Three Against All (Peyton Pointe Book 1), page 10
I honestly never even told my father where I was sleeping, not since the day I turned fifteen. He’d probably stopped asking when I was thirteen and I kept doing it because I thought parents were supposed to care. “You knew we all stayed together?”
He took a deep breath. “I’m your father, Finn. I know I’m not around a lot, I know I’ve pretty much left you to raise yourself, but I am your father. I did what I needed to do to make sure you were safe. That you were okay.” He gestured behind him, in the general direction of the front of the hotel. “Your drivers have always been trained bodyguards. Your nannies, the same. They kept their distance, let you make your own choices, because I instructed them to.” He grinned. “The stories they told me though.” He waggled his eyebrows, shaking his head.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This whole talk, this whole meeting was so surreal. It was the last thing I ever expected. I’d grown up thinking that my father was barely better than Holden’s and Roe’s parents. The man sitting next to me? I found I actually liked him. “So what do you think about letting Roe invest in the clubs?”
“I like the idea of keeping it all in the family.” He polished off his drink. “It’s time we stop letting other people get rich off our investments, right?” He stood, buttoning his suit jacket and gesturing over the redheaded waitress. “They should both invest, Roe and Holden. Some young blood will do the project good.” He held his hand out. “We’ll meet tomorrow afternoon, go see some properties. Send the jet, get Holden and Roe down here in the morning.” I shook his hand, then watched him walk away with our waitress trailing behind him.
Get Roe and Holden down here in the morning.
Well, fuck. I liked that my father wanted to include them in the whole process. I liked that this was another step in the right direction, us making our way in the city. Getting out of Peyton Pointe. Them down here tomorrow? I dropped my head to my chest. I thought we’d all have a few days. Time for them to get back to right after what they were going to do tonight.
Time for me to mourn what I hadn’t allowed myself.
Chapter Fourteen
Roe
“Monroe. How is school this semester?” We were sitting around our rarely used intricately carved cherry wood dining room table: Holden to my immediate right, his parents across from us, and my mom at the head of the table. Dinner had been served by the chef my mom hired for the evening. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her in the kitchen.
“It’s fine.” I poked around at the disgusting foie gras on my plate. I hated food like this. I’d have been happy with a cheeseburger. Nope. Never happening. Cheeseburgers were beneath my mother, not to mention fattening.
“I can see those Pilates classes I signed you up for are working wonders.” This was typical behavior from my mother. Belittle me in front of guests, play the concerned parent, and completely pretend she hadn’t called me a whore twenty-four hours ago.
I gritted my teeth but kept my smile in place. I hadn’t been to one fucking Pilates class. I gave the membership away to some chick in my Spanish class. “Hm.”
“I’ll have to look and see if there is a studio near campus for next year. Wouldn’t want all that hard work going to waste with the freshman fifteen. Right, dear?” One summer I’d tried really hard to get fat. To piss her off, to make her hate me even more. I ate everything in sight. Didn’t gain a pound. Stupid genetics. When I didn’t answer her, she kept talking. “Only a week until graduation. I bet you and Holden are getting excited to head to Athens in the fall.” At her words, Holden reached under the table and placed his hand on my bare leg. I’d forgone the outfit my mother laid out for me and was in a very short, very low-cut Mugler dress.
“Super excited.” At the sound of my fake enthusiasm Holden moved his hand farther up my thigh, curving inward until his fingertips brushed my clit. I cut my eyes to him, and when he winked, I raised an eyebrow, spreading my legs farther in challenge. Holden was wearing a button-down and a tie that matched the fuchsia in my dress. He’d brought two and picked out that one after his gaze had traveled hungrily down my body.
He grinned at my mother. “I’m feeling very excited right now as well.” I bit my lip to hide my smile as he pulled my panties to the side. He trailed his finger smoothly through my wetness. This was one of Holden’s favorite pastimes.
Smiling like a saint while playing like a sinner.
