He laughed after taking a sip. “Consider this a probation period. You have until the movie wraps. After that, we’ll decide what we want to do with you.”
He took the rest of the drinks, put them on a tray, and carried them to the girls. Leaving his drink by the hot tub, he dove into the pool. I joined him this time, and soon Evie and Skye left their chairs and stepped into the cooler water.
Just as night started to fall, Bryce returned and cannonballed.
“’Bout fucking time,” Fred muttered when Bryce’s head popped out of the water. “You clog my toilet or something?”
Bryce snickered. “Got a little lost is all. I like the farmhouse look you’ve got going in your kitchen.”
“I actually need to redecorate. That kitchen was my second wife’s doing. She was all about that live, laugh, love bullshit.”
As the night went on, I noticed Bryce was really schmoozing him, and I wondered if he had an ulterior motive for coming tonight. He was feeding Fred drink after drink and matching him sip for sip. Only, something was off. I knew Bryce almost as well as I knew myself, and he could hold his liquor.
He was faking being drunk.
Unsure and uneasy, I drifted to the pool chairs, and Skye and Evie joined me. We drank and enjoyed the music, while Bryce and Fred hung out loudly in the hot tub.
“Why don’t you join us, Evie, Sebastian?” Bryce called out.
Fred, completely shit-faced, huffed.
“She’s not coming anywhere near me. She’s mad at me for fucking her mother.” Fred reached for his drink and laughed. “And if that’s the case, she’s got to be mad at half this fucking town.”
Evie sat up, and I reached for her hand, squeezing it tight.
“Beep beep, Ritchie,” I muttered.
She inhaled deeply and sat back, forcing herself not to engage.
“Sorry, it’s just a fact. Lita Reyes was Hollywood’s mattress. She kept kneepads in her purse.”
“Evie, Skye!” Bryce snapped his fingers and looked directly at me. All pretense of drunkenness was gone from his eyes.
I sat up, curious.
“Go make us a couple of drinks, will ya?”
“Fuck you, Bryce,” Skye said, settling back in her seat.
“Fine, fine.” Bryce climbed out of the hot tub, puffed his chest, and strode over to the bar. He ducked down and came back up. “You got an extension cord, Castle?”
“Yeah, here!” Fred popped out of the hot tub just long enough to grab an extension cord and toss it to Bryce.
Bryce came back over, took it, and tugged it all the way to the bar, plugging in a blender.
“Oh, shit, I gotta go piss,” Bryce said suddenly, then ran inside.
Fred turned his attention to us again. “I think you’re just a little out of your depth, sweetie. Sure, you got Mike and Jason. They were easy to pick off. Jason was a dumb fuck, and Mike—well, you knew Mike, didn’t you, Shaw?” He snickered.
I remained silent, but I couldn’t control my expression. My nostrils flared as I shot daggers with my eyes. Fred glanced from me to Evie. And when I did as well, I saw a look of confusion on Evie’s face.
“I guess Lita wasn’t the only one keeping secrets from you, then,” he said to Evie.
He kept talking, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bryce slip back outside, something in his hands.
“What do you mean, secrets? I know one of you might be my father.” Evie sat up.
“Is that what she told you? She was always so full of it. She knew who’d knocked her up. It sure as hell wasn’t me. I got snipped two weeks after moving to this godforsaken town. She knew that. Let me guess, was she raped, too? That bitch was a willing participant every single time, of which there were many. Many, many times.” He sat back against the wall of the hot tub. “Lita had a magic pussy—kind of like your boyfriend, Evie. They call it something different in that community…”
