“What’s wrong?” she whispered, her unfocused eyes darting around my face blindly.
She looked so damned vulnerable, and I felt an odd pang in my chest as I stared down at her.
“You’re beautiful,” I said again, and just like the first time I told her that, Lena glanced away.
“You don’t have to say that,” she said quietly, and it was clear that she didn’t want to talk about it.
I reluctantly dropped the subject, focusing my attention instead on polishing her glasses with the hem of my t-shirt until it was spotless before I handed them to her.
Lena snatched it up and put it back on her face like it was a piece of armor. Then she pulled all her long hair over her shoulder and started twisting it into a tight coil, as if she could make it all disappear if she twisted hard enough.
I took pity on her. “You think the coast is clear?”
Lena nodded, grateful for the change in topic. “We should go before they come back,” she said, fixing her hair into a bun again.
Neither of us said another word as we made our way back to my car. Lena looked out the window the entire drive back, and only when I pulled over at her apartment did she turn to me.
“Thanks for your help.” She chewed her bottom lip. “I’ll get started on my research and let you know if I find anything interesting.”
“Sounds good, but before you go.”
Lena paused in the middle of getting out. “Yes?”
“You had research on Jacob Kline ready for download in your database.” I watched Lena closely for her reaction. I knew she had hoped I wouldn’t notice. “Any reason for that?”
Lena met my gaze steadily.
“I have files on anyone of note,” she said. “I may have hated my job, but I was good at it.”
I didn’t know if I believed her, but even if Lena was lying, she wouldn’t be the only one keeping secrets.
“Cool,” I said simply. “There’s one more thing, Helena. Some shit about me is gonna hit the news next week, so don't be surprised when you see it.”
Lena ducked her head back into the car. “What is it?”
“You'll find out on Monday. Just thought I’d give you a heads up.”
“Okay.” Lena paused instead of shutting the car door, and drew a deep breath as if she was psyching herself up.
“You can call me Lena, by the way,” she said in a rush. “If you want to. All my friends do. All two of them, at least,” she added lamely.
“Friends.” I kept my expression cool and unreadable. “Is that what you think we are?”
“I thought… what happened between us earlier—” Lena froze in her awkwardly bent position with one hand poised on the top of my car door and the other in midair. Her cheeks were going pink again.
”Forget I said anything,” she finally mumbled.
God, I loved flustering her.
“Goodnight, Gabriel. And…thank you.” She shut the car door carefully and turned to leave.
I couldn’t hold back my grin as I rolled down the window. I waited until she was safely at her apartment door before cupping my hands around my mouth and hollering loud enough for the whole neighbourhood to hear:
“LENA HASTINGS!”
Lena spun around with wide eyes, and I grinned.
“That wasn’t my leg,” I called.
Her mouth parted in shock, but before she could react I took off down the street with the roar of my engine and the smell of burnt rubber in my wake.
“…and so I told them it was bullshit! They can’t just change the theme three weeks before the show!”
“That’s not very fair,” I agreed absently as I stared into my glass of juice.
Karin chugged her red wine with the indignation of someone who had been wronged. It was only nine in the morning and she was already on her second glass.
“Right?” she demanded, stabbing at her canvas with the paintbrush in her other hand. “How am I gonna come up with a whole new piece in three weeks? It’s literally impossible! I’m not some kind of painting machine!”
“No you’re not.”
“You know what I think? I think they wanted me to pull out from the show.” Karin shoved a lock of red hair off her forehead and left a streak of white paint in its place. “Well, they better not hold their breath, ‘cause I’m gonna be there next week.”
I nodded, only half-hearing her rant.
Physically, I was with Karin in Theo’s massive five-bedroom mansion in Brooklyn, curled up on the floor of her art studio watching her paint.
But in my mind, I was with Gabriel.
My brain kept replaying Saturday night over and over in an endless loop. Even two days later I could still hear his low voice as if his lips were right by my ear again, whispering all the things I never knew I needed to hear.
You’re safe.
I got you.
Not gonna let anything happen to you.
To a girl with anxiety, that was practically dirty talk. Gabriel’s low murmurs had made my body go hot in ways I never even knew existed.
And there was that second when I was kneeling between his legs and his hand was playing idly on my back. My sweater had creased upwards, and his fingers had brushed the bare skin of my waist. The need that shot through my body had shocked me with how intense it was. I’d barely stopped myself from arching my back for more.
I’d wanted Gabriel to touch me everywhere. I wanted him to touch me there.
God, I was hopeless. I’d had to bite my lip to keep myself in check. I would never live it down if Gabriel realized what was going through my head; worse still if he laughed it off.
I shook my head sharply. The last thing I should be doing was getting involved with him.
Besides, even if we both wanted it, it would never work out. Gabriel and I were polar opposites in literally every aspect I could think of. Personalities, interests, social circles… sexual experience. Gabriel was never without a beautiful supermodel or celebrity on his arm, and I’d never even dated before.
It would only end with my heart getting crushed like a cardboard box in a trash compactor.
Karin tapped me on the nose with the end of her paintbrush. “Boop!”
