We’d passed the intimidating iron gates and were making our way up the tree-lined gravel drive when my curious mind popped up again. Maybe the Reds knew more about why Kid, Alec, and Tyler all lived together. “So, how many people actually live here?”
“Including the army of servants?”
I had a feeling Zara’s sarcasm was going to be in overdrive tonight. Beth just laughed lightly. Nothing was going to ruin her good mood.
“I’m just curious about . . .” I wasn’t sure how to finish that without sounding really nosy.
“About why Kid doesn’t live with his parents?” Zara finished for me.
“Something like that,” I mumbled.
“It’s because they’re dead.”
I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at her.
“Zara!” Beth had pulled up too, her lacy skirt swinging around her knees. She fixed Zara with a stern look and looped her arm through mine in an explicit show of solidarity. I had told the Reds about never knowing my father and losing my mother. It had come up one night while we were sitting around in our pajamas, watching episodes of Cosmos—it had been my turn to pick the TV show.
Realization crossed Zara’s face, wiping the sarcastic mask away.
“It’s OK.” I gave them both a smile. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”
“I didn’t mean to be an insensitive douche.” Zara was defensive most of the time, so it was easy to see when she was being sincere.
“Guys, I’m fine. Really.” I extracted my arm from Beth’s death grip. “What happened to Kid’s parents?”
Beth gave me a weak smile and shrugged her delicate shoulders, but Zara tried to explain.
“I don’t know the full story. It happened before I started at Bradford, so I’ve only heard what other people have told me. Basically, when he was little, Kid’s parents were on some trip overseas, and they died in this massive accident. Alec’s, Tyler’s, and Josh’s parents were all there too.”
“Who’s Josh?”
“Oh, he lives here too. He’s Kid’s friend.”
Josh had to be the preppy blond guy I had seen Kid with.
“Anyway, this is Ethan and Alec’s uncle’s house. He took them in after . . . you know. He’s high up in Melior Group management, so he’s never around. Those guys basically raised themselves. I’m not sure why the other two ended up here as well. I guess traumatic shit tends to make people close.”
“Right.” I didn’t really know what to say to that. I was taking Zara’s account with a grain of salt—it had mostly been pieced together from gossip. I was curious about the truth, of course, but mostly I just felt sad for Kid. And Tyler, even though I didn’t know him that well. And Alec, even though he had been a jerk to me. And the Josh guy too, even though I hadn’t even met him.
I knew what it was like to lose a parent.
“OK. Enough depressing shit.” Beth waved her hands between us maniacally. “We have a party to get to.”
As if to illustrate her point, the low thud of music reverberated from the house, beckoning us to finish our trek up the obscenely long driveway.
As we continued our walk, I tried to put the new information out of my mind. A party was no place to be asking a guy I’d only met a few times about how his parents died.
The house had presence. As we rounded the curved driveway and it came into view past the oak trees, I slowed a little to take it in. It was huge but not obnoxiously hulking—classy—and screamed sophisticated opulence.
A few people were milling about the front, chatting on the stairs leading up to the front door.
“What do we do?” Beth asked, a tremble in her voice.
“What do you mean? It’s a party. We go inside, have a drink, make meaningless chitchat.” Why was she so confused?
“No, as in, should we be checking in with someone? What if you need an invitation to go in?”
“We have an invitation. Kid invited us.”
“No, like a proper physical one.”
“What?” I laughed a little.
Zara just stood there with an amused smirk on her face, not helping at all as I tried to talk sense into Beth.
“I’m going in. You two can stand around and”—I waved a hand in their general direction—“do whatever this is, or you can come with.”
I turned and walked toward the front door, exchanging polite smiles with the half-drunk people on the stairs. Behind me, two sets of heels crunched along the gravel. They caught up to me as I reached the door.
What we found inside was just like any other house party. Just bigger. Much, much bigger and more over-the-top.
The foyer was massive, immediately dragging your eye up to what felt like an abyss but was actually three floors of staircases with an extravagant chandelier at the top. We headed toward the music, which was coming from the back of the house.
After walking down a cavernous hallway, we emerged into a large open-planned area with floor-to-ceiling windows along the back wall. Giant speakers in the back corner of the room looked as if they belonged onstage at a rock concert, and a DJ with a professional setup was whipping the crowd into a frenzy. At least a hundred people were writhing and contorting in a drunken dance in front of the speakers, where I guess the living room furniture usually was.
In an enormous kitchen on the right, plastic cups and liquor bottles littered the surfaces of stone benchtops. On the left, a dining table, which looked as if it could seat twenty, hosted a group of guys playing an intense-looking card game; a bunch of drunk people were playing a much rowdier drinking game at the table’s other end.
In the five short minutes we’d been there, at least three people in various states of drunkenness had come up to Zara to say “hi.” She’d tolerated the first, ignored the second, and flat out told the third to “fuck off.” She seemed to know a lot of people here, and even Beth waved to a few friendly faces. I knew no one, so when I saw Dot marching in my direction, a big smile plastered on her face, I returned it enthusiastically.
She closed the distance between us and wrapped me up in a big hug. “You made it!” she half yelled before turning to Zara. “Hey, Zee!”
