“All in a day’s work, huh?”
Him.
Ruffian was leaning against the doorframe.
“So they say.” I spun my chair around to face him, self-conscious all of a sudden of my black leggings and crop top. My hair was piled on top of my head. Thinking clothes.
“So what do you have going on in here?” He took a few steps inside. “CEO of a multimillion dollar company?”
He was genuinely curious. I was possessive of the Me Parties. And now, I felt like maybe they weren’t enough. There was clearly more I could do. I bit my bottom lip. I mean, I even had to narrow down the families that could use them because of time.
“Whoa. Did I hit a nerve or something?” Ruffian held out his hands like he was scared he’d broken me somehow.
I switched the conversation. “How are Lucas and Grandma/Mom doing?”
“Good. You worked a miracle for them. If they can stay there, it would be great.” He pointed to my bed and I nodded. He sat on the edge and ran his big hand over my comforter.
“Why wouldn’t they be able to stay there? I can call Ms. Keller again if there’s a problem.” I picked up my phone.
“Slow down there, tiger. They’re good. It’s just sometimes situations change. Or people get impulses to leave. Hopefully, it all goes well.” He looked relaxed on my bed.
“What did you do this morning?” Now that I thought about it, I realized that I had been at the Me Party/cheer stuff for hours.
“I spoke to Ms. Josephine about getting into school. She’s a very nice lady.”
“So you are going to come to school with me then?” I stood up and he did as well.
“Seems like. I just have to take a placement test. Ronna said she would arrange it for me. Then I went for a walk around the neighborhood. It’s nice. Really nice.” He stepped toward the door.
“You want to see nice? Then let me get dressed and you can come with me to the Smiths’ house.” I held the doorknob as he stepped into the hall.
“Sure thing. I’d love to.” He gave me a wide smile. The one that went all the way to his eyes.
I closed the door and tried to pick out an outfit that I thought would look nice. For the Smiths. Not for Ruffian.
RUFFIAN
THIS NEIGHBORHOOD WAS great. But the one three blocks down was insane. Super insane. The driveways were so long I couldn’t see the house from the street. I took to the woods between some of the properties. They weren’t my woods, but I could navigate them anyway. The various parks and nature space to the side of on-ramps taught me everything. I loved how little litter there was here. I climbed a tree easily and peered over a security gate. The view from that tree gave me a whole new plan. A more reasonable plan. Something I was already good at. I could pick almost any lock. Some were combo locks, some were secured with a bolt, but I had tons of ways to get to what I needed. These houses that I could see were sprawling. Huge. Maybe I didn’t need to hit a bank to make enough money to set my people up.
And now, walking next to Teddi, we were headed for that same neighborhood. Another sign. Right direction from Mom.
When Teddi hit the intercom and smiled widely into a camera, I was guessing this was the most expensive house in the place.
“Hey, Teddi! I’m on the way down with the golf cart. Head up and I’ll intercept you.” A female disembodied voice seemed excited to see her.
“I have a friend with me, too.”
“I can see that.” And then I was pretty sure the girl purred into the intercom.
The gates swung open. As we started up the driveway, I realized my feet were getting warmer than they should. I pointed to the asphalt. “Is this thing heated?”
Teddi made her eyes wide. “Uh yeah. Usually people would use this for snow, but sometimes Mrs. Smith likes to walk barefoot out here.”
“That’s a real specific problem and this seems like a wasteful solution.” As I narrowed my eyes, I could see there were little transparent waves letting us know the heat was definitely being wasted into the cold day.
Teddi’s cheeks had a bit of pink on them and her jeans and puffy jacket looked like perfection on her. I had to stop checking her out. The sound of a gas-powered golf cart echoed off the polished retaining wall that edged the driveway.
A girl dressed entirely in neon colors and spiky hair rode up to us and pressed on the brake at the last minute.
“Teddi!” she squealed and screamed.
“Look at you. Have you gained weight? It’s all in great places.” She embraced Teddi, who patted her with way more reserve than Neon was showing.
She turned to me. “Hi, I’m Meg Smith!”
If there was a contest for making a face that made people believe you were a cat about to eat a bird, she would win.
She had her hand out, so I had to shake it. “Ruffian.”
“Ruffian? That’s an unusual name.” She curled her shoulders toward her cleavage and pouted like she was waiting for an app filter to find her.
“Yeah. It means pimp or bully. My mom had a sense of humor.”
Meg covered her lips with pointy, fake nails. “A pimp? Who names a baby after a pimp?”
“I actually really love that name,” Teddi added.
I swung my attention to her.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and then mouthed, “You okay?”
I nodded briefly before addressing Meg again, “You know, sometimes a word defines you, and sometimes you define a word. I was taught to believe the latter.”
A vague look replaced Meg’s voguing. “So what’s up, Teddi? I mean, speaking of weird names and all.”
“Thanks for noticing, Meg. I’m actually here to see if your mom is in. We’re starting meetings for the December Me Parties.” Teddi took a step closer to me.
