“What else could you possibly need to know?” He grinned. He liked teasing me.
“Start at the beginning.” I tore open a pack of gum. He held out his hand and I dropped a piece of gum into it. We popped them into our mouths at the same time.
“Oh, so now you want to be friends?”
Not exactly, Alexander. But friends was better than enemies.
“Sure, let’s be friends.” I held out my hand and he shook it. I almost jumped at the feel of his warm skin on mine.
“Okay, kid, listen up. It’s a long and tragic story.”
“So’s mine,” I said. He smiled and reached over and squeezed my shoulder, sending a shock wave through me. I had to pull it together.
“I have an idea,” he said. “Ever play Truth or Dare?”
My stomach curled but I kept my face expressionless as I nodded. Yes, I had. New Year’s Eve at Trevor Blazick’s house. Being forced to spend ten minutes in his basement bathroom with him. Only my puking had stopped him from doing what he wanted to do.
“No thanks.”
“Come on! We have a lot of time to kill on this trip. I ask a question, you answer it honestly. Then you get to ask me something.”
What secrets could he possibly have? What tragedy? He was Mr. Perfect.
“You start.”
I thought for a second. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-three next week. We’re both June babies.” That made him . . . “I’m five years older than you.” He’d done the math.
HE HAD DONE THE MATH.
Relax, he’s just pointing out the obvious. He is not trying to do calculations on age-appropriate boyfriends for an eighteen-year-old. “But that’s a lame question—you can do better than that.”
“What’s your sister like and why don’t you ever pick up when she calls?”
He raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. “Gretchen? She’s fine, but she’s a little messed up. Clingy. She had a weird childhood. She’s getting married this fall, which is good. Roy’s a good guy, and he’s loaded, so she’s happy.”
“Does she work for your dad’s company too?”
He nodded. “Last time I checked she was selling our condos in midtown. I could be wrong. We’re not as close as we used to be.”
“What does your family do again?”
He shrugged. “We work real hard making a big pile of money get bigger. Mostly through real estate development.”
“What do you do?” I asked. He pressed his lips together and opened his window a crack. Steamy, hot air whipped through the car.
“I scout properties to develop. I’ve been pitching Elijah on buying a vineyard in Sonoma, maybe adding a hotel.” Buying a vineyard. He said it so casually, like he’d told them to buy a cup of coffee. How rich were they?
“Do you like it?” I asked. He suppressed a crooked smile and raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not allowed to complain. Especially when I’m driving an Aston Martin.” I studied his face. I’d worked for my dad. Sometimes it was hard to be related to the boss.
“You hate it.”
He shrugged. “Soren had no interest in the family business. So it was all me. I’m okay with it, really. The perks are good.”
“Who’s Soren?”
He looked shocked by this. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I keep forgetting you don’t know, sorry. My older brother. He’s a painter and he lives in Montauk.
“Houses?”
He cocked his head like he was confused. “Huh? Oh, no, not houses.” He laughed. “Art. At least he calls its art. I think his stuff is a little pretentious, but what do I know. He sells his paintings for thousands.”
Alexander was the baby of the family. How interesting.
“My turn,” he said, in a sing-song voice. “Truth: What was Ramona Crawford like as a stepmother?”
My smile froze on my face. “Ever see Cinderella? Like that, only not as warm and loving.”
The inside of the Vanquish got quiet. I silently prayed he wouldn’t pry any deeper. I leaned against the headrest and looked out the window. Billboards advertising casinos and strip clubs and used car dealerships lined the highway.
Finally, he spoke. “That bad?”
Nights locked in the pool house guest room. The slaps. The screaming. The threats. The time she yanked my arm and dislocated my elbow. “The worst part was the little stuff. She would go out of her way to be generous with her daughters and not to me.”
His jaw clenched. “Why would your dad let her do that?”
