by Ruby Vincent
“That’s the house on the end.” Aiden pointed through the window. “5637 Seabreeze Lane. Feel free to text your security detail.”
Maverick said nothing. My man didn’t respond to bait.
I turned to the window as our beach house flashed by. Hard to imagine it was a few days ago that I collected shells with Adam, learned to make seared scallops with Ryder, kissed Maverick on the sand, and basked in the sunset on a perfect day with my family.
I watched the house until it disappeared behind half a dozen more.
“Name?”
A flashlight sought me through the window, beaming directly into my corneas.
“Aiden Connelly, Maverick Beaumont, and Valentina Moon,” said Aiden.
A stout, hefty man bent and put his head half into the car. “My information says this car is registered to Winston Abernathy.”
“Winston lent me his car indefinitely.”
The guy pulled out and went into his booth. A few minutes passed and I assumed he was calling back up to help chase us away. The thought no sooner crossed my mind than the gates rumbled open.
Nasir Harb’s beachside paradise was built in the same style as many houses on this lane—ours included. Windows upon windows made up the grand house and allowed me a peek into nearly every room.
A butler met us in the driveway, opening our door and bowing us inside. “The master and his guests are in the second living room.”
“I know the way, Klein,” Aiden said. “Thanks.”
Years of living and loving my boys made me no stranger to the finer things. I was used to wealthy homes filled with astonishingly expensive knickknacks that served no function other than looking pretty. Which is why Nasir’s home threw me.
The cream-painted walls didn’t boast dozens of paintings from artists I never heard of. An antique hutch full of plates no one was allowed to eat off of didn’t greet me in the entryway. By wealthy people’s standards, Nasir’s home of family photos, scattered leather couches, and mahogany shelves bordered on... ordinary.
But ordinary people don’t live in forty-five-million-dollar homes.
We walked into the living room and nine pairs of eyes landed on us.
And they don’t host secret society parties in Mommy’s second family room.
“Rick.” A man in a purple shirt and white pants waved to my boyfriend. His ascot told me he was Winston without me having to recall his name. Standing next to him was a petite blonde wearing the very Tiffany earrings I decided against. She was the only girl I didn’t recognize by sight.
“Sabrina? Kendra? Eve?” I gaped at my sisters.
The three of them took up the ottoman with Teagan. At least they had the decency to look sheepish.
Weeks of hanging out, watching movies, and going for runs, they forgot to drop this tidbit into the conversation.
“Val, you know everyone,” said Aiden.
Is it me or is that ass smirking?
“Except for the duchess, Phillipa.”
Winston’s companion came over to shake my hand.
“I set up the table upstairs,” Nasir said, “but there’s no rush. Chill. Eat. Drink.”
The guys here I knew in passing. I recognized them from Sally-Sam parties, and as Hayes handed Eve a drink, a memory of the two of them making out against the kitchen counter resurfaced. Eve called her boyfriend Ben.
Hayes Benson.
Why does it feel like during my normal summer of fun, I was being played for a fool the entire time?
“Val, come sit with us.”
I slipped out of Maverick’s hold, striding up to them on their ottoman. Kendra tugged me down.
“I can tell exactly what you’re thinking and we’re sorry,” she rushed out. “We wanted to tell you, but you can’t talk about the club with people who aren’t in it. Please don’t hate us.”
“Did you guys really stay on campus for school?” I returned. “Or was it for the club?”
“School, of course,” said Sabrina. “We haven’t spent the last several weeks lying to your face. We wouldn’t do that. We just kept our private business private.”
I scoffed. “I’d believe that if I wasn’t president. Why would a secret society for Sams and Sallys be a secret from me?”
“When you didn’t start the club for the Sallys, we figured it was a part of your ‘leave the silly traditions in the past’ promise,” Eve spoke up. “We assumed you wanted to be left out of it, so we did.”
“Who is we? How many of you are there?”
“Just us and Heather and Crista,” Teagan said. “We were chosen by Leighton.”
The same Leighton who pretended you didn’t exist the first time I asked her about you.
“New Sallys can’t join unless you, the new president, choose them.”
I shook my head, gaze sweeping the mingling coeds. “That won’t be happening until I know exactly what this is about.”
“Aiden’s over there.” Teagan pointed at the tinted windows. “Ask him.”
I was up and off, ending the conversation. My feelings over the girls keeping this from me was a mess I’d untangle later. Right then, Aiden and I were long overdue for a chat.
Sea air wrapped around me as I pushed onto the balcony. The playful wind teased my hair, swaying the hem of my dress, and imparting a light chill though it was a warm night.
“Aiden.”
“Valentina.”
My counterpart leaned on the railing, looking out over the sea. I joined him.
“Ever feel like you’re still a guest in this world.” Soft words floated to my ear, fighting the wind that threatened to snatch it away. “You have the house, the cars, the family, and a future that promises it won’t disappear. And yet, your past will always keep you on the outside.”
“Yes.” The reply spilled from my lips unbidden. “I know that feeling.”
