I lifted both middle fingers for him to see.
Without a word, he started to drive.
When we got out of the driveway, Noah spoke up.
“She wants to know why we’re going there,” he said. “She wants to know how it’s protection if the person following her and us is there. I’m out of breath and can’t argue with her anymore.”
“I’m driving,” Xavier said.
I looked at Easton.
“Shit, you look ready to attack,” he said.
I lifted my hands and curled my fingers and showed my teeth.
I probably looked stupid.
But I wanted to feel like a vicious animal ready to kill.
Easton tried to touch my hand.
I pulled away.
He leaned toward me.
So I hit him.
Not as hard as I could.
Just enough as a warning.
More of a love tap kind of hit to the nose.
His eyes watered.
Noah turned his head.
“You’re next,” I said.
“What the hell is with you today?” Noah asked.
“Just talk,” I said, looking at Easton again.
“It’s really not that complicated,” Easton said. “You said someone is following you. We believe you, Winter. You’re not crazy. There’s been shit happening to us too. Which you know about. It’s gotten a little quiet but I can still feel it. Like I’m being watched. I know you feel that way too. The question becomes… why…”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s obvious.”
“If this has something to do with money or power, we’ll find out up here,” Easton said.
“And me being there does what?”
“Let’s us keep an eye on you,” Xavier said.
“Oh, what, are you afraid I’ll end up kissing another guy?” I asked.
“No,” Xavier said. “I’m afraid you’ll end up dead.”
Everyone went silent.
I shivered.
Dead? Is that what you wanted, Xavier? You’re the one who suggested doing something to Tank. The three of you sat there in your shop and came up with a plan…
Easton touched my hand.
I gasped.
“Look, Winter, it’s not that difficult. If the person is up here, we’ll find out. Since you’re with us, you’ll be safe. This life is like playing chess.”
“You know how to play chess?” I asked.
“Actually, I do,” Easton said. “It’s a rite of passage when you’re rich and powerful. Because then you play chess in real life.”
“Face it, Winter, you’re ours now,” Noah said. “At least until some of this shit blows over. We’re not going to let you get hurt.”
I opened my mouth.
Easton talked again.
“If you stay back and the person following us is there, we can’t help you,” Easton said. “This is the only way to handle it. You’re going to eat the most expensive food in the world. Drink the most delicious drinks. Everything is set up outside, under giant tents with small twinkling lights. It’s so fucking elegant, you’ll lose yourself in it. And the back drop is the ocean. So just enjoy it, Winter.”
“Our gift to you,” Noah said.
I sat back and didn’t say a word.
Everything they said made sense.
Except I was the one who had set it up to have them messed with.
But someone was following me. Just me though.
As far as Noah’s comments went…
Our gift to you.
I rolled my eyes.
Gift for what? For trying to kill me?
I had nothing else to say.
I looked out the window and watched the world pass by.
There really was no turning back now, was there?
We arrived at the compound or land or estate or whatever the hell you wanted to call it.
It was a sprawling piece of property.
The main house almost resembled the castle.
The massive house was so beautiful and symmetrically built, it looked fake.
Everything about it looked fake.
There were workers outside tending to the gardens.
A group of men dressed in tuxedos with white gloves waited to help those arriving.
The sun was just starting to set, which meant there wasn’t much time to get settled in and think. Or plan.
“Tonight is more of a casual thing,” Noah said to me without looking at me. “We mingle. Say hello. Catch up. Then we go to sleep. Simple as that. Tomorrow is the big night.”
I nodded.
Xavier stopped the SUV.
Easton touched my hand. “Let’s go.”
We all got out of the SUV and I was kind of sandwiched in and around all the guys.
They didn’t bother to look back at the SUV as it was swarmed by people who were going to park the vehicle and bring our stuff to the room.
The room.
The one thing I really hadn’t put much thought into.
Where everyone was sleeping. How this was all going to work.
I cringed at how awkward that was going to be.
We entered the house and I almost let out a noise.
This was like if the castle had taken steroids.
It reminded me of a luxury hotel.
It was so big, open, clean, and full of echoes.
The grand staircase was the biggest staircase I had ever seen.
“Who owns this place?” I asked Noah.
“A guy,” he said. “We may or may not see him. This is about mingling. Just stay close.”
Everywhere I looked, there were people.
All dressed fancy.
Sipping from tall glasses.
Workers in tuxes walked around with trays of food and drink.
Someone even carried a tray for people to put their garbage on.
They were all stone faced, with the same hair style, look, everything.
Like they were paid to act like robots.
“Should we go to the room?” I asked.
“Why?” Easton asked. “Eager for some fun?”
“Shut up,” Xavier said.
He nodded.
We all stopped walking.
A man and a woman looked right at us.
The woman was in an elegant gold dress. Looking old but still pretty. A forced kind of pretty. The man was older with a scowl on his face.
