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At face value, my mother’s words appear concerned, but the icy clip to her tone is one I’m exceedingly familiar with. I barely suppress a sigh and plaster a smile to my face. She just had to get that extra dig in to kick off the night. We’re not late, we just didn’t arrive on her completely arbitrary timeline. I expected no less, but I somehow still manage to be disappointed by my mother, time and time again. That’s my problem though. I know better and I should stop expecting her to change. It’s pointless despite what my eternally optimistic side might want to believe.
“Hello, Mother, we’re quite well, as you can see.”
Isbeth Warren is an attractive woman. Tall, willowy thin, with hair that was once the same sun-streaked gold as mine. It’s now artificially created by her hairdresser, and a much icier color. She leans in and air kisses one cheek, then the other, all without touching me. There’s no disguising the disdain as her gaze flits over Lena and then quickly disregards her altogether.
“Archer, come. I’d like you to meet some people. Your friend can find something to drink on her own, I’m sure.” My mother’s talon-like nails sink into my suit jacket, but I extricate my arm with practiced ease.
“I’m sure Lena would love to join us.”
“That would be lovely. Thanks, Arch.”
My mother makes a scoffing sound as she frowns at me. She hates when people call me Arch, and Lena knows it.
We spend the next hour chatting with various island inhabitants. It’s not all unpleasant, especially after my mother leaves to greet some newly arrived guests. I spot my father holding court in a corner and avoid him like the plague. He’s slightly less cold than my mother, but infinitely more apathetic. He doesn’t worry about anything but his reputation and what people think of him. Both of my parents care deeply about the perceptions of the people on this island, and anyone with money who frequents Wild Haven.
“I’m going to need something to eat, or I’m going to get super drunk. There’s no telling what might come out of my mouth.” Lena tips back her glass of champagne, plucking another off a tray as a server drifts by, and swapping it for her empty.
“You’re extra feisty tonight.” I grin down at my friend, but then frown a little as my heart jars at that word. She is my friend, but there’s definitely more going on between us now. Running my hands over her body, her hot mouth wrapped around the hard length of me, sinking deep inside her… Yeah, so not the time for those thoughts to surface.
Lena’s cheeks are flushed from the champagne and the stuffy room. There’s a twinkle in her eyes as she smiles up at me, looking carefree for once. I love seeing her like this. It doesn’t happen often, and I certainly didn’t think a party at my parents’ house would be the time she’d relax.
“I’m having a good time.”
I lean down, lowering my face until we’re closer to the same height. With her sky-high heels on, there’s not as much of a difference as usual.
“Javier Cartwright is sleeping behind that potted plant over there. Nicole Bush just set off a chain reaction of yawns on the other side of the room, and Shawntel Johnson has been complaining to anyone who will listen that someone has stolen two pairs of her shoes. This is not a fun party.”
A pink blush beautifully colors Lena’s cheeks and I’m getting a little heady from the sense of power it gives me. She gulps down a large drink from her glass. “I meant I’m having fun with you.”
Lena’s words hit me like a beam of light straight through my heart. She’s right. Despite where we are, I’m enjoying myself, and that has everything to do with her. I lift my hand and wipe a drop of champagne off Lena’s bottom lip, causing her eyes to darken their color from blue into that violet that’s so unusual. I drop my hand to her shoulder, sliding it down her arm, and a zap of electricity sings through me when I reach bare skin. Lacing my fingers through hers, I turn and lead us out of the ballroom.
Lena follows without question, her fingers squeezing mine as we weave our way through the room. I manage to avoid a few familiar faces waving us over for conversation. I’m done with small talk for the night. I won’t be sidetracked.
We’re practically running by the time we make it into the hall. There are a few wait staff moving around out here, but otherwise everyone is in the ballroom.
“Where are you taking me? Are we going to your bedroom?” Lena’s breathless question is full of laughter. “Is this some teenage dream you need to fulfill?”
I snort and Lena’s heels click on the tile floor as we quickly make our way down the hall.
“My mother turned my bedroom into a sewing room the moment I moved out.”
“Your mom sews?”
“No.”
“What an utter bitch.”
Lena doesn’t ask any more questions. The hallway is dark since no one is really supposed to be back in this part of the house during the party, but I don’t give a damn. We turn the corner and reach our destination. I open the door, reaching over to the wall to flip on the lights, pulling Lena in behind me. The gasp that leaves her lips is all it takes to make my dick obscenely hard.
“It is so not fair that such horrible people have this in their house.”
“I know.” I lift her hand and press a kiss to her knuckles before reluctantly letting her go.
Lena wanders into the room, and spins in a slow circle in the middle of my family’s library. As kids, all we ever did was try to escape our houses. I would have loved to have my friends over, to see Lena in this place as a child, but it wouldn’t have been an escape for her. This house was just as twisted and unhappy as hers, only in a different way. Where Lena’s father used his fists to beat her and Rhys, my parents wielded psychological warfare.
Once, when I was five, I accidentally broke a vase in my mother’s office because I’d been moving too quickly. She hadn’t hit me. That would have been beneath her. She was too esteemed and powerful for something as mundane as that. Instead, she had me run laps around the yard, holding onto the broken shards of porcelain. She’d thrown me outside in the middle of winter only in the clothes I was wearing. No shoes, no coat.
That time I ran for four hours. To this day, I think she actually forgot that she sent me out there. Not that it would have made any difference. It was just another way to show me how much of a nuisance I was, an inconvenience she had the barest regard for.
