15. Lilah
15
LILAH
“Are you sure this dress is okay?”
I looked down at the short-sleeved floral dress I’d chosen for dinner with Jude’s family. It was one of the nicer things I owned, but now that we were pulling through the iron gate and driving toward a pristine white mini mansion, I wasn’t sure it was good enough.
Jude reached for my hand across the Range Rover’s console. “It’s perfect. You look beautiful.”
It was impossible to tell if he was just being nice, because Jude — improbably — had turned out to be someone who was pretty much always nice.
And he wasn’t hard to look at either. He was hot as hell in the jeans he usually wore but the black dress pants and midnight blue button-down he’d chosen for dinner at his parents’ made him look like a movie star, an effect that was only enhanced by the sunglasses he wore to shield his eyes from the setting sun.
The sunglasses and the dark color of his shirt set off his fair hair, always shaved close to the scalp, and his skin — like all the Bastards’ — was always a little tan because he spent so much time outdoors.
Not sleeping with Jude alone was starting to feel like a glaring oversight.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“What?” Had I been staring? “Yeah, I’m good. Just nervous.”
“They’re going to love you,” he said, pulling the Rover next to a red Corvette.
“How do you know?” I didn’t know when the dinner had morphed from an opportunity to do Jude a favor into an event that actually mattered.
“Because you’re amazing.” He put the car in park and gave me a quick kiss. “What’s not to love?”
I didn’t answer, but looking at the enormous house, I couldn’t help feeling I probably wasn’t what the Carringtons had in mind for their son.
Not that I was thinking long-term or anything. Because that would never work.
Obviously.
We got out of the car and Jude took my hand as we made our way up the walkway to the ornate front door. “Sure you don’t want to turn around? It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“I’m good.” I smoothed my dress. I felt vulnerable without my knife, which was crazy. I was going to dinner at Jude’s parents’ house, not a fight at the Orpheum (okay, I’d never been to Fight Night at the Orpheum, but I’d heard they got rough).
Jude rang the bell and a few seconds later the door was opened by a pretty curvaceous woman with a styled blonde bob and perfect makeup.
She pulled Jude into her arms. “For heaven’s sake, Jude! You don’t have to ring the bell ! This is your home!”
He hugged her back with a laugh.
She pulled away and looked him up and down. “You look good, son. Healthy and happy.”
“I am,” he said.
“That’s all that matters.” There was weight to the words, meaning I couldn’t grasp.
Jude turned to me. “Mom, this is Lilah. Lilah, my mom, Mary.”
“I was so happy when Jude said he was bringing a guest!” Mary Carrington said with a smile. “He’s never done that before.”
Was Jude blushing ?
“Mom, I’ve brought people to dinner before.”
“Well, yes!” she said. “Friends! But not a girl .”
“Mom…”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Lilah. Aren’t you a pretty thing! Do come in.”
I wasn’t sure I’d ever met someone so… perky. It was nice, sweet, but also, well, a lot. And so unlike quiet, thoughtful Jude.
We entered the house and I tried not to stare at the winding staircase leading to the second floor, the chandelier dripping with crystals, an obviously antique console table by the door. It was the most extravagant house I’d ever been in, so diametrically opposed to the warm, modern mountain house Jude had helped design that it was hard to imagine he could have come from so different a place.
We took off our jackets and Jude’s mom led us down a long hall that seemed to travel the length of the house.
“Why don’t you go talk to your dad?” Mary told Jude outside a set of closed double doors. “He’s with Luke in the den. Dinner will be ready soon.”
“Can I help you with anything?” I asked her.
“Oh no! But thank you for asking! You go enjoy yourself with the boys.”
The boys? I felt like I’d fallen into an episode of that 50s show my mom liked. Leave It to Beaver , I think it was called?
Except I didn’t think the family in the show was rich.
I thought I heard Jude sigh in the moment before he took my hand and opened the doors.
We stepped into a large cozy room with wood paneling — the kind I’d seen in pictures of old mansions, not the kind I’d seen in old basement rec rooms — and dark green walls. An older man sat in a chair near the fireplace where flames crackled softly. Across from him a younger man sat on a leather sofa.
“Speak of the devil,” the younger man said.
He flashed a strained version of Jude’s smile, but that was where the resemblance ended. Jude had obviously inherited his fair hair from his mother, but his brother had the same dark hair as their father, although the older man’s hair was threaded with gray.
Where Jude’s features were sharp, with high cheekbones and a cut jaw, his brother’s were soft, bordering on doughy. I noticed the drink in his hand and wondered if he was a heavy drinker. He had that look about him: spoiled frat boy already on his way to alcoholism.
I shut the thought down. I wasn’t being fair. I didn’t know Jude’s family.
The older man got to his feet but Jude’s brother stayed put.
Jude’s dad extended his hand. “Good to see you, son.”
Jude shook his hand. “You too.” He turned to me. “This is Lilah. Lilah, my dad, Richard, and my brother, Luke."
Jude’s dad glanced at me for about two seconds before he gave me a bland, disinterested smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Lilah. Welcome to our home.”
Our handshake made me feel like I was on a job interview.
“Thank you for having me. It’s beautiful.” I looked at Luke. “It’s nice to meet you.
He looked me over slowly from head to toe and I felt my skin crawl, my fingers itch for my knife. I tried to tell myself it didn’t mean anything, that I always felt better when I had my knife, but the truth was the guy gave me the creeps.
“You too, Lilah. That’s such a pretty name.”
I swallowed my annoyance. “Thanks.”
“Can I get you a drink?” Jude’s dad asked.
“No, thank you.” I’d had fun with the wine in Greece, but I doubted I’d ever be a regular drinker. The fact that the current situation felt mildly unsafe despite the traditional environment — that the only thing that made me feel safe was Jude, one of the perpetrators of my high-school trauma — was something I didn’t have time to analyze.
“I’m good,” Jude said.
I wouldn’t say I was surprised that Jude declined the drink, but it did make me realize something I hadn’t noticed before: the Bastards weren’t big drinkers either.
“Have a seat,” Jude’s dad said.
I was grateful when he put himself between me and his brother.
He looked from his dad to Luke. “How’s business?”
The tension in the room was as thick as molasses.
“Excellent,” Richard Carrington said. “Your brother just closed the largest account we’ve ever had.”
Jude looked at Luke. “Nice. Congrats.”
“Thanks,” Luke said. “And this is just the beginning. My team is killing it.”
“What business are you in?” I asked.
Jude’s dad turned his gaze on me and blinked slowly, like he’d just remembered I was there. “Finance.”
“Dad’s being modest,” Luke said. “The company he founded has the largest portfolio in the state.”
“Wow,” I said. I looked at Jude’s dad. “That’s amazing. Have you always been interested in finance?”
“No.” The curt answer surprised me. He cut a glance at Jude. “I chose something that would allow me to live a comfortable life, that would allow me to provide for a family, build something for them. My interests weren’t relevant.”
Ooookay…
I was relieved when the double doors opened — both of them, like we were in some old movie — and Jude’s mom appeared.
She smiled brightly. “Dinner is ready.”
My stomach twisted with nerves and Jude squeezed my hand as we headed for the hall with his dad and Luke. This was weird.
And I had a feeling it was only going to get weirder.