The Society

by Michelle Brown

  I forced a smile, starting to walk around the foyer. “Oh, come on. Corey surely has skeletons in his closet. As do you, my sweetest Corinne…” Returning to her, I forced a smile onto my lips. “Then again, I am your first affair, right? You’re way too innocent for a town like Silvercrest.”

  And it had taken me a few months to gain her trust in one of the country clubs, but now…

  “Yes, but I’m not as innocent as you think.”

  It sounded as if she felt insulted and I sensed my chance. “You’re not?” I reached into my pocket, blindly trying to open the recorder app. I knew where it was, had used it enough before, but now prayed it would work. I turned it up as much as I could. “I don’t believe that.”

  She crossed her arms. “I got custody of my daughter.”

  I arched a brow. “So? Many women do because they are the safer choice.” I waved her off.

  “Do they get it by initiating their own daughter’s kidnapping?”

  I spun, pretending to be surprised. “You did not! Naughty girl!”

  She giggled, as if proud with herself. “A few messages here, a few bucks there… And bam, she was gone for three days. And then, afterward, I made sure I discredited her father and the boy who kidnapped her. It was easy. He was one of those lost in the system. You know, a boy on the streets. He’s probably dead by now.”

  I wanted to strangle her. Instead, I brushed my finger down her cheek. “And no one ever found out? I cannot believe that.”

  She shrugged. “Oh please. I spent a hundred bucks in total on people from the street. They said he was a bad one, abusive, and when my daughter was brought to the hospital, they found injuries on her. It was easy. So easy. And my husband, poor Sebastian, lost her because he neglected her. And then, he lost everything else, too. His empire fell because no one trusted him anymore, and when I walked out with my daughter, I had all I deserved.”

  Including a back-up husband and a new community that didn’t know her.

  “Not so innocent, right? Worthy of a biker bad boy like you.”

  I laughed, the sound hollow, but she didn’t notice. Reaching into her robe I squeezed her tits, teased the nipples, and then kissed her although it nearly made me throw up. “True, lovely. Anyway, I didn’t come for sex. I need to run. I just wanted to make sure your husband won’t be coming after me, Corinne. Corey Jones has too much money. I don’t want to end up in a ditch somewhere.”

  She cupped the back of my neck and pulled me in. “I’d protect you, Alex. Always. And don’t forget to come back soon. I have an itch you should scratch…” She licked into my mouth, trying to be seductive, and I pulled back after a few seconds.

  “Okay, gotta run.” I pecked her lips again and then turned to the door.

  I needed to get away, needed to breathe.

  On the way out I turned the phone off blindly again. It took everything in me to go back to my apartment before I pulled the phone out.

  The recording had worked. It wasn’t perfect, but I knew that it contained all I needed to not only ruin Corinne’s life now, but to also reinstate Anabelle’s custody with her father.

  She was eighteen now, if I was right, and although it wouldn’t matter because she was her own person, I couldn’t help but think that Sebastian would approve of that.

  Belle

  “Yoga teacher, really?”

  I knew Harlyn would hear about it. Hell, I didn’t think anyone would get around hearing the lie my mother had somehow sold to Corey.

  I knew better. I’d walked into the house after the run-in with the tattooed biker and I’d found her in her bed, the remnants of her betrayal still sticking to her body as she slept.

  She had cheated, and I felt as if she had personally betrayed me.

  “Seems like it.”

  I wanted to pass her by, but she wasn’t going to have that. “You went home after you found out. Did you confront her?”

  I arched a brow. “About cheating when Corey had already settled that with her? In case you’re wondering… I didn’t go home. I went to the beach. It’s the only time you can catch a breath—when all of you crazies are in school.”

  She huffed. “You realize you’re one of us, right?”

  I leaned in close. “Listen, and listen hard. I’ve never been one of you deceiving bitches, and I definitely never want to be, either.”

  I shouldered past her and intended to go to my next class when—

  “Who is that hot piece over there?”

  No matter how much I didn’t want to look, I glanced over my shoulder, finding a guy in jeans and a tight-fitting sweater standing in the middle of the hallway. It was as if everything turned silent as the girls stared at the guy and tried to figure out who he was and if he should be seen as a friend or better acquired as an ally.

  His eyes swept over the girls as if he was searching for someone special and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was someone’s new college boyfriend, here to be shown off.

  Something about him was familiar as he brushed a dark strand out of his face. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, he cocked his head. The moment Harlyn and her crew stepped up to him, I continued my way.

  “Anabelle? She’s… Why would you look for her?” Harlyn clearly wasn’t amused, but instantly turned her charm on to convince him he really was looking for her.

  Not wanting her to have that victory, I spun and marched over to them. “I’m the only Anabelle here,” I declared, not caring that Queen Bee was still speaking to him.

  “Wow, I would have not… You… Wow.”

  I blinked, surprised as I realized he was blushing. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually stammer, but… Anyway. Uhm… I’m Kip.”

  My heart stopped, but then restarted in a beat twice as fast. I was sure I hadn’t heard him right. “Kid?” I tried the next possible explanation.

