Chapter Sixteen
SIXTEEN
“…AT LEAST TWELVE!” Roxie’s voice carried before they reached the top of the stairs.
The coffee machine blasted to life and the TV was on, tracking the news on mute.
“Ah! Parfait!”
Mimi screeched when they rounded the top. The underwear was gone, but Mimi was in exactly the same spot she’d been when Ariella left earlier. Did the clean up go on around her? What was left underneath?
Without shame, Cam held her hand on the walk across the living room toward his grandmother. “One of these days I’m going to do something that shocks you, Mimi.”
Mimi patted the seat at her side. “Come sit by me.”
Roxie was in the kitchen, eating something and making coffee while sort of dancing to music that wasn’t there.
The guys were nowhere around. Thena wasn’t there either.
To her surprise, Cam perched on the arm of the couch and swooped her around into the seat by his grandmother.
Mimi immediately clasped her hand. “Little Spencer Raith used to tear off his diaper and go running free, he liked the air about his winkie.”
Cam tried to step in. “Mi—”
“That boy would never be constrained. He was a rule breaker from day one.”
“Mimi,” Cam said. “You think she wants to hear that?”
“You should come to the complex and trawl through the archives with me, Ariella,” Mimi went on without paying Cam heed. “The things I could show you.”
“I want to see,” Roxie called, sucking something off her finger. “I’m getting tired of only seeing Zairn’s.”
The accordion doors to the patio were open. Is that where the others were?
Before she could ask to change the subject, the front door burst open and was thrown back into its frame by a scowling drop-dead-melting-delicious man that was still a league below Camden.
“Ah! Another of my boys!” Mimi declared. “Is it my birthday? Oh, or is this when you off me?”
“Mimi,” Cam said. “We’re not the Appletons.”
“Right. Right.”
“Shouldn’t that door be open?” Roxie asked the new guest, coming around the kitchen island. “Why would you leave Jane in the car?”
“I wouldn’t,” new guy said.
“Why would you leave her at the hotel?” Roxie asked, snagging a towel to wipe her hands. “She doesn’t deserve a word in our family business, is that it? You got a ring on her finger so you can just cast her aside? Who cares what the stupid little na?ve woman thinks? Huh?”
“She’s in LA.”
Shock loosened Roxie’s jaw. “You left her behind? You abandoned her in—”
“With Zay-Jay,” this new guy said. “She stayed behind with Zay-Jay.”
After licking her lips, Roxie blinked. Twice. Then her mouth opened in a rapturous laugh.
Zairn came inside from the back patio with Tripp just behind him. “Sounds like a happy wife.”
“Damn right I’m happy.” Roxie’s whole arm jolted out to back up her sure forefinger. “Knox has been traded in for a younger model!”
Knox! Cam’s brother, of course.
“Already?” Tripp asked, going to Roxie while Zairn joined them in the living room. “Aren’t you a Collier, man? Shit, guess it’s only Breckenridges who get what they want and keep hold of it.”
“Zay-Jay,” Knox said, deadpan. “My wife stayed behind with Zay-Jay.”
“Don’t despair,” Mimi said. “She sleeps with you.”
“If she had a choice, I guarantee she’d have Zay-Jay in her bed just as much.” Roxie leaned back to snag a glass of purple liquid that she gave to Tripp. “More, probably.”
“Doesn’t he have parents of his own?” Tripp asked, raising the glass to tilt and inspect the liquid. “Looks like anti-freeze.”
“It does not!” Mimi declared. “You’re thinking of methylated spirits.”
Yet, he drank it anyway.
“Could be I’m trying to take you out, Priest.” Roxie poked him. “I’m in your will, right?”
“Do I have a will?” Tripp asked, enjoying the taste with a head bob then drinking some more. “Sounds like a Breck problem.”
“Oh, did you see Breck and Sequoia at the wedding?” Mimi asked, reaching over her to swot Cam’s thigh. “Have you ever seen a couple more complete?”
Zairn tucked his phone away and turned toward the kitchen, arm outstretched. “Give it here, Lo.”
“No,” Roxie said, snatching the glass from Tripp as it was about to meet his lips. “You’ll crush my spirit.”
Mimi sighed. “Ah, the true meaning of marriage.”
