But I was. These days, I totally was.
And I couldn’t bring myself to care.
My relationship with Brandon might have been fake, but the friendship was real. Funny how having one real, true friend could make it so very clear how pathetic all my other friendships were.
Siobhan narrowed her gorgeous green eyes into slits. With her stick-straight black hair and her sharp features, she looked like one of those paintings from ancient Egypt. A modern-day Cleopatra. And I wouldn’t have been surprised if Evie or I woke up with an asp in our bed if we ever got between her and what she wanted.
Which, right now, was Brandon. Not because he was so undeniably hot—though he was. No, Siobhan wanted him because he was the new hot thing at our school. Even if we were in LA, it wasn’t every day that a bona fide TV star joined our class. Being his girl was the social equivalent of being the first to snag a couture dress straight off the runway. I’d snagged the prize. The very gay prize.
Lucky me.
“So, are you coming?” she asked.
I didn’t miss the way her gaze flicked to Brandon. A freakin’ viper, ready to attack.
“Wish we could,” I said with a breezy tone I’d mastered ages ago. It was filled with condescension that belied my words. “But Brandon and I have a dinner date with Daddy.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and smiled up at him. “Daddy is just so excited for filming to start next week.”
I saw the flicker of surprise in Brandon’s eyes before he masked it.
“Oh, well…” Evie sighed, already bored since the conversation wasn’t about her. “I guess we’ll see you at Moira’s party this weekend.”
Brandon and I blatantly ignored them as we gazed lovingly into one another’s eyes. It was a little game we played to see who could make the other crack up first. We’d decided from day one of this little ruse that we wouldn’t kiss or grope each other in public. Not that I had anything against PDA—a flash of hot hands, a hotter mouth, a bonfire. I gave my head a shake. Focus.
No, neither me nor Brandon were that opposed to PDA, but I think we both knew we wouldn’t be able to sell it. With all that he and I had been through, the secrets we’d shared this past month… the thought of kissing him made me cringe. It’d be like kissing my brother or something.
So instead, we’d decided to embrace the role of sappily-in-love sweethearts. We were pretty much always holding hands or gazing into one another’s eyes.
Gross, right?
But it was better than having to feign some sort of sexy passion that neither of us felt.
We held eye contact even after they’d walked away. Brandon leaned in closer, a cheesy little smile on his lips. “I can see into your soul,” he hissed.
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it, and I shoved him away. “They’re gone.”
“You didn’t tell me we were supposed to have dinner with your dad.” His voice was edged with fear, and I couldn’t blame him.
My dad was… intense.
Brandon had been with me the day I’d come home. He’d been there when I’d negotiated the deal that got Amber what she wanted, kept Brandon’s secret safe, and left me with nothing.
My father hadn’t cared. He’d been the one to send Amber, after all. He’d just been disappointed in me for losing. He hadn’t tried to hide his disgust at having a loser for his daughter and…
Well, it really wasn’t the best way for Brandon to meet my father. He probably would have been intimidated by Daddy on the best of days, but seeing him lose his temper like that?
It wasn’t for the faint of heart.
But my father hadn’t been wrong. Really, I was the big loser here. I’d lost the starring role to Amber, and after all those weeks in Pinedale, all I had to show for it was a gay fake boyfriend.
And what I’d left behind…
I shoved aside the thought.
I had a Daddy dinner to prepare for, and now was so not the time to get all weepy about what might have been.
A honk behind me had me glancing over to see Tess waving from her BMW convertible. By the looks of it, she was talking on the phone with someone with her earbuds in.
“What time should I be there?” Brandon asked.
I gave him a little smile. This was why Brandon was such a good friend… and why he just might make it in this town after all. He was kind and a little too innocent, but he was brave. Despite his fear of my dad, he would show up tonight and have my back if I asked him to.
I shook my head and patted his knee. “You’ve done enough acting for one day. Take the night off.”
He frowned. “Are you sure?”
