Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 173392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 867(@200wpm)___ 694(@250wpm)___ 578(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 173392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 867(@200wpm)___ 694(@250wpm)___ 578(@300wpm)
The highway curves to the right, but I keep straight, coasting between the two large stone pillars and down the dark drive. Trees line both sides of the private entrance, immediately secluding visitors in a quiet landscape that makes you feel like you’re deep in the country.
Without slowing down, I race past the guardhouse. The security detail checks in members as they arrive, but after six o’clock on a Sunday, it’s empty.
Cruising up to the clubhouse, I pull in behind a black Audi that I know belongs to Clay’s father because it’s new, and apparently a source of friction between him and her mom—his soon-to-be exwife. Something about frozen money until they decide how much belongs to who. Why do divorcing couples think that’s a good time to go buy a flashy car? I hope she takes it. Go, Mrs. Collins.
I crack my window, turn off the engine, and tilt my mirror, seeing Paisleigh’s head hanging off her neck like a tetherball. Taking my phone and keys, I climb out and close the door, dialing my brother.
He breathes hard in my ear.
“I’m here,” I tell him, checking that my sister is still asleep through the window. “Where are you?”
“Upstairs.”
“So come down.”
“They won’t let me.”
I freeze. “Who?”
But he just snickers. “Do you seriously have to ask?”
He hangs up, and I stick my phone in my pocket as the sprinklers kick on out on the course. The doorman peeks around the corner to see if I’m coming or not, but I just stand there.
I know who’s up there, and have a vague idea of what he wants. I also know that while he’s a little stupid, coercion is his strength.
Milo.
I lock the car doors and stalk up to the clubhouse. Rafe rushes to open the door, tucking his other hand behind his back as he smiles at me.
“Keep an eye on my sister, please?” I tell him.
He shoots up straight, glancing at my car. “Huh?”
“She’s asleep in the back seat,” I call out, running inside and up the stairs. “I’ll be quick! I promise!”
“Ms. Conroy!”
But I ignore his protest, swinging around the banister and down the hall to the right.
Mahogany paneling on the walls gleams in the soft light of the sconces, and I brush past the painting of my grandfather holding a cigar and standing next to a silver-haired Great Dane. He doesn’t have a Great Dane. Never did. He has four King Charles spaniels. And cigars make him sick.
Deer antlers jut from the wall, and I jump out of the way before I’m stabbed in the eye. I push through the closed door at the end of the hall, letting it fly open as I enter the Wainwright Room, and stare at my brother where he stands next to the two-seater table, waiting for me.
His blue eyes raise just enough but then drop quickly again. He knows he fucked up. I jerk my chin at him. “How did you get here?”
“I picked him up.”
Milo sits at the table, doling out a hand of solitaire like he’s a king hovering over maps and planning a war.
Or like he has any idea how to play anything other than Go Fish.
My former boyfriend decided not to attend college right away, either. Instead, he’s been interning at his older brother’s law office, but probably using most of his mental capacity on just learning to tie a tie every morning.
“So this is your life now?” I ask him, glancing at his friends, whom I don’t know, who are sitting on the couches near the fireplace. Two guys, one girl. New faces, because nearly all of our high school friends went off to school this fall. “Taking your petty pleasures wherever you can get them?”
Milo smiles, his black hair combed and shiny, not a strand out of place. “I just wanted to lure you back to your side of the tracks tonight. Where you belong.”
How did he know I was in Sanoa Bay?
I step closer, glaring down. He still hasn’t looked at me.
“You don’t give a shit about me,” I say in a low voice. “You never did. Your pride is hurt because I like them more than you.”
His small grin locks in place as he stares at the cards, and for a moment, everything stops, because I know that look. The look of him angry and on the cusp of violence.
I shouldn’t have said that. It’ll only bring attention onto Liv’s brothers.
“Did you know your sister is in bed with a Jaeger?” He looks up at Mars.
But instead, I order my brother, “Let’s go.”
“In a year, they’ll be gone.” Milo continues placing cards. “The government will declare eminent domain and sell the land out from under them because it’s more valuable as a resort. Tryst Six will end.”
I shoot my brother a glare. “Now.”
But when he meets my eyes, I notice his pupils. They’re huge. The blue is barely visible.