“You two are going to love living in Athens.” His dad spoke to us from across the table. Holden’s parents and my mom thought we’d be attending the University of Georgia this fall, sharing a house near campus. The only parent who knew the truth, that we were moving to Atlanta with Finn, was Preston Archer. He’d never tell. He didn’t like our parents any more than his son did.
My mother was an idiot. She’d made my trust available to me when I turned eighteen. I’d already moved all my money to an account she could never touch. Holden and Finn were expanding my portfolio, investing most of it how they saw fit. I didn’t care about money, and I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up.
“What about you, Holden? How was school this week? We haven’t seen you in days.” His mom smiled at him kindly. It didn’t even falter when I snorted into my champagne glass. Days? I was pretty sure his parents hadn’t been home in over a month. Bianca Benedict was gorgeous, she looked like a Swedish supermodel. All pale smooth skin and blonde hair. Opposite of my mom’s olive complexion and nearly black locks.
Holden pulled his hand out of my lap and then proceeded to lick his finger before answering her. “My week has been okay.” He shrugged. “I did a shit-ton of blow last night, and it gave me the shakes real bad. I think I’m going to need to switch dealers.” He beamed, like a freaking politician. “But I ate Roe as an appetizer before we came downstairs for dinner. So, you know, good and bad.”
The room was silent for about ten seconds, then all our parents started to cackle. Holden’s dad shook his head, still chuckling. “You are too much, son.”
They thought he was kidding. Holden did this often. He’d spew out whatever outrageous thing we’d actually done that week and then they’d all laugh like he was that evening’s entertainment. He was so polite, so pleasing they never seemed to think he was telling the truth.
Or fingering me under the table.
He picked up his glass, waving it happily around the room. “I know. I can’t help it. The look on your faces is too priceless.” He leaned over, whispering in my ear so only I could hear. “Do what you do best, babe, cause a scene and get us the hell out of here. I want to bury my face between those beautiful thighs of yours again.”
I kissed his cheek, soft and sweet. “Oh, a scene is coming, don’t you worry.” The waiter came out, cleared our plates, and took them back to the kitchen. I drained my champs before someone could come out and take that too. He was out again seconds later, setting a warm salad in front of me. Great. More food I hated. Who wanted to eat warm lettuce? Holden was going to have to take me to get some real food when we left here since I doubted the next course would be any better.
“The realtor we set you up with in Athens said you haven’t contacted her yet. What are you waiting for?” Holden’s dad, Langston Benedict, was a whore of epic proportions. He’d been caught with his pants down by everyone in his family. He’d even nailed his mother-in-law last year. Holden’s parents weren’t together because they loved each other, they were together because it was good for business and too much damn work to get divorced. It took time to divide billions.
“We have time. We aren’t moving until August.” Holden took a bite of salad and then finished it before talking again. Manners matter, y’all. “I think you’d be surprised how many places come on the market in May.” He winked at me. “We want what’s best for our girl, right?”
“We certainly do.” His dad smirked at me from across the table, making my skin crawl. Once again they refused to acknowledge the truth behind Holden’s words. I knew he meant him and Finn, and deep down, I think everyone else did too. They’d seen us together, seen us grow. There was no denying what was going on, not if you looked close enough. The stolen glances, the knowing smiles. We didn’t exactly hide it.
“Monroe, you haven’t eaten a thing. Are you feeling okay?” The gentle note in my mother’s voice made me want to throw up. It wasn’t real. She’d never once taken care of me when I was sick. It was either a nanny or one of the boys. We’d taken chauffeurs to our pediatricians. One time, Finn cut his hand working on his dirt bike and we’d ridden our bicycles to urgent care. And then ridden them home, twelve stitches later.
Holden’s dad turned to him, chuckling loudly. “You didn’t get her pregnant, did you? Your mothers would lose their minds trying to plan a June wedding with only two weeks’ notice.” Both our mothers started to laugh, high and tinkling. What the fuck was wrong with these people? Why would me being knocked up at eighteen be something to giggle at?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, fully prepared to lose my shit at this table of assholes. It was the perfect opening. I wouldn’t even have to fake my level of ire. Holden reached over and took my hand, squeezing it, silently letting me know to wait.