I nodded.
He pressed his lips together as he studied me, like he was making sure I was being truthful. “Come over after if you need to, yeah?”
I nodded, reaching for my bag. Brandon had definitely made out the best with this new deal. He was the next big Hollywood hero, he had his privacy while he came to grips with his sexuality and time to figure out how he was going to break it to his mom and the rest of the world. And on top of that, he had a place of his own that the studio had let for him and his tuition fully paid to my exclusive school.
Really, he’d made out like a bandit while I was still going back and forth between my dad’s mansion in the hills and my mother’s beach bungalow that she shared with her new boyfriend.
I sighed as I stood up and headed toward the stairs leading to the parking lot. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” he said. “And try not to kill your sister.”
I didn’t turn back, but held up my hand and wiggled my fingers, a little laugh escaping at his teasing.
Well, he was mostly teasing about me and Tess. We’d forged some sort of unspoken truce back in Pinedale, and even though she still annoyed the crap out of me at times, I now knew she wasn’t my enemy. Or even my competition.
I was still pissed she hadn’t clued me in about Amber, though. Always so secretive, my sister had just referred to having ‘sources’ in Pinedale, but she hadn’t told me enough that I could have protected myself and Brandon against Amber’s scheming.
Although, I believed Tess that she hadn’t realized what Amber was up to… but I still liked to throw it in her face and make her feel guilty. Did this make me a bad half-sister? Probably. But considering her failure to keep me in the loop had cost me the guy of my dreams, I was okay with that.
As I climbed into the passenger side, Tess eyed my prep school uniform… well, my version of it. The plaid navy skirt that I’d had hemmed so it showed off my killer thighs and the top that barely grazed my navel, thanks to my adjustments.
“I can’t believe they let you get away with that,” Tess said with a shake of her head.
I rolled my eyes. So typical Tess.
“You look like you’re heading to a strip club.”
I rolled my head against the back of the seat to look at her over the top of my sunglasses. “And you look like you’re heading to a funeral. What’s your point?”
She arched her brows as she put the car in drive. “What will Daddy say?”
I held her gaze evenly. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
The silence at the outdoor table was broken by the clinking of silverware as Daddy, Tess, and I pretended nothing was wrong.
I stared down at my salad, willing the burning sensation in my eyes to fade and the ache in my throat to ease. Nope. Nothing to see here.
Daddy’s latest wife, Vivien, was silent as well, but she was always quiet. Whether it was the pills she was always popping or the latest crazy diet she was on, the blonde, plastic bimbo was almost always lost in a vacant stare that gave me the creeps.
“Amber did well at the party last week,” Daddy said. His tone was civil, as opposed to a minute ago when he’d gone all Daddy Dearest on me for “looking like a whore.”
Nice, right? Yeah, well, my relationship with my father had always been tempestuous. That was just his personality, and I was used
to it. But since I’d returned, we’d been… off.
Normally, I was Daddy’s little princess. Most of the time, at least. But I’d disappointed him when I hadn’t had a quick and easy success back in Pinedale. Oh sure, I’d still managed to bring Brandon back with me, but I hadn’t won. Not really. Having to come home and negotiate a deal for Amber, well…
It hadn’t been fun.
“Amber looked beautiful,” he continued, each word wielded like a weapon. “A true leading lady to Brandon’s All-American cowboy look.”
I sneered at my plate. Oh sure. Amber in her slutty gown was beautiful, and I was a trashy whore because I’d tried to liven up my uniform a little.
I jabbed at my lettuce a little too hard.
“Something wrong, Princess?” My father’s voice held a note of warning. Or maybe it was a taunt. Either way, it set my nerves on edge.
“Nothing’s wrong, Daddy,” I said in my sweetest tone.
I could feel Tess’s eyes on the side of my face. These little family dinners were a new source of hell. We normally all did our own thing in the evenings—Daddy working, Tess staying cooped up in the in-law suite she’d moved into after she’d graduated high school, and me staying out with friends. I had no idea what Vivien normally did, and I couldn’t say I cared.