Zara’s face scrunched up, but before she had a chance to tell my new friend to fuck off, Dot turned to Beth.
“Hi, I’m Dot. You must be Beth. Love your skirt!”
Beth returned her greeting and gushed about Dot’s unique outfit: a bright pink skintight dress with rips in the fabric—strategically placed so they weren’t revealing anything outrageous—black fishnets, pink Mary Jane heels, and an actual candy necklace.
Dot and Beth chatted as our little group made its way through the crowd toward the back of the room. Half of the window wall was opened onto the outdoor area.
As we passed the threshold into the backyard, Charlie appeared, heading in the opposite direction. He was dressed simply in black jeans and a blue T-shirt, and he had a guy with brown hair pulled into a bun on his arm. When he spotted me, he made his way over with a big smile and dropped a kiss on my cheek.
“Hey Eve.” He spoke close to my ear. “I’ll catch up with you later. I’m a little busy right now.” He winked and gave me a cheeky grin.
I hadn’t seen Dot much in the few days since we first met, but Charlie and I had gotten into a few lengthy, nerdy conversations after our Variant studies lectures. We’d really clicked, and I soon realized Zara’s warning to stay away from him was moot—he wasn’t interested in me. He wasn’t interested in anyone with boobs.
I laughed and nudged him in the direction of his date. “Have fun. I’ll see you later.”
The two of them disappeared into the throng inside as I turned to join the girls.
People in various stages of undress were milling about the pool—the clear centerpiece of the sprawling backyard—drinking, dancing, and jumping into the water. A girl with a water ability was sitting in a lounger by the pool, waving her hands in lazy, elegant movements that alternated between creating elaborate, fountain-like
shapes and crashing water down on her swimming friends, all of them laughing uncontrollably.
A more chilled out crowd was chatting around a fire pit surrounded by comfy-looking chairs—maybe a little too chilled out, judging by the heady scent of weed wafting from that direction.
A canopy of string lights provided the only illumination and, if it weren’t for all the drunken idiots, would have actually set a charming mood over the whole setting. They extended as far as the tables and chairs on the other side of the pool. The rest of the yard—and I had a feeling there was quite a bit more of it—was cast into darkness.
To the left was a fully stocked bar complete with stools and four frantic waiters serving all manner of drinks. One of them had super speed and was mixing cocktails so fast that the cocktail shaker in his hands turned to a blur.
“Uh, how are they getting away with that?” I gestured to the bar, frowning, surprised to see alcohol being served so freely to people under twenty-one.
“Oh, thank god!” Instead of answering me, Zara headed toward the bar without waiting to see if we were following.
“Ooh! Great idea! Let’s have cocktails.” Dot grabbed me with one hand and Beth with the other, answering my question as she walked. “The staff are paid very well to not check IDs.”
Beth bounced rather than walked beside her. “This is the best party I’ve ever been to!”
I smiled, glad she was having fun and glad I’d somehow made that possible. I knew Zara didn’t want to be here, but I was touched she’d come along with the sole intention of protecting me and Beth from whatever exaggerated threat she thought the Variants of Bradford Hills posed. She was a hard-ass, but with a gooey center.
The fire pit had reminded me of Kid’s ability and the persistent guy it belonged to. I still hadn’t seen him. I let Dot order our drinks as I leaned back on the bar and looked around.
The reflection of the string lights on the pool’s surface were keeping me mesmerized when Dot pushed a bright green concoction in a tall glass into my face.
I gave her a worried look. “Do I want to know what’s in this?”
“Probably not!” She grinned at me as the Reds joined us, and we all clinked glasses and took a sip. The drink was fruity but potent—definitely not something I should drink too fast.
As I took my second sip, Beth lost her footing and bumped into me, both of us spilling some of our drinks in the process. I steadied her, then my spine went rigid as I realized what had caused her to stumble.
A girl in a white one-piece bathing suit, her wet hair still plastered to her head, had shoved my new friend as she walked past with two other bikini-clad girls.
“Hey, watch it,” I called out, letting a little bit of ire enter my tone.
The girl completely ignored me, speaking to her friends in a voice that was intentionally loud. “Who invited the Dimes?”
Every muscle in Zara’s body stiffened, and she slammed her drink down on the bar, turning her blazing eyes on the mean girl. Dot stepped into her path, preventing her from going after the bitch, and I briefly considered going after her myself—who the fuck did she think she was?
“She’s not worth it, Zara.” Dot kept her hands on Zara’s shoulders.
“She’s right,” Beth piped in, and Zara started to relax. “It’s no worse than the hateful things humans say about Variants—calling you guys freaks of nature and a danger to society. She’s just showing off to her friends.”
“Doesn’t make it right,” I grumbled, passing Zara her drink so she would have something else to focus on.
“No, it doesn’t, but I’m not letting this ruin my night!” Beth took a sip of her drink and smiled.
I took her lead and tried to steer the conversation onto other topics. After a while, even Zara joined in.
After a few minutes of chatting, Dot suddenly turned to me. “Oh, by the way, you’re not gonna believe this! Alec is here.”
I laughed. “Doesn’t he live here?”
