“Well, she is flashing her pussy. Not something nice girls are known for.”
“I am not!”
“Take off your shirt, Ax.”
“What?” He laughs.
“Take off your shirt.” Cooper is growling. He’s in a very bad mood. And he’s starting to tire from carrying me, huffing a little more with each step. He might be big and muscular—yes, he is definitely big and muscular—but you can’t carry a hundred twenty pounds over your shoulder for this long without feeling it. “And drape it over her fucking ass so no one can see her damn pussy.”
Oh. My. God. “Can you please stop talking about my private parts like I’m not even here?”
Lars chuckles in front.
But Ax’s face goes serious. “I’m not taking off my shirt. Lars, you do it.”
A few seconds later someone’s shirt goes over my ass, Cooper readjusts his grip on me, and the whole thing starts to feel very… stupid.
“Can you just put me down? I’ll walk. I’ll go wherever you want.”
“Fuck you, Cadee.” Cooper’s words are low. And final. Like this is the last thing he’s going to say to me. Ever.
And everyone goes quiet after that.
Finally, after what seems like forever, we’re at the marina. He carries me all the way down the dock, under the canopy of his slip, and then jumps into his flashy red speedboat.
With me still over his shoulder.
“Ughhhh,” I moan. Because that hurt! My ribs are so sore.
Then he flips me over so fast my head spins, and before I can find anything to hold on to, I tumble over and land on the floor.
Lars and Ax stand over me while Cooper starts the boat. And before I can even get back on my feet, he’s backing the boat out of the slip.
“Sit down, Cadee,” Ax seethes. “Now. And I’m only gonna warn you once. If you do something stupid, like jump out of the boat? I will go in after you. And trust me, you won’t enjoy what comes next.”
I fall to the side—right into Lars. And his very muscular bare chest. He wraps his arms around my middle and plops down on a long bench, pulling me into his lap.
I elbow him in the neck and scoot over, getting as far away from them as possible.
Then I hear screaming on the docks behind us and… what the hell?
Lars laughs. “Looks like Mona got kidnapped today too.”
And sure enough, one of those weird, hulking bodyguard men who are always following Mona Monroe around is carrying her to a boat as well.
We lock eyes for the briefest of moments, but… I see it. I see inside her in that moment.
She nods to me.
I nod back.
We’re both part of something beyond our control.
CHAPTER SEVEN - COOPER
The boat is loud and the engine whines as I increase the throttle. I have five fucking minutes to get her in that room and send my father a picture and I’m not going to make it.
I wish I could say I didn’t care. I wish I could say he can’t control me like this.
But it would be a lie.
We’re crossing the lake going ninety and the water is a little bit choppy, so we bounce into the waves. Cadee squeals each time. Lars and Ax are yelling. Enjoying themselves.
Why can’t I let it roll off me the way they do? Why do I always get so invested in things?
This is all part of his plan. I don’t know what his end game is yet, but everything about this day is part of his plan.
Maybe he’s infatuated with Cadee?
I mean, she’s not bad-looking. She’s actually kinda… cute. I guess. Not sultry and dark like Mona. Not confident and bitchy like Isabella. Who, by the way, I need to get in touch with about dinner tonight. Cadee’s not even really bookish and quiet the way… well, I’m sure High Court has some bookish, quiet girls around here somewhere. I just don’t know their names.
Cadee is a little mixture of all three.
She has lived through some dark times. No doubt. I’ve seen that first-hand.
And she’s got a mouth on her when you piss her off. So even though she pretends to be all bookish and quiet—spying on students from the safety of the woods all these years—she’s not.
It’s an act.
She doesn’t belong here and everyone knows it.
If she had gone to Prep like the rest of us, instead of being homeschooled by her mother all these years, she would’ve adapted. Conformed to one group or the other. She would know her place.
But she didn’t go to Prep. And she doesn’t know her place.
And yet she is here. Has always been here.
She’s moving into my house today. Like… what the fuck?
Why?
Maybe that’s what my father wants? To put her in her place?
I would be more than happy to knock Cadee Hunter down a few rungs. She holds a secret of mine. And even though outsiders think that money is what drives us, that’s simply not true.
Secrets. That’s the currency of the über-rich. We deal in secrets.
And she’s flush with secrets right now.
This has to be why my father has taken such an interest in her. There is no other logical explanation for why he’s keeping her around and forcing me to stay here this summer.
He has a secret of mine now too.
He knows. He has to know.
I swing the boat sideways and splash what amounts to a small tidal wave over the dock out in front of our family mansion. Lars jumps out before we’ve even settled, and Ax hands him the rope to tie up the boat.
I turn and point to Cadee. “Do not give me any trouble. Hear me? Let’s go.”
She opens her mouth to protest, but I grab her by the arm and tug her to the side of the boat. Lars reaches for her, pulls her out, and then we’re walking down the dock towards the house.
The side of the mansion facing Monrovian Lake is technically considered the back of the house, but it’s really the only side that counts. The only side people can see. The side meant to impress. And in that respect, it does its job.
The Valcourt Mansion was first built in 1821. Of course, it didn’t look like this. I’ve seen photographs from as far back as 1832 and while I’m sure it was nice for the time, I would not call it stylish—an imposing Tudor made of dark gray stone with the characteristic half-timbers on the second floor filled in with dark gray stucco.
I love this house. I have always loved this house. And when I was a kid it made me feel like a king—or at least a prince—because the elaborate gables, severely-pitched roofline, arched doorways, and stone chimneys really do make it look like a castle.
The real front of the house is on the other side facing the narrow black-top road that weaves through the forest of old sugar maples and tall tulip trees. But this is a gated neighborhood of only two dozen sprawling mansions that all face the lake like our place. So no one gets to see that side, except for the kids in the club.
I drag Cadee through the high archway that leads to the main door and hold it open to let everyone pass through before closing it behind me.
“This way,” I say, once again grabbing Cadee by the upper arm. I’m late. There’s no way to fix that. I just want to tick this task off my list and forget about Cadee Hunter until I’m forced to consider her again.
I drag her down the long hallway that leads to the guest suite at the end of the southeast wing and then throw open the door to the suite and shove her inside.