28. Twenty-Eight
TWENTY-EIGHT
W as I worried my father was up to something? A little. Seeing him with Ryder Stone had been jarring. Deep down, I didn’t believe my father was doing anything evil. Was that wishful thinking? Maybe. In truth, it came down to my father being too smart for something this stupid.
Still— still —a small seed of niggling doubt flared to life when Zach, Rex, Ruby, and Olivia strolled into the lounge.
“I feel as if I’m about to go in front of a firing squad,” Tallulah muttered.
Even though it was a serious situation, I burst out laughing. That was such a Tallulah thing to say.
“See, I feel as if I’ve been called to the principal’s office,” I admitted. “That’s somehow worse to me.”
“You think getting called to the principal’s office is worse than being put in front of a firing squad?” she challenged.
“Um, yeah. With a firing squad, it’s over quickly. At the principal’s office, it could linger for days.”
“Wow.” She gave me a long once-over, genuine fondness shining in her eyes. “You’re kind of a geek. Have I ever told you that?”
“I’m fine with it.” I meant it. “That’s not a deal-breaker for you, is it?”
“No.” Her voice was soft. “It’s not a deal-breaker. It’s … a pretty cool deal.”
“Good.” I leaned in and rested my forehead against hers for a brief moment. At the sound of someone clearing his throat—my guess was Rex—I lifted my head and found we were the center of attention. “I guess you want an explanation,” I said lamely.
Zach crossed his arms over his chest. “We closed down the lounge because Candy said this was important. I guess you could say that we want an explanation.”
“It might take a little time,” Tallulah hedged.
“We have time,” Zach said. “Just tell us what’s going on. We can’t help until we know what it is.”
I forced a tight smile. “Okay, but remember that you asked for it.”
THE STORY TOOK LONGER THAN I THOUGHT to relay, mostly because Tallulah and I kept backtracking to make sure we had all the pertinent details correct. When we finished, Zach seemed flummoxed, which resulted in him being contemplative.
Olivia, however, was ready to start busting heads. “I’ve always known that Sharon is a snake,” she hissed. “Didn’t I tell you?” she demanded of Tallulah.
In my opinion, that was a rude question to ask Sharon’s daughter.
Tallulah might have no respect for her mother, but despite everything, there was still some love there.
It might have been buried deep—so deep it was almost invisible—but it was still there.
Tallulah didn’t seem bothered by Olivia’s statement, however.
“You did tell me that,” my girlfriend—because she was my official girlfriend, finally—acknowledged. “I believe I told you that first, though.”
Olivia grumbled something unintelligible under her breath. Then she straightened. “How do we kill them and get away with it?” she asked with a straight face.
Rex shot his sister an incredulous look, and Ruby jolted. Only Zach and I laughed, knowing it wasn’t a serious question. Olivia was simply venting her emotions.
“Killing them is not on the agenda, baby,” Zach replied, his hand landing on Olivia’s back. He seemed conflicted. “Although I do have some questions about how you would want to do something like that, even if it’s just a fantasy.”
There was no hesitation when Olivia responded. “I’ve seen Casino . I know exactly how many bodies are buried in the desert. We have a plan.”
Confusion had me glancing over at Tallulah when Olivia gestured toward her. The “plan” obviously involved my girlfriend. “You have a plan?” I challenged.
I expected Tallulah to laugh or even be embarrassed. Maybe this plan was something they’d talked about when they were kids. She didn’t look bothered in the least, however.
“Of course we have a plan,” Tallulah replied. “We’ve been amassing enemies since elementary school. If someone ever goes nuclear, we know exactly how to deal with them. It’s going to be glorious.”
My lips twitched. “You’re going to bury them in the desert?”
“Will they be alive or dead when you do the burying?” Rex asked. He seemed interested despite himself.
Olivia didn’t scoff and say that was a dumb question. Instead, she jabbed a finger at her brother. “You know how it works. They’ll be almost dead so they won’t have the strength to crawl out of their shallow graves but still alive so they suffer.”
Zach gave his beloved some serious side-eye. “Just how much thought have you put into this?”
“Olivia and I used to daydream quite a bit about going after the people who made fun of us,” Tallulah admitted as she toyed with her apron. “Unfortunately, we had a few tense years there where we didn’t have a lot of friends. That part of our lives didn’t last long.”
“Oh, that’s not true,” Olivia countered. “I had a very awkward puberty.”