“They say the world is a different place outside of college. I say college is the audition and life is the show. We’re nervous, panicked, and holding on to a thread of hope that we’ll be good enough to make it. Then we’re thrown onstage to have every move, line, and action scripted for us. We’ve spent all this time preparing to be the lead character in someone else’s story. Never truly free.”
“It can feel like that sometimes, but that stage doesn’t have to be our reality.”
“Why?”
“Because even the most faithful actor knows when to improvise.”
He chuckled. “You may be right.”
We fell into a silence that was, dare I say it, companionable.
“I want to see that book, Aiden.”
Obviously, I ruined it.
“I assumed so.” Aiden reached into his pocket and held something up between us. A small, black book clutched between two fingers.
“You carry it around with you?”
“I knew you’d ask to see it when Teagan told me you talked.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it yourself? The book? The club? Why, Aiden?”
He shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
“I didn’t ask? Are you serious? You know very well that I didn’t know to ask. You— You’re a sun-baked asshole!”
Okay. Sofia might have a point about me being filter-less.
He burst out laughing. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You know what it means.” I snatched the book from his hand. “But I take it back anyway. You’re actually a spit-roasted asshole with douchebag on top and a side of arrogant fucker.”
“All right, all right.” I thought he might tip off the balcony guffawing. “I should have told you. I admit. I’m going to really blow your mind and say... I’m sorry.” Aiden stuck out his hand. “Truce?”
I eyed the appendage. “Depends. Are you or this book going to explain why you had Sawyer taken away?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then you can put that back where it was.”
Aiden let out a breath like I was the most irritating person on this
balcony. “Just read it. Then you’ll understand.”
“What will I understand, Aiden? What’s in this book that you can’t tell me yourself? Like you should have done a year ago.”
He swept out his hand. “You want to know what the club’s about? It’s simple. We stretch ourselves to the limit. No holding back or hesitation. The Sams and Sallys acquire the best Somerset has to offer and the club finds out how far they’ll go.”
“And you do that by losing money, tossing questions at each other, and having sex in a basement?”
“We do that by shedding all constraints. When is the last time you had a deep, intellectual conversation with someone you weren’t dating? Years? Never?”
“I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Of course.” A fervency laced his tone. “Because it’s not in our script. We’re supposed to make polite, meaningless small talk with everyone we meet and never say anything real. What we do is strip away the bullshit and take what we want.”
“So... it’s a club for hedonists?”
“No, Valentina. It’s so much more.”
I glanced back at the room full of people. “What do you all get from this? The thrill of secrecy? Money? A boys and girls club that you can seek favors from for the rest of your life?”
“None of the above. What we want is improvisation.”
I nodded slowly, tracing the design etched in the book’s leather. “Why did you choose Maverick?”
“It was getting tricky with an even number. Too many ties. I wanted a guy that wouldn’t piss himself being in a room with Winston and the rest of them. Plus, Sawyer could vouch for him. He’s smart. Doesn’t take any shit. And any twenty-one-year-old guy already tied down with a kid, pets, mortgage, and pseudo-wife would be looking to blow off some steam.”
“Fuck you.” I meant that with every fiber of my soul. “Maverick doesn’t feel tied down.”
“He wouldn’t tell you if he did.”
I erased the distance between us, getting in his face. “That’s cute. You hang out with him a handful of times and convinced yourself you know him better than I do. Maverick loves his life. He has friends that support him. A son that looks up to him. His dream job on the other end of graduation. And a pseudo-wife that gives one hell of a blow job.” I smiled sweetly. “He’s not looking for cheap thrills.”
Aiden bore my speech—nodding along with his lips pushed out. “Then why”—he leaned in until our noses brushed—“does he keep coming back to us?”
Because he’s going to find out what the fuck you’re really about, Aiden Connelly.
My jaw clenched tight, keeping that thought inside. Too late. It should’ve held back the rest of what I said too. Acting like we had no reason to be here would give Aiden license not to invite us back.
“Because he enjoys a good game of poker,” I finally said. “Also, I think you have him intrigued with your question game. Why throw that in?” I waved the book between us. “Is it one of the rules?”
“It’s a rule that members have to stretch themselves in every way. That includes intellectually. I told Maverick this the other night. You should stand by your beliefs so strongly, you’d hang everything on them. Anything less is bullshit.”
“Why—”
The door creaked open. Maverick encompassed the entrance, taking in the scant distance between us. “Everything okay, Val?”
“Everything’s fine. Aiden gifted me with some light reading. I know what I’ll be doing tonight.”
“Wait till you get to chapter three,” Aiden said. “It’s a page-turner.” He pushed off the rail, loping for the other door, and letting himself inside. “Game starts in ten, Rick.”
Maverick closed it behind him. “Sure you’re okay?”
“I am. Why?”
He gathered me in his arms, resting my head on his chest, and rubbed soothing hands on my back. “You were making your I’m-inches-away-from-throwing-you-off-this-balcony face.”
“That’s my normal face around Aiden. He threw some garbage at me, saying he kept me in the dark because I didn’t ask. Not to mention Kendra, Eve, Teagan, and Sabrina pulling the same excuse. I became president to find out what’s going on in my house and put a stop to it.” I snaked my arms around his waist, holding him tight. “So naïve. Everyone’s keeping secrets, Maverick. I never knew where to begin.”