“Hop in!” She jumped back to the driver’s seat and pulled at my arm. Teddi seemed resigned that Meg would get her way and sat on the back bench. I crumpled myself enough to fit in the passenger side.
“So Ruffian, do you have a girlfriend?” Meg was paying horrible attention to keeping the vehicle on the driveway.
I flinched a few times as we headed into deep shrubs. I could look out over their lawn and it was full of trees and gorgeous landscaping. Just acres of it. My community was hoping to stay in a parking lot. We could do so much with this space. I was going to have to tuck my judgmental tendencies when it came to wealth on the back burner. This was a golden opportunity, pun intended.
“Right now? Nope. I left everything in the city. You know, Meg?” I almost grabbed the wheel as we approached a huge roundabout. There were gardeners working in various spots around the front landscaping.
Meg rolled right over a set of foliage that a man had just planted. He rocked back on his heels as to avoid his fingers being crushed by the golf cart’s tires.
She left the cart right in the middle of the driveway. Any car that would have to navigate the circle would be hindered by where she left the cart. She hopped out and waved for Teddi and me to join her up the grand marble staircase.
I could be wrong, but this had to be one of the most expensive houses in the area. Maybe it was even considered a mansion? I didn’t know.
When Meg got to the door, it was swung open by a man in a black suit. “Miss.” He gave her a tiny bow.
She ignored him and walked through the foyer. I hesitated in front of the man before it was clear that I wasn’t getting introduced.
Teddi caught up to my side and waved at the man. He gave a sneaky smile before going stone-faced again.
When we were a small distance away, I leaned down to Teddi. “Who was that?”
She held on to my elbow as she went to her tiptoes to fill me in, “That’s Jano, their butler. He answers the doors and gets the mail and stuff.”
“He’s a human doorbell?” I glanced over my shoulder and Jano was still staring at the wall.
“Sort of. The Smiths are very, very well off.” Teddi let go of my elbow and hurried our pace behin
d Meg. She went to the hall and jammed a button on the wall. And yup, we were waiting for an elevator in a home.
The elevator made a small ding and the doors slid open. I caught the door so Teddi and I could get in, too.
“Mom’s in the second-floor closet, I think. She’s planning her outfits for the next social event. You know the way, right, Teddi?” Meg stepped near me and her perfume overwhelmed the space, seemingly replacing the oxygen.
“I think so. It’s past the library, right?” Teddi pointed in a few directions and settled on one just as the doors slid open.
“You got it. I’ll take Ruffian on the tour while you and Mom talk business. You know it bores me.” Meg pulled on my hand and I watched as Teddi tentatively walked in what I’m sure she was hoping was the right direction. I was getting the full business from Meg, who currently had her breast resting on my forearm.
“Where’s your family from?” Meg pulled a phone out of her pocket and scrolled on it. Before I knew what was happening, she’d gotten a selfie of us together. Before I could answer her first question, she was on to another, “What’s your Insta? I’ll tag you.”
And just like that, our picture was front and center on her profile.
“This place is huge.” It seemed like a good way to get the conversation headed in a different direction. The paintings on the walls were giant and framed with thick wood.
“Yeah, can you believe that my father’s in the middle of buying an entire building in New York? And instead of dividing it into apartments, he’s going to renovate it for us to use in the spring and summer. I might go to NYU, so I would stay there and stuff. Mom says we have more square feet across the world than a Royal.” She waved a hand at a collection of paintings. “I mean, just one of those paintings could buy a wing in a hospital, right?”
I scrutinized the paintings she indicated. They were small and looked old. Paintings. Those would be hard to resell. But clearly easy to steal. We’d waltzed in here and there were no guards or anything that I could see to protect them.
We made two rights and then Meg opened a huge set of double doors.
It wasn’t a room as much as a wing in the place. There was a working kitchen, I could count two bathrooms from where I stood, and the wall of windows overlooked an outdoor area that was combined with water, man-made streams, and fire elements.
“How’d you meet Teddi?”
This house was for sure a mansion.
“We were in cheer together for a while. My private school didn’t have a cheer team and I was interested. I still go to some of the competitions and stuff, but mostly I’m too busy for all that. We both are. Teddi and I left right about the same time.” She spun on her heels and hit me with a full smile.
She was cute. I’d give her that. Thick black hair and dancing green eyes. It was horrible to walk through this expanse of a house and think a handful of people lived here. A housekeeper scurried out of Meg’s “wing” and was not acknowledged.
“How’d you meet Teddi?” Meg sat on the edge of a sofa that looked like an art piece.
I didn’t want to open myself up to this inquiry at all. Instead, I gestured to the wall of pictures. “You take these?”
It was a soft lob of a question. Quite a few seemed like selfies. “Oh, no. That’s from my social media profile. My pictures are run through an editing crew.” She batted her eyes.
“You know Austin?” I knew enough about social media to get by, and maybe they followed each other.
