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CHAPTERONE
TRAVIS
This is going to be a goddamn disaster.
I realized just how fucked up this was all going to turn out the morning she walked into my kitchen.
Dad had already told me what he expected me to do.
Befriend my new sister. Push her to Cole. Set them up. Have her be none the wiser.
Cole knew his job too.
It’s why staying away from her was such a pain in my ass after we realized just how much we’d fucked up.
My dad's perpetual disappointment in me was just fueled further when they hadn’t become a happy couple all of their own so-called volition after she’d been here a month. Obviously, that was my fault, but I couldn’t tell him the truth.
I fucked her, and I didn’t want to give her up. That night she walked into the party, I spotted her instantly. She was awkward, yet confident. Out of place, yet she could fit in anywhere. She was like the sun and the rest of us just shards of the moon, glowing in her light. I knew I had to have her, so I did.
I just never imagined she’d turn out to be who she was.
"Big night tonight, boys," Theo Beckett says with a huge grin as he slaps Cole's shoulder. Because, of course, tonight isn’t just about Thanksgiving. Nothing in our lives has ever been remotely normal, and it’s not about to start now. "Are you ready to jump further into the political spotlight?"
"Of course," Cole responds tightly, and I grip my glass tighter.
"Glad to hear it. We don’t want anything going off plan for the next few months leading up to Chase’s announcement. You both being on board will make things much easier for the girl." Theo’s voice is low, but polished in that way politicians have.
"Her name is Briar," I counter, and he laughs in response.
"I don’t care what her name is, boy. As long as she’s a good little pawn and plays the game." He glances over at Sofie, Briar’s mom, and takes a sip from his glass. "Pawns are easily replaced."
Without another calculated word, he strolls away, having laid down his veiled threats intended to keep me in line.
Like we really have a choice in any of this at all. My life has always been dictated to me, and Cole was the same. I don’t know if that's why we were drawn together the way we were all those years ago, like we knew this would be our lives, but I honestly don’t know where I’d be without him. The twins get off easier, usually, and I’ve been jealous of their ability to make decisions for themselves more times than I care to count.
But not tonight.
Tonight, everyone is getting well and truly fucking boned.
I glance over at the two of them—they’ve been arguing with their parents since before they arrived—and when Jessica and Susie walk in, everything falls into place.
More so when the blonde leeches beeline straight for them, their plastic smiles wide.
"I guess we’re not the only ones being set up," Cole murmurs, shaking his head. He turns to face me, and it’s impossible to miss the tension in his shoulders. "She’s going to fucking hate us for keeping this from her."
“We didn’t have a choice. It’s not like telling her would’ve made a difference,” I snap back at him, fully aware of the fiery reaction tonight's announcement is likely to unleash in the wildfire brunette.
"I don’t know…" he trails off and moments later, Tobias interrupts the room to announce dinner. "Where is she?"
I glance around, noticing that the rest of the women have joined us—my father's archaic ways don’t escape my notice, and there is very little I can do to change Chase Kensington—but Briar is missing.
I scrub a hand down my face, rolling my shoulders as I prepare to find her, and go to war to get her in here, when my dad’s voice booms across the room. "Let’s sit, shall we?"
The words are a command disguised as a question, and I watch in pain as Asher and Sawyer are forced to sit next to Barbie one and two, while Cole and I are seated with a space between us.
For Briar.
This is going to be a shit show of epic proportions and, of course, I’m driving tonight, so I can’t even fucking drink.
