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“Really?” He pushed my legs off of his lap so that they slid to the floor and pulled me closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “You’ll really go with me to talk to her?”
Swallowing hard, I nodded. I was afraid, sure, but of what? With Brett at my side I really didn’t think that anything bad could happen to me. He would do everything in his power to keep me safe.
“Of course, I’ll go. I love you, Brett, and I trust you. If you think that this is the best way to stop the harpies and ensure that I can stay at Taylor Prep without any of the drama, then we’ll do it. But I want you to promise me one thing.”
He didn’t even have to think about his response, which is one of the things that I loved about him. Brett Cox was passionate and broody, but when he was committed, he was completely there. “You name it, Rose, and I’ll do it. I’ll do anything for you.” He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed the tips of my fingers, sending shivers down my spine.
If I had any doubt before about what I wanted, they were gone now.
“I want you to promise me that you and I will have some time alone. Without your mother in the house. Just you and me, finally getting to be together. Can you make that happen?”
Chapter 13
Brett was reaching for the handle on the front door when it swung open. I braced myself, preparing to be face-to-face with his mom for the first time in years, but it was a butler, not her, who opened the door. He was wearing a full suit and looked tired.
“Can I help you?” He addressed the question to Brett, barely looking at me. That was okay with me, since it gave me plenty of time to look past him into the house. Even though I couldn’t see very far, I could easily tell that it was huge. There was marble flooring and I could see a huge chandelier hanging behind the butler.
“I’m Brett. Didn’t my mom tell you that I was coming home for the weekend?” Brett shifted uncomfortably next to me, and I got the feeling that he and his mom weren’t as close as they had been when we were younger.
“She did, but she didn’t tell me that you would be bringing a…friend.” He paused while he spoke, looking at me, one eyebrow raised. I felt a flash of anger shoot through me, but I held my tongue when Brett reached out and took my hand.
“This is Rose. My mom knows her. Our bags are in the car, so excuse us.” He pulled me with him and brushed past the butler, who opened his mouth to say something, but wasn’t given the chance. “Come on, Rose, let’s find my mom and then get something to eat. I’m starving, and I know that she has snacks here somewhere.”
“Do Taylor Prep kids just live for snacks? I swear, it’s like we’re all obsessed and it’s all we think about.” I wanted to say more but the sound died on my lips as we walked through the foyer. At the end was a huge double curved staircase leading up to the second floor, and large paintings with spotlights hung on the wall.
It was insane. I’d been in big houses before, but this was on an entirely different level from anything that I’d ever seen. I felt tiny and scooted closer to Brett. It was like we were in a museum, and it blew my mind that people actually lived like this.
Brett pulled me to the left through double doors and into the living room. It had vaulted ceilings and a grand piano tucked in the corner. With its high ceilings and large windows, I knew that the room would have great acoustics, but I also had the feeling that his mom would rather die than let me sing in there.
Maybe if things went well, though, I would get a chance.
“She’s not in here, so she must be in the gardens. Can you believe my mom likes being outside now? I swear, she never so much as set foot out the door when we lived at the old house. Come on, I bet she’s in the roses.”
“I like roses.” Truth be told, I was grasping for any way that I could connect with his mom. She had liked me before, and if we could get past the nonsense with the council and the murder then maybe she could like me again.
Yeah, right.
He scoffed as we walked through the rest of the house to huge glass doors that opened onto the patio. “These aren’t really roses, honey. They’re…her babies. I can’t even tell you how much she’s spent on them. They even have their own gardener in addition to the regular gardener.” We stepped through the doors and he pointed. “See her out there?”
It was strange to see her again, and if Brett hadn’t pointed her out as his mother, I wasn’t sure that I would have recognized her. She’d gone gray when we were young but she was dyeing it now. Deep chestnut curls fell around her shoulders and she’d probably lost twenty pounds, even though she never really had the weight to lose in the first place.
“She looks younger.” It was true, but she also looked sicker. Meaner, somehow. Meaner than the woman who got rid of her dead husband? Seemed a bit far-fetched, but everything was strange to me now.
“She’s had some work done.” Brett’s fingers tightened around my hands. “Come on, we should go say hi so that we can get this over with, right?”
We should, but my feet still felt attached to the patio. Brett tugged on my hand and I walked with him, focusing hard on lifting up my feet for each step. As we got closer to his mother I noticed that she didn’t look quite as young as I had thought.
Her skin looked smooth and flawless, but she looked simply exhausted. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that she was really sick, but Brett hadn’t mentioned anything. The thought that he didn’t know flitted through my mind, but I pushed it away. That simply didn’t make any sense for him to not know if something was wrong with his mom.
“Hey, mom.” Brett called out to her when we were just a few yards away and she finally turned to look at us. There wasn’t any way that she hadn’t heard us coming across the garden, and I got the distinct feeling that she had been avoiding making eye contact with us. Or, at least, with me.
“My son.” She dropped her hand to the side, still holding onto her clippers, then turned her face to me. “And who is this?”
Swallowing hard, I stepped forward. “Rose Bennett. Remember me, Mrs. Cox? I lived next door to you when we were younger and—”
“I know who you are.” She cut me off. “What I don’t know is why you’re here with my son. Is this some kind of a joke, Brett? Do you know what being seen with her could do your reputation? Having her here simply isn’t a good idea.” Glancing around like she honestly expected someone to be hiding in the bushes taking pictures for blackmail, she stepped closer to the two of us.
When she scowled at me I moved to drop Brett’s hand, but he hung onto mine more firmly, his fingers tightly squeezing me. I suddenly felt like I was drowning. I had to hang onto him or I was sure to fall apart and be swept away.