  “No, Alexander Kipleton. Kip,” he insisted and I swallowed. I searched his face, recognizing the dark eyes and the long lashes, but besides that there was nothing else that reminded me of the boy from years ago.

  “Wow.” Now I was the one to stammer.

  He arched a brow at me. “Do you need to stay?”

  I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “How did you find me now? And why didn’t you ever come around again? I waited for you.”

  The audience we had was silent, and it was the first time I felt them watch me with pure envy.

  I didn’t know how to handle that. He held out his hand to me, palm up, waiting for me to take it. “Come with me and I’ll explain. I promise.”

  Again, there was a nagging in the back of my head, but I couldn’t quite place it. “I was bored of school anyway,” I decided and actually took his hand. His grip was strong, his fingers callused as if manual labor was what made him his money.

  The car he led me over to after we exited school was run down, but looked well loved. “Everyone’s gonna talk about you now,” he stated as he opened the door for me.

  I smirked. “No, everyone’s going to talk about you. Kinda wish you’d have just kissed me in there because we could use another scandal.” And that I meant. I wanted the story with my mom to blow over, and I knew if a stranger who’d just picked me up would have kissed me…

  Besides, he was too damn handsome, all man. Wide around the shoulders, bulging biceps, tight ass, dangerous scruff.

  Hell, he even had tattoos that vanished under his sleeves, wrapping around his wrists where I could see them.

  He blinked. “Do you mean that?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah. It’s a long story.”

  For a moment he thought, then he cocked his head, stepping in. “You have Silvercrest Mess, right?” It was the town’s very own social media platform, meant for information about the town, used for gossiping and showing off.

  “I sure do.”

  He held out his hand, demanding my cell, and I handed it to him. “Well, then let’s make sure they do have something to talk about.” He swiped to the camera screen,
flipped it to selfie and then stretched his arm while he claimed my lips. I forgot the picture almost instantly as his lips moved with mine.

  He’d never kissed me before, that much I knew, and yet this felt like coming home; as if part of me had always waited for him.

  When he pulled back, he was as breathless as I felt. “Just so you know,” he started, handing me my cell, “from now on we do it the proper way. I wouldn’t kiss one of the good ones on the first date. And now, post this on SM, whichever one you want, and then let’s get out of here. Reconnecting.” He winked at me and I flipped through the few versions of pictures he’d taken, and I realized I’d wrapped my arms around his neck.

  Damn, I didn’t think I’d ever gotten lost in a kiss as much as I had gotten lost in this one.

  Posting the picture and pocketing my phone, I couldn’t wait to hear what Kip had to tell.

  After all, he’d just walked into school like my knight in shining…denims, taking me away from what would have been a horrible day no matter what.

  Chapter Three

  Belle

  It took me until we were half way through an early lunch to realize what the nagging in the back of my mind was trying to tell me.

  Kip lifted his hand, the tattooed knuckles catching my attention yet again when it struck me and I remembered something I didn’t ever want to recall again, but clearly couldn’t get way from.

  “You were never a liar,” I stated into whatever he was talking about. I’d meant to listen. I wanted to listen, but that nagging had been impossible to ignore.

  He blinked, his long lashes almost distracting me. “What did I lie about?”

  I leaned back in my seat, feeling a weird calm come over me. Maybe I should be used to betrayal, but frankly, I hadn’t expected Kip to do it.

  Really, as ironic as it was, I hadn’t expected anyone who didn’t belong to Silvercrest to betray me. “I don’t know,” I started, “maybe about how you were looking for me, had to search the internet for mom and me for such a long time? Or how you were looking for me.” I couldn’t help but pointing that out twice because damn, I wished it was true.

  He cocked his head, handsome and yet less so since I knew who he was. “What?”

  I leaned in, taking his hand and spreading it palm down on the tabletop. I touched the dark lines, watching them vanish up his wrist and underneath the sleeve of his shirt. “These tattoos… So handsome. So tempting. Bad boys always have them…” I shook my head, my heart aching because the one person I thought would stick up for me—based on my childhood experiences—turned out to be someone who could ultimately ruin my life. “I wonder how you’d look in black leather clothes… And on a bike. Let’s say… A black one.”

  His expression darkened before guilt crossed his features. “Belle, I can explain that…”

  “You better, because I’m this close to making a scene just for the fun of it.”

  Kip licked his lips. “Your mother ruined my life. I have a rap sheet because of her. I lived on the street because of her. Your kidnapping… She paid me five bucks to pick you up because she was late. Didn’t you ever wonder why the door to the house was open? The one I took you to? It was also stocked with your favorite sweets, had electricity, and water.”

  I swallowed. “The police said you were a street kid, and you knew all the houses in the street. They assumed you were breaking into houses you knew were empty because their owners were…” He had started shaking his head and I closed my eyes. I’d read the police reports once I was old enough and curious enough, but couldn’t remember correctly anymore.

  The only thing I knew was the way he’d treated me.

  “You don’t even recall that day right, do you? What do you remember?”

  I absently still brushed my fingertips across the back of my hand, pulling back when I realized it. “You picked me up and said my dad was running late, and that you had my favorite candy. And when we entered the house… You…”

  “Don’t remember the story the cops told you? Or the words your mother put in your mouth?” he taunted, then his face got soft.