“So awkward,” Rex agreed, his smile something straight out of the Annoying Big Brother’s Playbook. “So very, very awkward.”
Zach’s lips curved, but when he caught Olivia glaring at him, he blanked his expression. “I thought you were always beautiful, baby.”
That was very clearly a lie because Rex’s eyebrows almost flew off into space. “We used to laugh at her.”
“I never laughed at my wife,” Zach shot back, warning in his tone.
“She wasn’t your wife then. That would’ve been illegal. She was your best friend’s goofy little sister … and we totally laughed at her.”
Zach looked pained as he regarded Olivia. “You don’t believe him, do you?”
Olivia, for once, didn’t look as if she cared what her husband was saying. “Let’s talk about Sharon,” she barked. “What are we going to do with her?”
“You sound a little bloodthirsty,” Candy noted, speaking for the first time.
Olivia gave her a “so what” look. “And?”
“And it’s almost as if you have a personal grudge against this woman,” Candy pressed.
“I do have a personal grudge against her.” Olivia acted as if Candy was responding in idiotic fashion. “I didn’t realize what was happening when I was in third grade and I heard my parents talking about people coming for Tallulah. I figured out that it was because of Sharon, though.”
My heart seized as I glanced over at Tallulah. Would she want this discussion happening out in the open like this? To my surprise, she didn’t look bothered in the least. She appeared no different than normal.
“My parents didn’t want to explain things to me,” Olivia continued. “They just … didn’t think that I could handle it at that age. I get it now—I really do because I’m about to have my own kid—but I didn’t get it then, and I was really angry at the things that were happening.”
Olivia wet her lips. “I just wanted to know that Tallulah was okay, but my parents were always talking in hushed voices. That freaked me out, and the only thing I knew at the time was that Sharon was to blame.”
Tallulah reached over and rubbed Olivia’s shoulder to offer her comfort. Even though Tallulah had gone through so much, it was wonderful that she still worried about how her trauma affected Olivia.
“I hate Sharon,” Olivia explained. “I’ve always hated her. As I got older, I realized what was going on, and I hated her more. If she’s working with Ryder, I want there to be some repercussions on the matter.”
“That seems like a fair wish,” Candy said. “How do we make that happen?”
“We need to know what they’re up to.” Zach’s eyes landed on me, and I braced myself. “Your father might be the only one who can tell us.”
“He might not know,” I hedged.
Zach nodded in understanding. “You’re in a weird place. I get it. If you don’t want to be involved?—”
I cut him off. “If my father is up to no good, I want to stop him. I just… I can’t see him going out on a limb for Ryder. That’s not who he is. He’s too selfish.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Rex volunteered. “Can you go to him, sit him down, explain he’s been seen with Ryder, and ask him what’s going on?”
I’d already resigned myself to this course of action. It wasn’t what I wanted but what we all needed. “I can do that,” I confirmed and sighed. “Do you want me to go now?” I gestured around. “I have work.”
“I can get someone to cover for you,” Ruby offered. “We need to get an idea of what we’re dealing with, and you’re our best shot of getting that information.”
I’d expected her to say that. “Okay. I’ll change my clothes and head out to the house. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”
TALLULAH OFFERED TO GO WITH ME, BUT I politely declined. I felt stronger around her, but this was something I had to do on my own. I gave her a reassuring kiss—in front of an audience, no less—and then left her to brainstorm with the others.
It was time I had a conversation with my father.
He was home, which I was grateful for since he liked to spend his afternoons on the golf course. My mother was not present, which was also a good thing. She would’ve insisted I explain the entire thing to her, and I didn’t have the time or inclination for that.
The butler ushered me into the house without a smile.
None of the butlers my father employed were happy people.
In contrast, all of the cooks my mother hired—and then spent time learning from in the kitchen—adored her.
My father didn’t see anything wrong with being despised by his employees.
That was another thing we would never see eye to eye on.
“Ronan.” My father looked up from his newspaper—he still had a physical one delivered to the house daily—and fixed me with an unreadable look. “This is a surprise.”
“Dad.” I bobbed my head in greeting. There was no warmth in the smile I shot him, but he’d never cared about that before. I didn’t expect him to start caring now. “Is Mom expected back?”
“She’s spending the night at a spa.” Dad made a face. “I’m sure she’s getting wrapped in dead leaves and bathing in mud even as we speak. Do you need her for something?”
“Actually, I’m here to see you.”