“My father is sweet but clueless. Ramona was funding his new business, so she sent him on buying trips to pick up inventory, bid on new cars. She wanted him out of the house a lot. She had boyfriends. My father was so happy I had siblings and a new ‘mother,’ I could never bear to tell him the truth. Until the end.”
“What happened in the end?” That final fateful night he’d found me with my nose bleeding after Wade Jenner hit me in the face and Ramona locked me in the guest room. At last he saw the truth. He ended my nightmare and took me home that night—back to our little house in Glen Ellen.
“Her main boyfriend hit me, and my dad came home in time to see me hurt.”
“Holy shit.”
“He’s the one who was driving when you found me on the road. He’s a cop in Napa. Wade Jenner.” I drummed my fingers on the armrest. Telling him made me feel a little lighter, like heavy stones were lifting off my shoulders.
Alexander’s jaw clenched and he blew out a deep breath. “If I’d known this earlier I don’t think he would have survived that car wreck.” The engine spun louder and the desert flew by. The G forces pushed me back into the leather seat. “Stepparents can be assholes. I’m sorry.”
“For your sake, I hope you never have one,” I said.
A barely perceptible shadow flitted across his face. “Okay, that’s enough truth for one day,” he said, his voice tense. “Time to take your pills, Lana.”
#
The most expensive hotel in town didn’t look much better than the neon-signed motels we’d passed on the way. I sighed, waiting for a lecture on mattress quality.
“This looks pretty good. Nice job,” he said, pulling into the small parking lot in front of a series of low-slung white adobe buildings. It was almost eight at night but the sun was just setting over the horizon.
After we picked up our keys, we strolled down the open-air breezeway to our rooms. I stopped in front of mine and turned to say goodnight. Even after a full day of driving, he looked beautiful. Meanwhile, I was a sweaty mess.
And I had another long night to look forward to. At the Amangiri, I’d gotten used to not being alone.
I’d discovered that I preferred not being alone.
He gently removed my baseball hat and ruffled my sweaty hair.
“I’m almost used to this hair,” he said. I swallowed hard and willed myself not to blush.
“Don’t get too used to it, I’ve ordered it to grow back as fast as possible.” He grinned. He handed me the key, my backpack, and the tote bag stuffed with my clothes. I made the mistake of raising my eyes to his and the tractor beams got me. I was suddenly frozen to the spot.
“Call me if you need me. Keep your phone charged, but stay off social media. We don’t need anyone knowing where we are, right?” He’d gotten me two extra car chargers and a wall charger. Just in case.
“You don’t have to worry about social media. I have like two friends and you met them both at my graduation.” He dropped his duffel bag to the ground and took my chin in his hand. He tilted my head up until I was looking into his eyes.
“Now you have three.”
“Goodnight,” I stammered. I somehow got my door open and stumbled inside as fast as I could.
A few minutes later he texted me. Go to sleep!
I texted him back a thumbs-up emoji and a doctor emoji.
I immediately created a new contact for him in my phone. Then I texted Maya to tell her I was okay, a
nd not to give anyone my new number.
She didn’t text back.
I plugged the phone into the wall to charge and collapsed on the bed. The more time I spent with Alexander, the lonelier I felt.
After New York, he’d go back to his normal life.
I’d have to create a new one, alone.
#
Right before I fell asleep, my phone rang. Thinking it was Alexander, I answered it without checking the number.
“Hey,” I said.
“Lana? Is that you?” a scratchy kid’s voice asked. My heart faltered a little. It was Eden, my younger step-sister. The only friend I’d had during my imprisonment at Casa Crawford.
“Oh, hi Eden!” If she’d somehow gotten my number and called me, something was wrong—she wasn’t allowed to have any contact with me. Cressida’s rule. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She started crying. I flashed back to all the nights she’d snuck into my bed. We’d been each other’s comfort in that cold house.
“Eden! What is it?”
She sniffled and sneezed. “I’m moving. My mom’s selling our house. I didn’t know if I would get to say goodbye.”
“Where are you going?” Cressida had told me before graduation that her mother was trying to sell the ornate faux chateaux she’d built with her first husband’s money.
