my neck twitching, but I don’t see anything or anyone suspicious. Just parents herding the kids back home. New moms with strollers. The occasional jogger. It’s Trinity as it should be.
Not as it truly is.
25
Rhett
Three days have passed since my dad’s funeral, and we’re still picking ourselves up from the shock of it all. Mom’s on prescription antidepressants, and she sleeps through most of the day. It’s the only way she can cope, and it’s the best Kellan and I can even hope for.
It was a busy affair, to say the least. Hundreds attended, all friends of the family. And the same question lingered on everybody’s lips, in hushed voices and wandering whispers—what’s going to happen to the Flanagan empire now that Kevin has the reins?
I’m about to find out. He’s summoned a meeting in our grandfather’s study. In our house. I’d find that offensive, if I didn’t know Kevin. He’s doing it on purpose, coming into our turf to practically piss all over it, like the alpha he wants to be.
Kellan and I are already here, along with Gage. Connor joins us, headed straight for the whiskey bottle and Baccarat glasses on the service cart in the corner. My blood simmers on a low fire, and I’m not yet used to everything that has hurled my life into complete chaos. One thing is for sure, though, and my brother, Gage and I have already discussed it. We may have to take drastic measures in order to protect ourselves, our family and our businesses.
“How are you two holding up?” Connor asks, coming over with a glass. It’s the second one. He downed the first as soon as he poured it. He’s been under a lot of pressure—a fact confirmed not only by Gage, but also by the dark circles around his eyes. Connor hasn’t been sleeping well.
“We’ll survive,” I say. “Where’s Kevin?”
“He’s on his way. Ran into some traffic into Trinity,” Connor replies.
I wonder where Kevin has been, now. He’s been driving around, meeting with allies of the Flanagans, all the way up to Los Angeles. He’s prepping the field, making sure he’s got all the big guys on his side, in case Kellan and I try to go against him on the succession rule.
My phone buzzes. It’s a text from Kellan, who’s sitting right next to me. He didn’t want to say it out loud. “Paid the ME double what K paid,” the message reads. “Worth it. Got the real tox screen results.” There’s a .pdf file attached, and I open it. Quickly scanning the columns and the rows, I check the blood values and… there it is. A low dose of Cyanide. Ingested. It’s estimated it took up to an hour for it to kick in rather than seconds like it usually does in higher doses.
With the timeline of the events still fresh but incomplete in my head, I look up at Connor. “How long were mom and dad at that diner, do you remember?”
“About twenty minutes, I think. They’d stopped for coffee and waffles,” he says between whiskey gulps. I analyze his expression carefully, and I can almost see something shifting, taking on a new shape in his mind. Connor O’Donnell is one of the most loyal men I’ve ever met. He would’ve never hurt dad. Gage, too, insists that he’s not involved—which makes him painfully ignorant at this point, and it’s something we need to fix.
“Who did they meet with before that? Or were they just driving?” Kellan replies, trying to keep his voice calm and steady. We’ve talked about this. From now on, we do not show any emotion. We do whatever it takes to eliminate the threat and keep Mom and Elly safe.
Connor shakes his head. “They had a brief meeting with Valenti at his house in Valley Springs. Something to do with finding new transport routes for the weapon shipments. The FBI has been snooping around our Sacramento pit stops.”
I nod slowly. Gage looks at me. He knows exactly what we’ll be doing next, after this meeting with Kevin. We just need to get through this, first. One hour at a time. One breath at a time.
“Why do you ask?” Connor continues, eyeing me curiously.
Kevin comes in. Brigitte’s with him, and I wonder why he’s brought her along. I’m still reeling in from his audacity of showing up at our school’s PTA meeting—though we know it was more on the lines of recon rather than anything else. He didn’t bring up Elly afterwards, when he stopped by the house to check on mom. He’s up to something, and I just can’t figure out what his angle is.
“Sorry I’m late. Traffic was a bitch,” Kevin says, motioning for Brigitte to take a seat on the guest couch. She obeys, swiping and tapping on her phone without so much as a hello. It’s as if she no longer needs to play the part of the grieving aunt anymore. Dad’s dead. Mom’s basically on tranquilizers. Brigitte’s stage time is over.