“Where can I get a decent fucking drink?” the woman asked.
Loud enough to catch the attention of one of the workers.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry, can I get you something else?” the worker asked in a happy voice. You could tell she was fighting to scream.
“What is this shit?” the woman asked. “This is bottom shelf trash. Find a real fucking drink.”
The woman slammed her glass to the tray.
The worker almost dropped the tray.
“Wow, she’s happy to be alive,” I said.
Noah walked forward. “Mom. Dad.”
I cringed.
Easton looked down at me. “Open mouth, insert foot.”
The woman grabbed Noah’s hands and pulled him close for a hug.
When Noah moved to the man - his father - it was cold.
They just stared.
Then nodded.
“I see you’ve brought friends,” his father said.
“I’m sure our families are here too,” Xavier said. “Wouldn’t be the same without them.”
“And this one?” Noah’s mother asked, pointing to me.
“I’m Winter,” I said.
“Winter,” she said. “What a pretty name. I’m Gina. This is my husband Roland.”
The names were familiar but I never had a face to the name.
“Is your family here?” Gina asked.
“No…”
“Rightfully so,” Roland said in a deep voice. “This is for those who are truly wealthy, not peddling garbage products on late night TV.”
>
“Fuck, Dad,” Noah said.
“Watch your tongue, son,” Roland snapped.
“Don’t talk to her like that,” Noah said.
Roland laughed. “Good luck with all of this.”
He turned and walked away.
Gina remained there for a few seconds, making things even weirder.
“Don’t mind him,” Gina said. “Noah will be just fine. Everything will work out.”
She tried to touch Noah’s back but he walked to one the worker’s and grabbed a drink.
He wasn’t supposed to be drinking, but nobody stopped him.
Gina slowly slipped away.
What an interesting way to kick things off.
Noah and his parents had a bad relationship. And I knew why. Because Noah struggled with learning. He was letting his parents down and he couldn’t do anything to stop it.
Now that was something to build on.
I smiled.
I wanted a drink to celebrate.
Three minutes into this adventure and I knew just how to take Noah down for good.
When I saw the room, I started to laugh.
“Something wrong?” Easton asked.
“What the hell is this place?” I asked.
“A little out of your league, Winter?” Xavier asked.
It was the biggest room I had ever seen.
Definitely set up like a luxury hotel room. But the problem… this room made a luxury hotel room look like some roach infested motel.
There were two fireplaces in the room.
Two.
One in the living room area, surrounded by books and leather furniture.
The second fireplace was next to the large bed.
There was a private kitchen, two bathrooms, and spare bedroom.
All in one room.
Oh, and there was also a dining room area with a large chandelier overhead.
The floors were plush with rich carpets.
The windows overlooked the back of the property where the massive tents were set up for the events. And as promised, the backdrop from that was indeed the ocean. The property ended at a rich, green-grass cliff and just gave way to rocks and the ocean.
“Should we talk sleeping arrangements?” Easton teased.
I stared out the window and smiled. “Sure. I get the big bed. You three share the other bedroom.” I looked back. “Deal?”
“Deal,” Easton said.
He was grinning.
I didn’t like that grin at all.
Xavier was at the door to the room, accepting our bags.
To my left I saw Noah in the kitchen, drinking.
Right from a bottle.
I wandered my way to the kitchen.
Noah looked at me.
He nodded.
He slid the bottle toward me.
I slid it back, shaking my head.
“I see it’s the same for you as it is for me,” I said.
“What?”
“My parents are a joke too, Noah.”
“I don’t like what he said to you.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’ve heard it my whole life. Nobody takes what my father does seriously. I don’t think it really matters though. He’s rich. Right?”
Noah shook his head. “See, everyone thinks money is the goal. It’s not. Money is a stepping stone. Power is the goal. Money gets you power. Power gets you everything else. So a guy like your father who makes money and then doesn’t do anything with it… they hate that.”
“So, again, why am I here?” I asked. “Am I going to get made fun of?”
“I’ll kill someone, Winter. I swear on my life. If someone fucks with you like what he just did, I’ll kill them.”
The rage in Noah’s eyes was real. And so was the pain. It hurt him that he couldn’t live up to his parents standards. Or their dreams for him.
This was getting very interesting.
“So fuck them,” I said. “Just do your own thing. Forget about them. The angrier they get, the more power you get.”
“If only,” he said. “You have no idea how far this goes.”
He took another big drink.
He slammed the bottle down.
“Fucking asshole,” he said. “Not that she’s any better. Complaining about her drink. Just like always. Nothing is ever good enough.”
Oh, this is getting really good here.
“Noah…”
“Fuck!” he screamed.
He turned and threw the bottle against the wall.
It shattered, spraying alcohol everywhere.