I let her run on with an answer while I scrutinized her images. Jewelry. Lots and lots of jewelry. Maybe this chick was my bank robbery after all.
“Austin? Uh. No. I don’t follow him. His images are just a little…” she trailed off and I heard her as she came closer to me from the couch.
“That was taken in Turks and Cacos.” She had her left boob on my arm again. “That beach belongs to my family.”
“You own a beach?” I turned to study her.
She shrugged like it was no big deal. “Beaches. Daddy’s working on an island for my graduation present, you know? Is that considered one giant beach?” She laughed like she had told a joke.
Teddi walked into the room. “That’s a great gift, Meg.”
I watched as the sound of Teddi’s voice put a hard edge in Meg’s eyes. “Maybe keep bringing me hot guys and you’ll get an invite to the island warming party.” Then she put her hand on my stomach.
Teddi folded a check carefully and tucked it into her pocket. “Thanks for thinking of me.”
I was getting the distinct impression that Teddi didn’t like Meg at all. And yet, she knew her way around enough to find the mom’s closet and Meg’s wing.
“Of course. What are you guys doing today? Wanna go to the pool house?” Meg was asking us both but looking at me.
“I can’t, I have to do some stuff to get the Me Party going. But I don’t speak for Ruffian.” Teddi rocked on her heels.
“I actually have a phone call I have to make back at the Burathons’ house. But thanks. How about another time?” I made sure to hold eye contact with Meg a few beats too long. If this girl was a means to an end, she was about to get a lot of attention from me in the future.
“Sure. Text me. Teddi has my number.” Meg was disappointed, but she hid it. Maybe she was lonely in this huge place.
Teddi thanked Meg and she and I navigated our way to the elevator.
I leaned down. “We could take the stairs?”
“No, we can’t.” She held the door open until we were both inside. “I know my way around—but just a little. If we don’t take this elevator, then we could be lost for weeks.”
The inside of the elevator was like the interior of a mirror. Teddi and I were everywhere. I looked up and she did, too. She stuck her tongue out at my reflection and I returned it. When the door opened, we were laughing. We passed more staff as we got to the front door. This place was huge. So big. It reminded me of the museum Mom took me to growing up. The doorbell/butler opened the door when we got there. “Feel free to use the golf cart. I know that Miss Meg used it to traverse the driveway, Just leave it at the gate.”
Teddi thanked him and I man nodded at him. I had a feeling the butler saw everything. Possibly even through me.
When we got to the cart, Teddi pointed to the driver’s seat. “You wanna?”
I actually did wanna, so I slid behind the wheel as she got into the passenger seat. I’d never driven a golf cart as a getaway vehicle before, for obvious reasons. But the mechanics were similar enough that I was able to get us going at a good clip.
Teddi frowned at her phone and then sighed.
“What’s up, Theodosia Rebecca?” I tapped the steering wheel.
“I’ll tell you in a few minutes.” She looked around the cart.
After I parked the cart near the intercom, the gate swung open to release us from the compound. Teddi fielded a few more text messages in silence as we walked away from the mansion.
“Sorry, I never know if they have cameras or anything in there.” Teddi gestured with her thumb over her shoulder.
That was a good point. I figured that was the case, but it was another thing to think about. The art. The jewels that I had a rhunch were as real as all the marble that the house was encased in.
“You and Meg good friends?” There didn’t seem to be a huge attachment between them.
“We used to be when we were young. Then she got to a point where it was less about hanging out and more about comparing bank accounts.” She looked at her phone again. “And clearly you made a big impression on her. She wants us to come back soon.”
“To do what?” I tried to look at the text messages, but she was too quick to clear her screen.
“Probably you.” Her jaw tensed. Oh, Teddi didn’t like Meg at all.
“So why were we there?” I mean, clearly she wanted money for her parties, whatever that entailed.
“Sometimes getting stuff for people who need it means I have to deal wit
h jerks. The Smiths like the tax write-off and I go there and get the check, so it’s pretty easy. I even send a receipt to their money manager. So they are generous with me.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the check that she had tucked in there. Four thousand dollars made out to Me Parties, LLC.
“You have your own business for parties?” Man, she wasn’t as rich as Meg, but she had her own issues.
“Sort of. It’s my mom’s LLC. She will transfer it to me when I’m eighteen.” Teddi’s shoulders seemed to relax the farther we got from the Smith place.
“You take parties seriously. Is this how everyone is around here?” I motioned with my index finger in a large circle.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She tucked the check back into her pocket.
“Like money grows on trees and all that?” I was starting to see each gate we walked past as a possibility.
She was quiet for a while. “This must seem like such crap to you. This place. Us.”
She wasn’t angry. I stopped in my tracks. She turned and faced me.
“I didn’t say that.” She was studying me.
“You didn’t have to. I mean, I met Lucas and Grandma/Mom. Things are different here. I’m sorry.” She looked pensive.
“Hey, I don’t need you playing me a tiny violin or anything. You have to live your life. And this is where you do that.”
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