I jerked upright with an apologetic grimace. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to zone out.”
“What are you thinking about? Your face is all pink.”
“N-nothing!” I pressed the back of my hands to my flaming cheeks. “Just thinking about work. Or my lack of it.”
“Right. About that.” Karin sobered, glancing away guiltily.
“I wanted to talk to you,” she admitted. “I’ve kinda been avoiding it over the weekend because I didn’t know how to say this.”
“Hm? Say what?”
Karin was silent, and then all of a sudden her lovely face crumpled.
“I’m sorry!” she burst dramatically. “It’s our fault you lost your job! If Allie and I hadn’t asked you to…” Her paintbrush clattered to the floor as she sank down and clasped both my hands in hers. “I’m the worst friend. I was thoughtless and selfish and now I got you fired!”
I was alarmed by how quickly Karin’s grey eyes were filling with tears.
“Tell me how to fix this. I’ll tell your bitch of a boss that we forced you to—Oh! We can get Theo to take her to court for unjustified layoffing—or whatever the legal term is—”
“It’s okay,” I insisted, more firmly this time. “I didn’t want to stay anyway, you know how much I hated the job.”
“Are you sure?” Karin swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “But what about that project you were working on?”
“It’s still happening, don’t worry,” I assured her. “I’m looking for a new place anyway, and Gabriel offered to help me too. I’ll be okay.”
“Gabriel?” Karin sat upright, her teary eyes going comically round. “Gabriel Easton? Our Gabriel? But it’s only Monday. When did you guys talk?”
“Uh…”
I was saved from h
aving to reply when Karin’s phone chimed.
“Hang on, it’s probably Allie. She was so upset when she found out about your job, she wanted to cancel her honeymoon to come talk to you.” Karin gave me an apologetic grimace.
“I made her go though,” she said remorsefully. “Her school term’s starting soon and she’s been dreaming about going college since forever. She won’t have the time to travel after this, so…”
“It’s okay, honest,” I assured her, thankful that she had stopped crying for now at least.
Karin’s smile faded at whatever she saw on her phone.
“Oh my god.” Her hand came up to her mouth.
The shock on her face instantly worried me. “What is it?” I asked apprehensively.
“It’s Gabriel.” Karin sounded dazed as she turned her screen to me. “He’s been cut off.”
“Cut off? What do you mean?” My heart hammered in my chest as I read the bold black copy on Karin’s phone screen.
Gabriel Easton disowned from Easton Empire.
I stared blankly at the words, and at the same time I heard Gabriel’s voice at the back of my mind: “Some shit about me is gonna hit the news next week, so don't be surprised when you see it.”
Was this what he had meant?
I took out my phone and did a quick Google search of his name. Articles of him were already starting to trend online, but unlike the usual tabloid headlines, this time the news came directly from an official press release from Easton Entertainment.
“Did you know about this?” I asked faintly.
“No!” Karin typed furiously on her phone, a frown creasing her forehead. “And neither does Allie because she would’ve told me. And if Allie doesn’t it means Ryland doesn’t, because Ryland tells her everything—”
I didn’t catch her next words as I read the rest of the article.
“...Easton Group founder and head of the Easton clan Jemima James is reportedly so embarrassed by the recent negative press of her eldest grandson…”
“...his entire share of $175 million is to be donated to charity, and all property and assets have been reclaimed under the Easton estate.”
“...Easton Group’s share prices have plummeted eight points since the announcement…”
“...presently unclear who will take the reins after Jemima James’ leadership, and a board meeting is underway to determine the future of Easton Group.”
My stomach felt sick as the implication of this dawned on me.
I had started the bad press about Gabriel. This had happened because of me.
Oh my god, no wonder he hated me. It was a miracle he hadn’t thrown me out of the wedding rehearsal from the start.
“Holy guac, this is nuclear.” Karin’s brows were furrowed as she kept typing on her phone. “The Internet’s freaking out right now. Gabriel’s whole reason for living is his public image. What is Jemima thinking?”
“Is he okay?” I asked in an odd voice. “Are you texting him right now?”
“Not yet.” Karin shot me a worried look. “You okay? You look kinda pale.”
“I’m just surprised, that’s all.” I shifted under her scrutiny, then forced myself to take a drink from my glass to feign nonchalance.
“Yeah, this is crazy even by my standards.” Karin frowned, turning back to her phone again. Her paintbrush was still clutched in her fingers, leaving tracks of white on whatever it touched.
“He didn’t say a word to any of us. Unless…” Her brows cleared. “Oh, Cam probably knows. That’s why Gabriel’s been staying at his hotel the past week.”
Karin tossed her phone on the sofa and stuffed her paintbrush in a mason jar of thinner.
“I’m gonna kill him,” she muttered as she swished the brush around. Then her expression turned worried. “Crap, I hope he’s okay.”
The bright colors from her brush swirled into a grey mass in the jar, just like how I was feeling.
“I shouldn’t be surprised he didn’t tell us though,” Karin said, looking preoccupied and contemplative. “He never tells anyone anything, not even since I knew him back in high school. At least, I knew who he was, since he didn’t bother hanging out with me and Allie. We weren’t popular enough,” Karin explained, her nose wrinkling in offense. “But honestly, I never know what’s going on in his head.”
