Chapter 14 #2
I stared out the window, thinking back to the night in the restaurant.
The way Theo had been such a jerk about me refusing food.
And at my parents’ party, when he kept trying to slip hamburgers and potato salad and pasta onto my plate.
I thought it was just a dig at how skinny I was, but what if that wasn’t it?
What if me not eating made him nervous, brought up past trauma, and his response was to bully me into eating?
It made me want to learn more about him. To find out what made him tick, so I could avoid stepping on any other hidden land mines.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be. I don’t want your pity.”
I opened my mouth to tell him it wasn’t pity, but changed my mind. He wouldn’t believe me anyway, and he’d probably just see my regret as something else to exploit, knowing him.
The rest of the drive north passed in stilted silence, punctuated only by my directions.
Theo kept the car to a somewhat reasonable speed, but I still flinched anytime he switched lanes too quickly or tailgated.
After the night of the accident, I’d mostly avoided motor vehicles, and despite unpacking why in therapy, being in them still freaked me out.
Especially when someone I didn’t trust was behind the wheel.
“Tell me more about tonight’s party,” Theo said when we were a few miles away. All I’d really told him over text was that there would be plenty of people for him to schmooze with.
“It’s at Cordelia Fentwick’s summer house,” I said.
“I thought you hated her.”
“I do.”
“What’s the party for?” he asked.
“It’s the annual death day celebration for Cordelia’s late husband.”
“That can’t be a real thing.”
“I assure you, it is. He passed twenty years ago, and every year on the anniversary of his death, she throws this huge, lavish dinner party, with the proceeds going to lung cancer research.”
“Is that what he died from?”
“No. He had a stroke on a golf course.”
The steering wheel creaked from how hard Theo was squeezing it. “Stella.”
“I’m being serious! That’s really how he died. And no, I don’t know why the money goes toward something else. Probably because she hated him.”
He shook his head. “Imagine being that petty.”
“Well, at least that pettiness results in a lot of money being put toward research for a really deadly form of cancer. And . . .”
He glanced my way. “And what?”
I sighed. Time to dance with the devil. “And since Cordelia is such a petty asshole, that means a lot of other ones will be in attendance, so you should have plenty of people to prey on.”
“Your parents are going.”
“Yes,” I said, my tone sharp because I didn’t like the implication. “Because they genuinely want to contribute money to the research.”
“Cordelia was at their party.”
“Because she’s my father’s aunt and they invited her to be polite.”
His profile contorted with a grimace. “You’re related to that old cow?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
He cut his gaze to me again. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The two of you have an uncanny resemblance to each other.”
I glared. “She’s five-foot-nothing with flaming red hair and looks like the reanimated corpse of a frog.”
“Like I said, uncanny.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted to punch someone so much. There was absolutely no hope of getting along with him.
“Walk me through the festivities,” he said as we turned off the main road and started climbing into the foothills.
“There will be drinks and hors d’oeuvres right when we get there. Don’t overdo it on those, because Aunt Cordy’s dinners are usually five courses. Afterward, there will be more socializing and dancing, followed by the fundraiser.”
“And who do you expect to be there?”
I sighed, racking my brain. “I haven’t been to one of these in years, but the attendees rarely change in our circles, so I’m guessing the big names will be the MacArthurs, the Warners, the Crowns, the Rosenfields, and the Bluhms. Maybe the—”
“The Bluhms?” Theo interrupted. “As in, Bradley?”
“Obviously not, since he’s busy fleeing across Europe.
And probably not his parents either. I think they’re pretty much housebound.
But his aunt and uncle and cousins are still being sociable, and from what Mom said, they’re telling everyone who will listen that Brad always creeped them out, even as a kid. ”
Theo scoffed. “Please tell me you’re not dumb enough to believe that.”
I placed my hands in my lap, clutching them together to keep from reaching out and squeezing Theo’s throat. “No, I’m not. Especially because I have it on good authority that they helped cover some of Brad’s crimes when he was younger.”
“You’d know all about that kind of behavior, wouldn’t you?” he said.
I craned my head sideways, staring at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He sent me a scathing look. “Please. I did my research. I know all about the horrible shit you got away with because your parents threw money at the problem.”
“Look, I’m the first to admit that I was a reckless idiot when I was younger, but DUIs and pranks that got out of hand are not the same as driving your car into someone’s bedroom because they turned you down for a date.”
“But running someone over is.”
I sucked in a breath. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No? You didn’t run a woman down and then skip away from it scot-free?”
“Shut up,” I said, and in my mind, I saw Maddie sprinting into the darkness, heard Runa screaming.
“Not so high and mighty now, are you?” Theo said, an ugly, goading note in his tone.
“I said, shut up.” My ears were starting to ring.
“Talk all the shit you want, but the truth is, you’re just as bad as the rest of those assholes.”
“No, I’m not,” I said, my voice shaking.
“Tell that to the woman you—”
“I wasn’t the one driving the fucking car!” I screamed.