“Yes, but he never comes to these things. He’s either away or he hides up in his room, glaring at the crowd from his window.” She gestured to a spot high up on the house behind us, and we all turned to look. All the windows on the two top floors were dark.
“Maybe you could thank him tonight,” Beth interjected.
After I’d mentioned to Zara in class that I’d met him, she’d demanded to know everything, so I’d told the Reds that evening about Alec saving my life. It was a bit of a relief to finally tell someone the full story. I’d gone a year without even mentioning my mother’s death, and after only knowing them for a few weeks, the Reds had made me feel comfortable enough to want to spill it all—all except how Alec had been there for me in the hospital. I didn’t want to tell anyone about that; it felt too private. I just wasn’t sure if it was my privacy or his that I was protecting.
Dot agreed with Beth. “I promised I would help you pin him down, and tonight might be a good opportunity. He must be in one hell of a good mood to be down here with all these people.”
“Right.” I squared my shoulders and slammed the rest of my drink back, abandoning the empty glass on the bar behind me. “Where is he?”
All three of them laughed.
After her giggles subsided, Dot held up one finger and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Then she opened them again and just stood there, smiling at me serenely. Beth and I exchanged a confused look, but Zara had a small, knowing smile on her face.
Just as I was about to ask what the hell we were doing, Squiggles climbed up Zara’s leg and perched on her shoulder. I was expecting Zara to make a derisive comment about “vermin” and throw the little ferret into the pool, but she surprised me by smiling wider and giving it a scratch on the head.
“I missed you too, girl.” Her voice was so low I almost hadn’t heard.
Zara and Dot clearly had more history than I’d thought, but that was a conversation for another day. I had a moody man to find.
Dot smiled at her furry friend and turned to me. “Squiggles says he’s in the living room, by the dining table.” Apparently, Squiggles had a knack for reconnaissance.
I turned around and headed back inside.
He was leaning on the wall near the card-game end of the table, dressed in all black again—jeans and a T-shirt. Everyone was giving him a wide berth, shrinking away and staying well out of Alec’s reach if they had to walk past.
As he lifted his beer to his mouth, he spotted me. I smiled, going for a friendly approach, but he looked away as he finished the last few drops of his drink, ignoring me. He leaned over a girl with dreadlocks to set his empty bottle on the table, and she visibly jumped in her seat.
He was unaffected by it, returning to his spot against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.
I waded through the crowd until I was right in front of him, looking him square in his ice-blue eyes. He just stood there, silent. The black-and-gray tattoos completely covering his right arm and peeking out of the left sleeve of his T-shirt did nothing to make him seem more approachable. The small frown line that had appeared on his forehead wasn’t helping either.
Refusing to wither under his stare, I made myself speak: “Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot the other day, and I’m sorry about the part I played in that, so can we start again? Please?”
His frown only deepened.
I extended my hand and forged on. “I’m Eve. It’s nice to finally meet you properly.”
A few people laughed, and some others gasped in shock. He chose to side with the amused group, chuckling softly, a cruel smirk on his face. I was trying really hard not to let his mocking attitude get to me, but the tension in my shoulders was building.
When it became clear he wasn’t going to shake my hand, I dropped it and stepped a little closer to him, trying to make this conversation as private as possible.
“I just want to thank you, OK?” I kept my voice low, despite the blaring music. “Can I have five minutes of—”
> “Not this shit again.” He uncrossed his arms and pushed off the wall, standing at his full, intimidating height. “I already told you. I was just doing my job. Leave me alone.”
“Yes, well, speaking of your job”—if he wouldn’t let me thank him for saving my life, at least I could try getting some answers—“maybe you could explain to me exactly what made the plane crash? Or how you guys knew where—”
“Shut the fuck up,” he growled, stepping farther into my personal space while still being careful not to touch me. “We can’t talk about this here.”
I’d spoken as quietly as I could in a room full of partying people, and his growly response had been even quieter, so I doubted anyone had heard our exchange. Still, it was clear he wasn’t willing to speak to me about any of it. Not in a room full of people. Considering the secretive nature of his job, it made sense, but would he ever allow me to say my piece or give me any answers?
I had been nothing but nice, but he was being downright hostile. It meant a lot to me that I say these things to him, that I ask some questions, but the asshole couldn’t take five minutes out of his busy scowling-and-intimidation schedule.
“What the fuck is your—”
“Go away.”
This time a woman had interrupted me. She’d appeared next to Alec, handing him another beer and taking a sip of her own, watching me with narrowed eyes. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and she was wearing skintight jeans and a top that was little more than a scrap of fabric. She oozed a confidence I’d only ever come close to in a chemistry lab.
Pressing her amazing body up against Alec, she draped one elegant hand over his shoulder, then smiled widely at me and fluttered her lashes.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Who just walks up to a person and tells them to “go away”?
The smile fell from her face, replaced by something much more malevolent, and I suddenly regretted my outburst.
Before the situation could escalate, Alec wrapped his arm around her middle and pulled her in close, stepping between us and giving me his back—a wordless dismissal after he’d barely acknowledged my presence.
Variant Lost (The Evelyn Maynard Trilogy Book 1) Page 9