“I’m moving to L.A. to live with my dad and I’m never coming back here, Lana! And this time he’s coming to get me himself.” Her father, Martin Crawford, plastic surgeon to the stars, lived in Malibu. He was kind and so was his second wife. Eden would have a better life with him.
Away from the wicked witch and her eldest daughter.
“Okay, I’m glad. I think it sounds awesome! Will you miss your mom and sister?”
Her crying stopped. “Cressy is staying here with my mom. My dad wants her to go to rehab, but she says she won’t.”
A pit formed in my stomach. The truth about Cressida had finally reached her parent’s ears, but all I could think about was Eden having to live through it all. “Rehab?”
“Yeah. I caught her doing bad stuff with her friend Trevor and I told my dad, so now my mom AND Cressy are mad at me.” She started crying. “I hate it here, Lana. I wish you were here.”
I took a deep breath and tried not to cry. As hard as things had been for me, at least I’d had a mother who loved me and whom I’d loved. It would have been so much easier if she’d been a bad mother. If she’d been like Ramona. Of course, her last act had been the ultimate abandonment. She’d left us forever, without even a note.
“You were just trying to help. You’re a good sister.”
Cressida would never change, but Eden didn’t need to know that yet.
“Will you be back soon so I can say goodbye to you?” she asked. “There was a box with your name on it in the pool house and it had your old teddy bear. Remember the one my mom gave you when you first moved here?”
The stuffed bear? I’d hated that bear with its black staring eyes. I’d stashed it on a bookshelf in my room during my Crawford years. When I’d ended up in the pool house at Cressida’s after party, the bear had been the last thing I’d seen before I blacked out under Caleb.
I shivered at the awful memory.
“You keep it. Or throw it away.”
“No, you have to have it so you remember me.” She sniffled and it sounded like she was blowing her nose. “I’ll leave it with Maya, okay?”
“Okay, sure. Wait—where’s your mom?” After Wade crashed his car, I’d assumed she’d slink back home and lay low.
“On a trip with Wade. I think they’re in Las Vegas.”
Relief swept through me. Vegas was far away from Arkansas.
Vegas was also where Victor and Nastia had been planning to kill me.
Did Ramona really, truly want me dead? It was still hard to believe she was that evil. Selfish and greedy, yes. But an actual murderer? Of her own adopted stepdaughter?
After I got off the phone, I stared out the window at the unfamiliar cityscape, thinking. Rain fell steadily, drumming on the windows. What was Ramona doing in Las Vegas? Recovering from her injuries? Arkady was dead and Victor was not the type to chase me himself.
Ramona should have gone home by now.
What was she doing?
Chapter 7
Lacus Solitudinis ~ Lake of Solitude
I woke up to my phone vibrating on the side table. It was almost one in the morning.
Maya was texting me back.
SOOOO glad you’re ok. Sorry didn’t text back earlier!!! I gave Eden your number, hope that was ok. Look where I am!
Then she sent a photo of someone asleep in a bed. I looked closer—it was her ex-boyfriend Evan—the one who’d broken up with her over spring break. He had no shirt on. And it was not her bed. I gasped. She had worked that out fast. I texted back a thumbs-up emoji, turned the phone off, and stretched out in the king-sized bed.
Maya was dating Caleb Weaver’s cousin Evan, so that was awkward. I’d never be able to hang out with them, basically. Evan was cool, but what would happen when he learned the truth about his cousin? Would Evan blame him, or me?
Meanwhile, Piper was in Europe on her summer pre-college trip, frolicking on Grecian beaches with random European boys.
I was all alone in a room that smelled like mildew. Tears pricked my eyelids and I curled onto my side. The stitches in my shoulder throbbed. My ribs ached. My neck hurt. I was wide awake.
The highway outside was quiet. Then I heard noises coming from the room next door.
I wiped a stray tear and scooted out of the bed. I tiptoed closer to the wall our rooms shared. I heard a man’s voice, muffled. He’s on the phone, relax.