“There’s no way she’s pregnant. I just won a coin toss to my best friend for her virginity this morning.” He let go of my hand and gestured to our parents, bowing slightly with a sexy grin on his face.
When our parents laughed louder, I reached across the table and grabbed the bottle of champagne from the ice bucket, filling my flute to the top. “Don’t be too sad for Finn, though, he got head by the pool a few hours ago.” That made them quiet down.
I got to my feet.
Holden shook his head, snickering quietly to himself. He stood and took my hand. “Thank you for dinner, it was delicious.” He laid his napkin next to his plate. “If you’ll excuse us, I’m going to go deflower your daughter. I’ll try not to knock her up, we wouldn’t want to cause any stress planning a shotgun wedding.” He took the second chilled bottle of Krug from the waiter’s hand when he walked out of the kitchen.
We left without a backward glance. Without another word. And like Mr. Perry at school, they wouldn’t come after us. They wouldn’t stop us from leaving. They knew they had no real control, not now, not at this point.
We’d begged for stability, for attention when we were younger. You could have only so many doors slammed in your face before you hardened your heart and moved on. They didn’t deserve our respect, and they sure as hell didn’t deserve our compliance.
Holden’s parents would laugh off his antics and leave tomorrow for Mulan. My mom would claim I was stressed with finals and graduation looming. She’d book a week stay at some health resort, for her, not me. We wouldn’t see any of them until graduation, and only then because it was what was expected of them. A photo op and an opportunity to pat each other on the back for a job well done. Utter bullshit.
We made our way, hand in hand, through my house, my heels clicking on the original wood floors, the French chandeliers throwing prisms off my Harry Winston diamond necklace. A gift from Holden on my eighteenth birthday. “Well, done, babe.” He kissed the palm of my hand as he led me to our exit. “I think that went well.”
I smiled at him as he held the front door open for me, bending to grab the bag I’d packed and left by the entryway. “Yes, it did, didn’t it?”
“I mean, that had a little bit of everything.” He directed me to his SUV, opening the door and waiting for me to get in. “Lying, pregnancy scares, talk of head by the pool? I don’t think I’ve ever had such titillating conversation at the dinner table.” I threw my head back, cracking up as he walked around and opened the driver’s side door. Before he got in, he put my bag in the back and then popped the bottle of champagne. He waited for the foam to slow before climbing in and handing it to me. “Drink up, Roe Boat. We’re going to party a little before we head home.”
Home. I loved that home always meant a person, never a place. Wherever we were together was home to us. Although tonight we’d be missing a piece. I grabbed the bottle and tilted it back, taking a deep pull. I didn’t want to think about Finn, not right now. “Where are we going? Oh, are we going parking?”
“Well, actually we are going to pay little Miss Charlotte a visit.” He steeled his gaze on me while we waited for the front gates to open. “If you dare tell Finn I let you come along, I’ll spank that sweet ass of yours.” He winked. “But parking sounds fun too, let’s do both.”
I leaned over and kissed his neck, sucking lightly. “Thank you for the distractions at dinner. I won’t tell about you bringing me along on whatever mission this is.” And I wouldn’t. Finn treated us both like we were breakable, but I was crystal and Holden was more like expensive marble. Holden and I had secrets from him, crazy shit we’d done he’d never be okay with. Not because he was controlling, but because we knew he’d worry. Like last night, Holden knew I wanted to get lost, he’d purposefully gotten me to that party before Finn could be there. He’d turned a blind eye when I’d wandered off from him. I told H once I thought we were more fucked up than Finn, that we weren’t good enough for him. He laughed and told me Finn thought the same thing about himself.
“What are we going to do?” We exited the gated community we lived in, so many damn gates between me and the real world. No wonder I always felt trapped.
