“That’s true. You seemed that way the night we met.”
My fingers trailed up and down her thigh, the delicate skin making me relax. I thought back to meeting her. What were the chances that I would meet the daughter of the man who had killed my family and feel something for her? Even if all I had wanted to do was sleep with her, was the world mocking me for everything it took away?
Her hand cupped my jaw, making me look at her. The lazy smile on her face made me realize how much the alcohol was getting to her. I wasn’t sure how much, so I decided to ease into my questions or trying to get upstairs.
“Alright. I’m here and don’t know anyone. Tell me everyone’s secrets,” I said.
“Secrets aren’t free.”
“That’s true,” I said, pulling her closer. “What would you like in exchange, Rebel? Name your price.”
Kane brought us two more drinks, and Regan reached out for hers, not wasting any time opening it.
“I want to know one of your secrets for all of theirs. A good secret, not some silly one.”
“You already know one of my secrets,” I said. “A very large secret.”
“Do you mean this?” she asked, running a hand over my side. The hoodie covered everything, but she knew what was underneath and how it got there. “Maybe, but you gave that to me of your own free will.”
She wasn’t wrong. I had given it up to make her want to keep me around, and it had worked. “You are getting very good at this,” I said. “Fine. When my parents died, Evie and I were shipped off to a stranger. We were told they were family, but they weren’t. I was older, around fifteen, and Evie was about ten. We decided we didn’t want to be there anymore. The couple were terrible to us, so we did something about it. We started with harmless pranks and quickly amped it up to more harmful things. Some were enough to send them to the hospital. The couple got so scared of us, they shipped us back.”
“Back to the burned house?”
“Back to this town. We were basically dropped on the street in front of that burned up house and forgotten about.”
“What did you do?”
“That’s more than one secret, Rebel. Now tell me theirs.”
She huffed, but leaned in and started pointing everyone out, telling me whatever secret she could think of.
Another hour went by before I was almost bored. Unsurprisingly, the rich kids all had similar, boring secrets. From crashing daddy’s cars to drug charges to almost getting kicked out of school until their parents paid someone off, they were all the same, and all boring.
“Why do you want your dad to let you take over his company?” I asked her, wanting to know more about her and less about them.
“Why wouldn’t I? Wouldn’t you?”
“I meant, what is the reason? You want the money, the power, the status? What?”
I groaned as she wiggled again, her ass rubbing hard against me.
“All of it,” she whispered. “I want to be in charge of my life. I want a legacy for our family. I want money to do whatever I want with. I want people to look at me and not see a boring littlerich girl. I want people to stop watching my every move just to criticize me for them.”
“You want them to fear you.”
“Not quite fear,Mr. Serial Killer,but more like…respect me.”
The idea that she could want a sliver of the life I wanted instantly made me hard.
“Do you know secrets about my dad?” she asked. The question felt like a knife to my chest. Her dad was the reason I came back for her in the first place and the only reason we were together tonight.
Now his daughter was in my lap, and I would be taking her up to her room, in his house, to fuck her only to keep her occupied, so my friends could tear the house apart.
“Yes,” I said. “Plenty.”
“Would you tell me?”
“Maybe a different night. Have you told him about me?”