“Do you want to blow this off? Forget Aiden. I’ll call us a car and we’ll be home in thirty minutes with people who aren’t so duplicitous that we question their real motive when they claim they have to leave to take a shit.”
A laugh burst out of me. “I’d love to choose option A. But we came here for a reason, and if this book doesn’t tell me what I want to know, Aiden will give me the rest.” I kissed the skin peeking from his shirt. “Instead, distract me with sweet things for the next five minutes, and then let’s go inside and play duplicitous shit with the best of them.”
“Hmm. Adam’s going to love his new puppy.” He chuckled. “The kid has us wrapped. He knew we’d give in and let him keep one. Or three.”
“He is scarily hard to say no to, and Pepper’s big brown eyes don’t help.”
“I’m going to my parents’ house tomorrow. Dad wants a picture of the pups to scope out their newest addition. Mom wants another swing at convincing me to move home.”
I shook my head, smiling. “I love Selah for how much she loves you. Twenty-one years old and you’re still her baby boy.”
“It’s Mariana and Alison’s fault. They didn’t leave home until they were twenty-three and twenty-five.”
Mariana and Alison were Maverick’s older sisters. Both of them intelligent, funny, independent women who took me out for girls’ night whenever they were in town. And both enjoyed their high-class luxury life in Evergreen Estates until marriage, kids, and new jobs took them away. They were in no kind of rush to leave home and Selah didn’t complain.
“My mom wasn’t properly prepared for her baby to leave the nest at eighteen. On top of that, she still sees my living at Ryder’s house like one long extended sleepover. Back to when we were kids.”
The slow, gentle circles on my back seeped tension from my bones. Waves crashed against the shore, singing a persistent lullaby that drew my eyes shut.
I loved this place. Cherished the memories I created here.
Making love with Jaxson for the first time.
Capturing the moment Adam saw his first jellyfish on camera.
Burying Ryder in the sand.
Kissing Maverick under the stars.
We weren’t having an extended sleepover. We were a family.
“I see why she’d think that,” I said. “Doesn’t really feel like you’ve left when you’re a few streets over. I’ve thought about what it’d be like to get our own place after college.”
“Is that something you want?”
“If life takes us somewhere else, then I’d go happily. But somewhere along the way a miracle happened and I fell in love with Evergreen. Late-night talks with Caroline on the porch. Watching Adam run around the yard with his friends. Getting frisky with you in the promenade parking lot.”
“That was two times.”
“It might take time for your family to adjust,” I continued, giggling. “But I feel we’ve found our place. Our home.”
“I—”
“Yo, Rick.” Rowen barreled onto the balcony. “You coming?”
“Yes. Give me a second.”
Rowen ducked inside, leaving us alone.
“I feel the same,” Maverick finished. “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
He bent his neck to take in the second floor. The windows let us see everything—including the guys finding their spot around a poker table. Our five minutes were over. “I’ll go up. You start reading that thing. Find out if there’s a section on keeping encrypted files of data on your brothers.”
“It’s probably in chapter three,” I mocked.
We shared one lingering kiss
and then broke apart inside. Maverick headed upstairs and I wandered over to the impressive collection of drinks. Skipping the alcohol, I poured myself a glass of cranberry juice.
The girls gathered in front of the sound system, looking through the music selection. Teagan broke away and began pushing the furniture off the rug. They were gearing up for a dance party and I was gearing up to leave. My sisters and I had a lot to talk about, but I wanted peace and quiet with this book first.
I slipped out as Julien Kelland crooned through the speakers. The butler directed us to the second living room, which meant there was a first.
I returned the way we came and swung left at the end of the hallway. I ended up in a dining room. Continuing through the door at the end, I found what I was looking for. This living room was double the size of the other. The television hanging over the mantle rivaled most movie theater screens. All I needed was a chaise and a lamp.
I spotted both near the fireplace and got comfortable. The book cracked as I opened it—the binding lifting away from the spine. It had years on it and the evidence of changing hands. Owners who dog-eared the pages. Owners who read while eating lunch. Owners who scribbled in the margins.
I was supposed to believe this guide was passed from Sam president to Sam president. Also that somewhere there was one for me.
Flipping to page one, I started reading.
MAVERICK
“I’ve got a fresh deck.” Winston tossed an unopened pack of cards on the table. “Just in case.”
“Just in case what?” Nasir tossed back. “I marked them with invisible ink? Waiting for me to whip out my special sunglasses? You watch too many of those European caper movies.”
“No, you watch too many of them. Can’t have you getting ideas, mate.”
Nasir chuckled, taking the accusation in stride. “Give it here.”
Sawyer leaned over in his seat. “You got Val on board.” His breath washed over me and with it the stench of Laphroaig scotch. “Does this mean you want in?”
“Thought I was in.”
He laughed like I was joking. “Come on. It’s not as easy as taking our money every week. You have to prove yourself and that you can run with the Sams.” Gripping my shoulder, he shook me. “I don’t doubt you will. You’re not a Sam, but you should’ve been.”