  “I told you that your mom was coming later and that she’d told me your address. When we entered the house I just needed to turn the knob… The way your mother had told me. And when you said it wasn’t your house…”

  “You said it had to be, because mom told you, and that I had a room.” Now that he had started it, the memories came back. They were pale compared to those I had of him reading to me and playing with me, but they were there; clearer than those I’d told my mother about.

  Or, if I believed him, those she suggested to me.

  It explained so much.

  “And just in case you don’t believe me, I have a recording of her confessing to it. I am here because someone wants your mother to be ruined the way she ruined my life. Sadly, somehow she managed to talk her way out of that video.”

  I snorted. “Talk her way out of it… She bought her way out of it. And if my mother was cunning enough back then to arrange my kidnapping—which, just for your information, I don’t truly believe yet—then why does it surprise you that she got out of this? Especially an affair. You tried to keep it hidden and yet not. What can I say? Besides, what are you aiming at? What do you want to happen to her?”

  For a long moment Kip stayed quiet, then he replied, “I want her to be embarrassed, to lose it all. Corey Jones was supposed to kick her out, or…” He thought for a moment. “If I could have it I’d have her embarrassed and called out in front of a lot of people she desperately wants approval off. And then, I still want him to kick her out.”

  “It would be me, too. If something happens to her, it’ll happen to me.”

  A smile crossed his face, but when I asked him what it meant, he didn’t answer.

  “So, after the police got you out… What happened?” He asked instead.

  “Mom moved us away. Dad lost custody of me and all rights to seeing me. It took until I turned sixteen for me to find out that he’d also been charged with negligence, but mom didn’t follow the case enough. He lost everything, but… I don’t know.”

  He arched a brow. “You don’t know what?”

  “I expected him to reach out to me anyway. He used to be rich. He knew people. Why did he just give up? Didn’t he care?”

  He pressed his lips together, then sighed. “Ever considered that your mother had her fingers in that? She has a lot of rich friends and she knows shady people.”

  Sadly I had to admit he was right about that. “Masquerade.”

  He blinked at me.

  “The Society of Silvercrest has a masquerade every year. Everyone is there, and it would be perfect to expose her…”

  The grin that came onto Kip’s lips was positively evil. “Wanna help?”

  I’d never wanted riches anyway, and I couldn’t care less what Silvercrest thought of me, so… “Yes… It would be a pleasure.”

  Kip

  I didn’t like that she’d recognized me by a mere glance at my tattooed knuckles.

  I especially didn’t like it because once she let go of my hand she was much more reserved. The girl with the shining eyes that I’d picked up at the prep school was gone.

  We left the diner and she followed me over to my truck, her eyes going over it as if she’d not seen it before. “Okay, so how do we want to handle that?”

  She waited while I wondered how best to go. Now that I’d seen her, been close to her, and kissed her, I wanted more.

  No matter how much I wasn’t the dating type, and wouldn’t even be after I cleared my own name, I wanted to do that with her. Hell, she was everything a guy could wish for, and I didn’t need much more time to know that for sure.

  “What did your mother say to you about the affair? Or didn’t you confront her?” While that was the last topic I wanted to talk about, it would be perfect for us to show up as couple and then visit the masquerade together… Which then would fulfill my ultimate revenge fantasy.

&
nbsp; “I didn’t confront her. I saw the evidence in bed. But I have a feeling she wouldn’t have admitted it to me, and had I asked her about the stains on her back, she’d have pretended Cory had been home.”

  Yeah, I thought so, too, and didn’t doubt Belle’s need to just ignore what she’d seen instead of confronting it.

  “How long have you been sleeping with her now?”

  I cringed at the question, but then swore to myself that it wouldn’t happen again and that I’d never lie to Belle about it. “Three months at her home, two at the Country Club before that. It’s why I didn’t even think you’d be here. When you met me in front of your house yesterday I realized you were home and… I couldn’t resist talking to you again. Your reaction in school showed me how much you missed me, too. I’m glad I didn’t recall you and me having fun wrong.”

  “You took care of me. I usually didn’t see my parents much, neither before nor after the kidnapping, and my nannies never cared much. They played games and all. You read to me, and played games with me. You watch he’d over me while I slept, making sure there were no monsters. I would have followed you everywhere. You were my friend. You were the one person who ever took time for me, and who didn’t get bored of me. You paid me attention for me, and I craved that ever after. I was young, didn’t know what it meant to have found someone you truly cared about, but you were my first real friend. I think you were one of the only ones I ever truly had. Of course, I was happy seeing you again.”

  “Even with all you’ve been told about me? All the lies?”

  She lowered her lashes, her expression vulnerable, and I wanted to gather her in my arms. “I knew how you’d treated me, and although I partly didn’t trust my memories anymore surrounding everything, I knew how we’d been in that house.” She paused for a moment, then shook her head. “I couldn’t forget that. Couldn’t forget you.” Her gaze met mine and although it felt like she was asking for something, I didn’t dare to step in.