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Chapter 1
Saxton~
Lack of sleep was a motherfucker if you had classes all day long the next day. Still, there was no way that I would have missed last night for anything.
It might be unconventional.
It might be reckless.
It might be a lot of things.
However, the brotherhood that I was forming with the guys was taking serious root. Now, would I choose any of them over Kincaid? No, I wouldn’t. Kincaid’s been my best friend since the second grade, and I’d kill for her and die for her. I’d sacrifice my entire life for that girl, but as much as that sounded like a grand gesture, I knew that Kincaid would do the same for me, so it wasn’t that selfless.
Being the only son of Ansel and Gwendolyn Voss, it had been expected that I’d attend all the best school, and that had included even goddamn preschool. So, when I’d been enrolled to attend Penny Academy for my elementary years, it hadn’t been a surprise. The very best in educational opportunity, PA only enrolled the best of the best. The elite of the best of the best. See, PA didn’t only enroll you based on your parents’ bank accounts. No. You had to have the smarts to go with the money. PA refused to turn out nothing but the best, so you had to take an academic test to get in. It didn’t matter if you were only five-goddamn-years-old because the school showed no mercy.
So, as the heir to the Voss Empire, I was used to unimaginable expectations. I had two younger sisters, but I didn’t like them very much. While I did love them, they were exactly what you would expect from rich, vain, and vapid females. If it wasn’t bad enough that they were superficial and materialistic, they took after our mother, and their blonde hair and blue eyes seemed to make it worse. Not to mention that they were twins, so that just made them more annoying.
The crazy thing was that my mother, Gwendolyn, was a goddamn corporate attorney. The woman wasn’t stupid, lazy, or flighty. My mother worked hard, and she was intelligent, beautiful, and ruthless. So, I never understood how she allowed my sisters to become what they were.
My father, Ansel, was a media mogul and owned more news outlets than that was probably wise or legal. My father controlled the minds of the people with the way he presented the world to them, and mind control was a real fucking thing.
I’ve seen it.
It was also part of my future. While my sisters were permitted to be useless, I was expected to take over everything that my father and mother have built. Oh, sure, Carissa had mentioned wanting to start her own clothing line, and Courtney had mentioned starting her own makeup line, but neither had the knowledge nor drive to make something like that happened. Never mind all the legalities that came with owning your own business. So, that left me in charge of making sure the Voss money kept rolling in for plenty more generations to come. Plus, at four years younger than me, I honestly hadn’t been around much in the rearing of my younger sisters. As far as I was concerned, they had parents.
So, when I had first met Kincaid at Penny, she had fascinated me in a way that no one else ever had. I could remember thinking that she was magical. At only seven, she walked, talked, and stood like a grown person of authority, and I hadn’t been able to stop looking at her. Where all the other little girls had been blondes or brunettes, Kincaid had walked in with long, black hair, and it had caught me by surprise because I’d been the only other kid in the class with black hair, too. However, Kincaid had black eyes to go with her black hair while I had grey eyes.
Whatever it had been about her, I’d known immediately that I had wanted her to be my friend. While everyone else had been wary of her, I had wanted her as my friend. So, at first recess, I had gone over to where she’d been sitting on the bench by herself and had told her that she was going to be my best friend. The conversation that followed was one that I’ll never forget.
“What if I don’t want to be your friend?” she asked.
“It doesn’t matter, because I want you to be my friend,” I told her.
Her black eyes were pretty and squinty now. “You better not be dumb, or I’ll be mad.”
“I’m not dumb.” I promised her.
“Okay,” she said. “Then we can be friends. But I’ll beat you up if you turn out to be dumb.”
Kincaid Black has been my best friend ever since, and while I turned out not to be dumb at all, Kincaid turned out to be the smartest person I knew. If she ever looked to be president one day, I had no doubt she’d be just that. The girl was brilliant, beautiful, and merciless. While the rest of us might be major players in the game, Kincaid was the game master. Not many people knew that about her, though. I was the only person who knew all her secrets, and those puppies were going to my grave with me.
However, things were changing, and I knew that. I’d have to be a fool not to see that the tides were changing. While I’d known a lot of what was going to be expected of all of us, there have been a few curveballs along the way, and last night was just the latest one to hit the plate.
Sitting in class, doing my best not to fall asleep, I was surprised that we haven’t received a meeting text yet. I knew Ross had sent Alexander a message this morning, telling him all about his impromptu wedding to Sutton last night. While Ross hadn’t broken any of the rules, things were looking a bit…chaotic. First, Stone and Rylee’s Hera contract, then all that shit with August and Laney, and now, Ross had married Sutton. We also couldn’t forget Alexander’s obvious disapproval for Kincaid. Like the rest of the guys, he knew that Kincaid didn’t belong in the role she currently held. However, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. I’d made my selection, and it was final.
I’d always known that Kincaid and I were going to end up at Hales University together. Hales was nothing more than an extension of Penny Academy. Now, while a lot of students that weren’t filthy rich attended Hales, the obscenely wealthy also attended Hales University. Kincaid and I weren’t the only ones walking around campus with more money than any one family should possess. A lot of students here were wealthy, but the top ten included me, Kincaid, Ross Carmichael, Stone Lexington, Fox Harrington, August Remington, Drummond Markle, Makley Choi, Hastings Martin, and Janell Indigo. While it would take ten lifetimes to deplete our coffers, Stone Lexington’s family was the wealthiest of us all. The guy could use hundreds to start bonfires every weekend, and he’d still never be broke.
When I’d gotten accepted into Hales, I’d done my homework. I’d been given the list of names of the people who’d be running in my circles, so I’d done my due diligence. If I had a superpower, it’d be my mind. While my temper existed, my first reaction to anything was to assess the situation. I wasn’t one to panic. I wasn’t one to lose sight of the bigger picture. My mind was like a machine, always calculating my next move and how to achieve the desired outcome. I left the fire to Kincaid. While I was known for exercising calm, Kincaid had no chill. She had no filter, and she feared nothing. Throughout the years, our friendship has been a lot of her going off the rails and me picking up the pieces.
Still, I’d do it forever if I had to.
However, as things were becoming more…uncertain, I knew things were going to finally come to a boiling point between her and Fox. Only I knew what the deal was between the two, and I had no problem with it as long as he didn’t hurt her. For the most part, I supported everything Kincaid was about, and I stayed out of her business unless she brought me into it. However, Fox Harrington wasn’t a pussy. The dude was a born leader, and even with Kincaid’s unnatural ability to set her emotions aside for the greater good, I couldn’t see Fox letting Kincaid run all over him. They were like two lightning bolts ready to destroy everything around them should they strike at the same time. I’ve told Kincaid plenty of times to watch herself, but the girl just never listens.
Before I could just full-on take a nap and call this class a bust, a notification buzzed in my pocket. Pulling my phone out, I wasn’t surprised.
Alexander: Tomorrow @ midnight
There was no place, per usual. Normally, we got that text an hour before our meeting time. Alexander George took his cloak and dagger role way too seriously. Letting out a smirk, my phone buzzed in my hand again.
Alexander: Make sure 2 bring ur lovely brides
I let out a deep sigh. It was no secret that Alexander didn’t like Rylee, but I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be too thrilled with Sutton, either. Nothing divided loyalties like a woman. A real man chose his woman above everything else, and Stone Lexington and Ross Carmichael were as alpha as they came.
However, I supposed we all were.