Then—someone else’s voice. It’s just the TV. Go back to sleep.
My heard pounding, I pressed my ear to the wall. A distinctly female voice was speaking.
There was someone in his room and that someone was a woman.
My mouth went dry and my stomach lurched. He’d brought a girl to his room. Where had he met a girl in Tucumcari, New Mexico? Tinder, you idiot. He probably uses Tinder every night! Did you think he was a monk?
Sick to my stomach, I padded to the door and peeked out the peephole.
The door to his room opened and light flooded the hallway. I could hear them perfectly.
“Goodnight, and thanks again,” he said.
“It was a pleasure doing business with you, Alexander,” a woman purred.
I stared out my peephole in horror. A busty woman in poured-on jeans, cowboy boots, and a snug t-shirt turned and sashayed down the hall with a small tote bag over her shoulder. She shook out her long, wavy blonde hair as she walked away. I got a quick look at her face—she was a lot older than him.
His door clicked shut. Doing business? He’d hired a professional? I crawled back into my bed and clutched the duvet to my chest. I shut my eyes and willed myself into a fitful sleep.
#
He texted me right after I got out of the shower in the morning.
Going for a swim. Meet me for bkfast at 9.
I couldn’t let him know I knew about the escort.
But I had to act normal, so I texted back:
Please wear a bathing suit.
#
Our goal was to reach Little Rock by dinnertime. It was a straight shot east on the 40 but it was our longest driving day yet. How would I survive ten hours in a car with him? I still couldn’t believe he had done it. That he was that kind of guy. The kind who prefers dates that end in a money exchange.
As soon as we got on the road, I thought I detected a sickly-sweet fragrance on his clothes. It smelled like something a cheap escort would wear.
“Your nose okay?”
“Thought I smelled a skunk.” I spat the words out.
He raised an eyebrow as he expertly weaved around a slow-moving semi-truck and eased the Vanquish into the fast lane. I glowered in my seat. I couldn’t even look at him. I kept picturing him
and the blonde together. Pleasure doing business with you.
I squirmed and bit my nails.
He handed me his phone. “I made a new playlist last night. Check it out.”
I grabbed the phone and snapped, “I’m surprised you had time.” I glanced the screen. It was called “Lana’s Awesome Mix.” All songs about hair.
“Very funny.”
He cackled with glee and took the phone. “Whip My Hair” blasted out of the Bang & Olufsen speakers.
The song abruptly stopped when his phone rang. Gretchen was calling again.
He glanced at it. “Hit End for me, would you?”
I did as he asked and the song started blasting again.
“You can take a phone call in front of me, you know.”
He turned to me with a quizzical expression. “Noted.”
“Really, I don’t mind. If you need to talk to your sister, or anyone, it won’t bother me.” Did he not want her to know he was with me? She was my cousin, too. What did she think of me, a random interloper, on her way to swoop in and claim a bunch of her family’s money?
“She seems to think otherwise, but my sister can put together a wedding guest list without my help.”
I stared at the dashboard. Did I detect a note of annoyance in his voice? His hand gripped the wheel and the speedometer creep up past 75.
“What do your parents know about me? They’re cool with you dragging a random cousin to New York?”
He shifted in his seat. “Not much. They knew Tanith had a daughter, but assumed you guys had vanished for good. They weren’t close enough to Georgette or Claudette to get involved, frankly. Besides, it’s not their money.” He was defending my right to it. “Georgette chose you as her heir. Case closed.”
“How did they know Tanith had a daughter?”
He bit back a smile, but his dimples made their appearance. “They met you at our great-aunt Claudette’s funeral. Your mother surprised everyone and showed up. With you.”
He’d told me about that at the Briar Ball. “Oh yeah. How old was I?”
“Around four, so I must have been about nine.” He looked over at me. “Remember our fight?”
Valley of Fire (Valley of the Moon Book 2) Page 6