I hurried to get closer to him.
I grabbed his wrist, a plan in my mind.
Convince him to go against his parents and fuck up the rest of his life.
Noah spun around and before I could get a word out, he grabbed me by my hips and picked me up.
He sat me on the edge of the sink and seated himself between my legs.
“Oh, fuck,” I managed to whisper.
Then Noah kissed me.
Chapter 19
only a mask
He was aggressive, but I was in control.
I kissed him back.
Fierce, wanting more.
A switch clicked in my mind, my desires finally unlocked.
I was in the freaking room for only, what, five minutes and this was already happening?
There was more than enough space for all of us to keep our distance but that wasn’t going to be an option. I was mixing business with pleasure. I knew this was the exact thing Gia warned me about - pack your common sense - but the idea of common sense was hard to come by when Noah’s tongue was flirting with mine.
My fingertips touched the buttons on his shirt. Something I’d been wanting to do since he first set eyes on me.
I knew who he was and what he had done, but that part of my brain was taking a water break. And I wanted it to be a long water break.
His hands touched my face.
I wanted his hands to touch somewhere else.
He could touch my face later.
This felt like sneaking around and being bad.
Very bad.
Kissing the guy that I was going to make cry. Kissing the guy that I was going to break his heart.
It drove me wild…
I touched the button of his shirt.
He always wore a nice button-down shirt but never tucked it in.
That, too, was sexy to me.
I touched the top of his pants, wondering where to go from there…
His mouth tasted like alcohol.
I wasn’t sure what kind it was and I didn’t really care. I just wanted more of it.
I wanted all of it.
I could get drunk just from kissing him. And he could get drunk off of me. Then, when I was done with satisfying myself, I could ditch him, hurt him, and laugh my ass off.
“Is this the dress?” I heard Easton’s voice ask.
I turned my head mid-kiss.
Noah’s lips grazed my cheek and he groaned.
His hands fell to his sides.
I closed my legs and nudged at him to get him away.
“You can’t see the dress yet!” I called out.
I put my hands to Noah’s chest and shoved him back.
He purposely stumbled back and I jumped from the edge of the sink.
I licked my lips and smiled.
His stare was beautifully dark and dangerous.
When he didn’t smile back, my face began to burn hot.
I ran from the kitchen just in time to see Easton with my secret dress on the bed, ready to unzip the covering to expose that I hadn’t chosen one of their dresses.
He started to unzip it as I slammed my hands into his shoulder to knock him out of the way.
“Whoa!” Easton cried out.
“Damn, Winter,” Xavier said.
“You’re not allowed to see it,” I said. “It’s my dress. My choice. You’ll see it tomorrow night. Got it?”
&nbs
p; “Okay,” Easton said. “You could have just said something. No need to attack me.”
“Are you whining?” I asked Easton.
“No,” he said.
Xavier started to chuckle.
“Who the fuck cares about a dress?” Noah asked.
I turned my head and lifted my eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Nobody is going to see it,” he said. “Nobody is going to see you. You’ll be invisible to their hedge funds and market accounts and sinister ideas… right?”
“Noah, go take a shower or something,” Easton said.
“I’m not washing Winter off of me,” Noah said.
My cheeks turned red.
“What?” Xavier asked.
“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” I said.
“I don’t?” Noah asked. “What were we just doing in the kitchen?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“Smell her breath,” Noah said with a laugh.
“She had a drink?” Easton asked. “Big deal.”
“He’s just running his mouth,” Xavier said.
“She didn’t have a drink and she smells like booze,” Noah said.
He kissed the air and stutter stepped back into the kitchen.
I felt Easton and Xavier staring at me.
My heart slammed inside my chest.
I finally just shook my head.
“So what?” I asked. “It’s not like I never kissed you two.”
Easton looked down.
Xavier looked pissed.
They both didn’t speak.
So I kept rambling.
“It happened quick,” I said. “He’s upset about his parents. That’s obvious. So whatever. Okay? I’m going to do whatever I want. Get used to it.”
They still didn’t say a word.
I opened my mouth again but stopped.
I grabbed the dress off the bed and walked it to the wall where I found a place to hook it from.
When I turned, I surveyed the entire room.
The apartment sized room.
No… the house sized room.
“Better get ready, Winter,” Xavier said. “It’s getting dark.”
“Did you get her the mask yet?” Easton asked with a devilish grin.
Xavier shook his head.
His eyes burned at mine.
I swallowed hard.
“What mask?”
“Is this a joke?” I asked.
“No,” Easton said.
“Yes it is,” I said. “You’re going to convince me to wear this so I go downstairs and walk around and look like an idiot. I’ll be the only one wearing one and you’ll get a good laugh at my expense. Is that why you brought me here? Just to-”
Damaged Love (Bay Falls High NEXT Book 2) Page 16