“But he’s so…” I struggled to find the words. “Open.”
“Yeah, Gabriel always says what’s on his mind.” Karin chewed her lip. “But I guess he doesn’t say everything that’s on his mind. Come to think of it, he’s the only one of the boys I can’t read.” Karin scratched her head with the end of the paintbrush she was drying off on a rag, making bright red strands of hair stick out from her low ponytail. “You get what I mean?”
“Not really,” I hedged.
“With Ryland, you know he’s trying to figure out the best way to make an alliance to his advantage. How did he win Allie over? By paying off my student loans.”
I hadn’t known that. “That’s very generous.”
“That’s very calculating.” Karin got to work drying another brush, her brows furrowed in thought. “And Cam’s even more straightforward. He’s actually more ambitious than Ryland, and if you’re a business rival, it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, ‘cause he’s thinking of ways to screw you over. Cam’s a good guy when it counts, but when it doesn’t, he’s like a hellhound on steroids.”
I bit my lip. “That’s harsh.”
“But true,” Karin murmured, but her face had already taken on a soft, faraway expression. “And Theo… You know he’s dissecting you to shreds in his mind and thinking of a thousand different ways to blackmail you and ruin your life.”
Karin looked like she thought it was downright romantic.
“And Gabriel?” I couldn’t help asking. “What’s he truly like, then?”
All I knew about him were facts and anecdotes of his life, but I was starting to realize that I’d only pieced together a small portion of who Gabriel Easton was. And against my better judgment, I found myself wanting to know the rest of the puzzle.
“I’m asking myself the same question right now.” Karin fell silent for a moment.
Then without warning she suddenly sprang to her feet, snatched a rag off the floor and liberally doused it with paint thinner.
“Karin?” I was alarmed. “You’re dripping flammable liquid all over—”
Before I could protest further, she started industriously scrubbing her freshly-painted canvas with the rag, stripping the layers of paint away. It was the new piece she had been working on for her art show next week; a larger-than-life, beautiful scene of Paris in the summer, with warm, golden-hued sunshine rays.
I stared in horror as my friend destroyed two weeks of hard work in seconds.
“Karin, stop! You’re ruining it!”
But Karin didn’t pause until she had wiped away most of the golden paint.
But instead of white canvas underneath, the gold revealed an expanse of dark behind it. My eyes widened when I realized that Karin had painted another artwork on the canvas before this.
It was a sea storm at night. The sky and the waters were such a dark purple that they were nearly black. Karin had added thin streaks of white in the endless sky for flashes of lightning. Their light reflected off the churning waves below, but instead of revealing its secrets, it only made the water look more vast and bottomless.
And in the midst of the waves, there was a single ship, so tiny that I almost missed it. It was valiantly trying to sail its way through the squall, looking so lost and alone that my heart gave a strange pang when I saw it.
“I didn’t want to waste my canvas, so I painted over it.” Karin shrugged. “I don’t really care for that Paris scene anyway.”
“It was beautiful,” I protested quietly.
But so was this painting that she’d done first.
Karin’s gaze was thoughtful as she took in the canvas. “That’s Gabriel Easton—
both the golden painting, and this one too. He’s perfect on the outside, but underneath that…” Karin cocked her head in consideration. “I think he’s possibly the loneliest person I know.”
The churning sea storm seemed more alive the longer I looked at it, made more vibrant by the leftover streaks of gold creeping in at the edges.
“But he has so many friends,” I said softly.
“Yeah, Gabe’s always been popular. Homecoming king, star quarterback, Honors student, and now he’s an A-lister who’s worshipped by the world. On top of that, he’s actually genuinely nice.” Karin exhaled, staring at the painting.
“But you’ll only ever see what he allows you to see,” she continued quietly. “He’s been in the public eye his whole life, so maybe that’s why he manages it so well. He first appeared in the tabloids when he was two, after all.”
I felt the guilt all the way to my stomach. That was something that I knew all too well. I had done my research on Gabriel for my articles on him, and it seemed like scandal followed him even before he was born. His mother had been caught in an affair with an unnamed married man, and the whole thing was so ugly that Jemima James had to step in to quash it.
The tabloids had dragged the entire family through it, including Gabriel who had only been a child then.
“Gabriel says he’s used to it, but I don’t know. I can’t help but wonder… What kind of person would you be if you were thrust into the media spotlight as a child?”
My stomach turned at the reminder that I was part of that industry that preyed on people like Gabriel.
“You can be surrounded yet alone,” I said in a quiet echo of Gabriel’s words to me. I suddenly felt as small as the ship in Karin’s painting.
“I guess everyone has their way of dealing with ugliness in their lives,” Karin finally said, putting away her brushes and picking up her damp rag. “For Gabriel it’s his smiles, his charm, and his perfect life. He surrounds himself with people who adore him.” She dabbed her rag at the gold paint that remained, gentler this time. “Gabriel Easton’s entire persona is his armor.”
Charming (New York Heirs #3) Page 9