Holden pushed down the bottle in my hands, hiding its view from the other cars on the road. “I don’t have any ammo on Charlotte, anything to hurt her with. She’s a bitch, but she keeps her nose clean. It’s time to do a little digging.” He turned right, headed in the direction of the slightly less expensive neighborhood where she lived.
“It could’ve been anyone at that party. The whole school was there.” I dipped down in the seat, taking another swig of the cool alcohol. “I was hanging around with an open bottle of champagne, any number of people had the opportunity to drop in a roofie.”
“Charlotte was a cunt in the hallway this week and she was asking about you after Finn carried you out of there. Plus, it’s good form to have blackmail on everyone.” We stopped at a red light and he laid over the center console, tipping his head back and opening his mouth so I could pour another swig of champs in. I kissed his lips, sweeping my tongue against his, tasting his drink. When the light turned green he sat up, hands responsibly at ten and two. “I’m going to hack into her iCloud and find what we need. No one is good all the time, babe.”
Holden was a computer genius. Where Finn fought with his hands, H fought with his mind. He liked to have dirt on everyone, a wild card he could pull out and lay on the table with a smirk on his handsome face. We slowed, pulling to the curb a few houses down from hers, and he moved his seat back, gesturing me over with his head and a wicked wink. Holden loved this. He loved me straddling his lap, looming over him with my hair down and hiding us from the world.
“Is this the parking part of the evening?” I climbed over and he slid his hands up my thighs, moving my tight dress to my waist so I could sit down.
“Mmmhmm. Give it to me, baby.”
My smile melted away as I kissed him the way he liked, with everything I had. I ground my core against his cock, stroking his hard-on and moaning into his greedy mouth. Holden liked making out, he liked dry humping. He could do this, and only this, for hours upon hours until I was on my knees begging him for a release. Where Finn preferred action, Holden demanded buildup. Foreplay with him lasted all day. Stolen kisses in the pantry. Sly touches in the hallway.
“Holden.” I rubbed against him, my lips at his ear. “Do what you need to do here.” I bit the sensitive skin on his neck. “Then take me home.”
He cupped my face in his warm hands, kissing me one more time before he nodded, our noses brushing against each other. He straightened, helping me get settled in my seat once again. He pulled his laptop out of the messenger bag nestled at my feet, making sure the back of his hand slid along the inside of my exposed thigh. I shivered at his touch.
“Impatient little thing tonight, aren’t we?” He held my gaze for a moment, humor and promise dancing in his gorgeous eyes. He sighed, a serious expression replacing the playful one, and the moment he opened his computer his fingers started flying over the keyboard.
I reached my fingers over, tangling them in his hair, tugging lightly. “Why are we sitting outside her house? Couldn’t you have done this at home? Naked? In bed with me?”
“For one, you naked is distracting as hell. Two, it’s easier to hack her system if I can jump on her WiFi. I can make the system think I’m her.” He pointed up and it was only after he showed me, I noticed we could see clear into her bedroom window from here. Of course, the dumb, attention-seeking bitch had her curtains open. She probably got off on knowing all the old men in her neighborhood could see her.
I giggled, taking another pull from our shared bottle. “You come here to watch Charlotte change often?”
He snorted. “The only girl I creep on is sitting right next to me.”
I tickled the skin on the back of his neck. “So romantic.”
“Speaking of romance.” He paused his work, his eyes traveling down my body, stopping at the still-gathered hem. “I fucking love that dress. What did your mom put out for you to wear?” Holden knew how evenings typically went with my mother; he knew she always attempted to pick my outfit. Sometimes I liked it well enough and didn’t have the energy to buck the system. Tonight, I’d been full of defiance.
I took his angled jaw in my palm, directing his attention down at his computer. “She wanted me to wear some Versace pantsuit. She said the cut would make me look tall and thin.”
He answered without taking his eyes off his laptop. “You are tall and thin, babe.”