But since our return, my dad and his new wife had started enforcing family dinners twice a month. Of course, Tess had readily agreed. Great idea, Daddy.
Such a butt kisser.
Daddy turned to his wife. “We should throw a party for the cast and crew once filming starts, don’t you think, Viv?”
My latest stepmother gave a smile that didn’t touch her forehead or the areas around her eyes. I used to joke that my mom had turned into a Barbie doll as she got older—all plastic and silicon. But Vivien gave my mom a run for her money in the cosmetic surgery department. “I’ll call my event planner,” she said as she reached for her glass of wine.
Vivien’s voice shocked me every time she opened her mouth. It was high-pitched like a child’s and sounded bizarre coming from a grown up. I had yet to figure out if it was her natural speaking voice or if she was trying to sound like Minnie Mouse.
It was a mystery for the ages.
“Lila,” he turned to me. “I’ll expect you to help Brandon at the party.”
“There will be press there, I assume?” I asked. Since he’d stopped raging and his face wasn’t mottled and red, I was no longer walking on eggshells, but any time we tread near the topic of Brandon or Amber… things got tense.
He wasn’t happy with how my time in Pinedale had ended. He was thoroughly disappointed that Amber had gotten the best of me, and he never let me forget it.
Of course, he failed to see how it might have made a difference if I’d known he’d gone behind my back by planting Amber as a traitor in our midst, but whatever. We’d all moved on.
Sort of.
“I’ll expect you to help Amber as well,” he added.
I stiffened. There it was. That taunting edge to his voice. My father still hadn’t let it go. Neither had I, I supposed. Was keeping her out of her own debut party a catty move? Undoubtedly. But had she deserved it? Absolutely.
As I kept a keen eye on my kale salad, avoiding his harsh glare, I had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps he’d heard about that little incident.
“I’m not asking too much of you now am I, Delilah?” His voice was too mild. Too cold.
I shivered. I’d take his rage fests any day of the week over this. “No, Daddy.” I’d used my most syrupy sweet voice, the one that almost always made him soften.
Not today.
“You lost, Delilah,” he snapped. “You failed. I sent you to do one little job for me, and you came home a failure.”
I kept my gaze down, my eyes burning. “I got Brandon—”
“You did nothing. You were making out with that farmhand friend of his when you were supposed to be working Brandon. Don’t think I forgot about that.” A silence fell that felt loaded. I braced myself for what he would say next. “Jack.” My father bit his name out and it ripped through the air like a gunshot. “Jack Carlton is his name, isn’t it?”
My insides dropped, and my hands began to shake. If he knew who Jack was, then Jack was on his radar. Which meant…he wasn’t safe.
When did he learn Jack’s name? How?
I shot a quick sidelong look at Tess, but she too was staring at her plate, moving food around but not eating. She looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt.
My father’s words kept coming, raining down on me like nails. But I tuned him out, focusing instead on anger. Of course it had been Tess. Daddy’s favorite. She’d sold me out. After we left Pinedale she’d told me it was Amber who’d told Daddy about the kiss, but he hadn’t known Jack’s name. And Amber knew better than to get on my bad side any further than she already was. She wouldn’t have reached out to Daddy with more information against me.
So that left Tess.
And here I’d thought we were starting to be… well, not sisters, but I’d felt like we were on the same side, at least.
I was an idiot for trusting her. She’d do whatever it took to be Daddy’s favorite.
I gripped my fork tight and forced a meek nod and a quiet “Yes, Daddy” whenever there was a pause.
“You’re useless,” he muttered when the tirade was done. His chair scraped against the tiles of the patio, the lights of the pool behind him casting his face in shadows. For the best, most likely.
I knew that look of disappointment well. I didn’t need to see it again.
“All you have to do is make people believe that the leading man wants to sleep with you.” He threw his napkin down on the table. “Hopefully that’s something that even you can achieve.”