“What are we doing here?” I ask Kevin, who sits behind grandpa’s desk and starts fiddling with the swivel chair’s height and tilt buttons, making himself more comfortable.
“Oh, I thought we should get all of the nasty stuff out of the way, now that the funeral is over,” Kevin replies, giving me a dry smile. “So, first things first, I’ll be overseeing your whiskey business until you turn twenty-one.” He takes out a folder from his slim briefcase, handing it over to me.
My blood runs cold. “What?”
“I’ve made some amendments to my father’s will, and Phelps signed off on it all,” Kevin says, as serene as a sunny March day. “You’re too young to handle any kind of business of the Flanagan portfolio, even the whiskey. I’ll give you working contracts and pay you a monthly salary, sure, but all the profits come back to me. I’ve taken the liberty of setting you up with a trust fund, to which you’ll have access when you’re of the legal age. All the whiskey business profits from this moment onward will go in there.”
“Where the fuck is this coming from?” Kellan snaps. “You have no right to do that.”
“I have the power of attorney and written accounts from your schoolmates regarding your behavior,” Kevin replies. “It’s more than enough to convince any judge and any Flanagan associate that you cannot be trusted with the whiskey business until you grow up a little bit more.”
I can’t help but chuckle bitterly. “So, that’s why you came to the PTA meeting. It makes sense, now… Nicely played.”
My amusement intrigues him, but he smiles, nonetheless. “We all know it takes a real man to run the family, Rhett. And neither of you is smart enough to take me on, which is why I’m the one calling the shots, at least until you turn twenty-one.”
“It’s for the best,” Connor adds, looking down at me. “It gives everybody time to truly process everything that has happened this year.”
“And you’re on board with this,” Gage gasps, utterly shocked.
“The O’Donnells and the Flanagans are friends,” Kevin replies. “Of course he’s on board with this. It’s basic common sense!”
“You can’t take the whiskey business away,” I say. “It’s not right. What do you want to do with it? It barely makes any notable profits…”
“What part of ‘you’re not mature enough to run it’ did you not understa
nd?” Kevin shoots back. He looks at Connor, taking out a couple of documents from the briefcase. “Can you go upstairs and check on Rosie? She needs to sign these papers for me.”
Connor nods and takes the documents, along with a fountain pen, and leaves the study room. Something tells me the show is just getting started here. There’s a reason Kevin wants Connor out of the room—and it’s actually an encouraging sign for me. It means he’s going behind his back on whatever matter he’s about to discuss with us.
Kevin’s expression shifts to something cold. I feel like I’m sitting in an icebox, all of a sudden. But I can’t let the whiskey business go too easily. He’ll suspect I’ve got another agenda. “I don’t know what you heard in school, but it’s all lies.”
“Oh, so you didn’t fuck Eleanor Fox in one of the classrooms?”
The question hits me so hard, so unexpectedly, that my stomach drops, suddenly filled with lead. Clearing my throat, I try to find the right words while looking over my shoulder at Brigitte. Her smirk as she pretends to be busy on her phone tells me everything I need to know. She’s the one who told him.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” I finally say, while Kellan stares at me, genuinely horrified. Gage is a little too pale for his own good. They’re being ridiculously transparent right now, and not helping.
My heart twists itself into painful knots as I try to find a way out of this. But Kevin’s target is already set.
“Here’s the thing, Rhett. I know you three have quite the history with Miss Fox. I know two of you have already fucked her, and I know you’re very fond of her, which is why you’ve been working so hard to push her away,” he says in a single breath. “I also know that if I want to force you into obedience, all I have to do is start chopping away at her fingers. So, what’s it going to be, Rhett? Will you keep fighting me on this, or will you let me run this family, like I was meant to?”
Silence settles over the room. I look at Kellan, and I know it’s taking a titanic amount of self-control not to jump over the desk and jab Kevin in the eye with a pen.
Trinity High: High School Bully Romance Page 20