The silence that followed his departure made me want to throw up. I could feel Tess’s gaze on me. Even Vivien, the plastic, soulless monster, was eyeing me with something like pity.
It probably was pity and she just couldn’t move her face muscles enough to show it.
“I have to go,” I said, not even bothering to look at the other two before I slipped away, down the steps of the veranda to sit inside one of the cabanas by the pool. It was nicer out here than in my bedroom.
Inside, I might run into Daddy. Out here… well, I was getting very good at staying hidden out here or at Brandon’s place.
The only problem with my cabana break was that it gave me too much time alone. Time to think.
Time to remember.
Every time I had too much alone time, I found myself obsessing over Jack. Every word he’d said, every kiss we’d shared, every sweet, dumb little romantic gesture. When I had well and truly tortured myself, I left my little hut of isolation and headed back to the main house.
I stopped short when I reached the outdoor dining area. Tess and Vivien were still there. Not a big surprise, I supposed, since I’d left during the first course. But they weren’t just eating.
They were talking.
Which meant… something was up.
I know, I know. Calm down there, Nancy Drew. So they’re talking. So what? What’s the big deal?
The big deal was, they didn’t talk. They were so not friends. Neither me nor Tess was a fan of the latest Devereaux bride, and we regularly rolled our eyes behind her back. So, what was with this pow-wow?
I took another step closer, and they were so caught up in their conversation that they didn’t even hear me coming. Their voices were lowered, practically whispers and their expressions…
Well, to be fair, Vivien’s expression was the same as ever. Immovable and creepy. But her eyes flashed with more emotion than I’d ever seen from the life-sized doll. And even from this side view, I could tell Tess had her game face on. It was the expression she wore whenever she was scheming. Working. Whatever. With Tess, those two were one and the same.
I knew that now—after Pinedale. All this time, I’d thought she was just another one of Daddy’s number-cr
unching lackeys, but it was clear to me now that with Tess, there was more going on. For Daddy and, I suspected, for herself as well.
I drew closer, trying to catch any of what they were saying, but they caught sight of me when I was a few feet away and Vivien bolted. “Goodnight,” she said in that weird voice of hers, and then she was inside, hurrying through the doors like I was going to come chasing after her.
“What was that about?” I asked.
Tess looked away. “What?”
I leaned over. “Tess, come on. Don’t play games with me.”
Her gaze was wary when she turned back to face me, but when she pursed her lips, I knew she was considering. Strategizing.
My sister, the evil genius.
Half-sister. Whatever.
“So?” I asked.
She gave her head a little shake. “Not here.”
Her glance moved toward the house meaningfully. Daddy. Whatever she was up to with Vivien, she didn’t want Daddy to hear. “Just…” She sighed, glancing from the house and back to me again. “Just hang in there, okay?”
My brows came down. We may have been on the same side a little more lately, but pep talks were still well outside our sisterly wheelhouse.
“Hang in there? What is that supposed to mean?”
“With Daddy. With Brandon and Amber and all that’s going on, just… hang in there. I’m working on something. But I need you to trust me, okay?”
A chill swept through me and made me shiver, but this time it wasn’t out of fear. It was excitement. Anticipation. And I had no idea why. But I nodded anyway. Did I trust Tess? I wasn’t totally sure. But after Pinedale and since we’d been home, I was starting to think maybe she wasn’t as under Daddy’s thumb as I’d once thought.
For years now, he’d pitted us against each other. She and I had always been trying to earn his approval, to gain some power of our own, to free ourselves from his controlling grasp, and now…
Now I was starting to think Tess was actually going to do it. Or at least, she was going to try.
Holding her gaze, I nodded. “I’ll trust you. For now. But at some point…” I glanced toward the door. Later. When we were anywhere else. “I need to know what’s going on.”
Princess of Hollywood (The Glitterati Files Book 2) Page 3