“You know, Ariella…” Roxie said, examining the Breckenridge at her side. “If you’re going to hook your wagon to anyone’s trailer, you should go with Tripp. He might not use his trust fund, because he’s too busy scrounging, but at least he has access to his.”
“Cam has access to his,” Mimi said, then appealed to Knox. “Doesn’t he?”
“Think we used it to build a hospital… or eight.”
“Who was your architect?” Unfazed, Cam didn’t hesitate in his offense. “Why didn’t I get first refusal?”
Did he really not care?
“Hospitals are boring.”
As buildings or just in general? Mimi wasn’t specific.
Cam was all confidence. “Mine wouldn’t be, Mi.”
“It’s not always about the money,” Tripp said.
“No,” Roxie agreed. “Sometimes it’s about sex and she’d get more of that from you too.”
“You’re depriving the girl, Parfait,” Mimi said, all wide eyes and wisdom.
Cam took it in good spirits, thank God. “Hear me commenting on any of your sex lives?”
“We don’t like to boast when they’re so full and joyful.
” Roxie downed the rest of the purple liquid.
“If you want to talk about sex, we’ll talk about it.
Might break Ariella’s spirit, and the gospel of Mimi says you’re not supposed to do that ‘til marriage. But let’s go wild and mix it up…
” The beauty rounded the island. “When was the last time you got some, Ariella?”
“Don’t answer that,” Cam said, which only piqued everyone’s interest. “Not because she got it from me.”
“You’re the only guy on the planet proud of not screwing his girlfriend.”
Girlfriend? Since when was she—okay, this was getting dicey.
Knox locked onto her. “You’re Brooker, right?”
“Yes,” she said, startled by his abrupt tone. “My boss is trying to find me another placement.”
As to how successful that hunt might be… She wouldn’t want to comment.
Almost in her head, Cam said, “You don’t need another placement.”
“You want her to stay?”
Knox and Zairn shared a look, which meant… no idea.
“Mieux is in New York.”
“Since when?” Mimi asked. “Where’s my Meth?”
Roxie jumped to it. “I’m doing it, sorry.”
“It’s not real Antifreeze,” Zairn said on a mission to the kitchen.
“No,” Roxie agreed, pulling bottles from here and there. That wasn’t Cam’s alcohol, it was Ariella’s job to know that. “I’m not simultaneously trying to kill myself and your loved ones.”
“I meant there’s a real Antifreeze cocktail, more than one actually, that—”
“Ah!” And Roxie snatched a bottle from her husband’s reach. “There is nothing less authentic about my Antifreeze, no—it’s not Antifreeze, it’s Meth, that’s what it’s called. And I’m the only one who knows how to make it.”
Though from the way she turned this bottle and that, it wasn’t clear if the brunette remembered her formula.
Zairn snagged her chin and hauled it up to plant his mouth on his wife’s.
“That man has his ways.” Mimi beamed. “Lucky girl.”
Zairn scooped Roxie up to prop her on the back counter by the fridge. Tongues and hands tangled, they had all the time in the world.
“And if he doesn’t get the taste from her, you could be up next Priest.”
Though the others laughed, the suggestion washed over Tripp. “I’ve known Zairn a long time.”
Hazarding a guess, Mimi squinted. “Meaning you’ve been waiting your turn all that time?”
“If that’s the way you want to take it, sure.”
She leaned against Cam’s leg. “Should we tell them there are rooms upstairs?”
“Or call them a cab,” Knox mumbled.
“They don’t care about the audience,” Mimi said. “They broadcast themselves to millions—billions across the world. What’s a little kiss among friends?”
A little kiss? Mimi’s glee suggested either she was living vicariously or else had won some kind of lucrative bet.
“This will go much quicker without RK’s input.”
“I heard that, Knox!” Roxie’s voice was loud and clear. She swung her legs on either side of her husband, resting her weight against him, head now on his upper arm. “I already have a plan.”
“No one cares about your plan.”
“Knox Michael Collier!” Another voice joined them, this time from the patio. Thena appeared a moment later. “Fix the attitude.”
“It’s Roxie,” Knox said, opening a hand her way. “She’s all attitude.”
“Jane misses you too.” Thena went to her child to accept his kiss on her cheek. “Your reunion will reward the break.”
“I don’t need a break to know I want to be near my wife.”
“You’re worried about your brother and frustrated you didn’t see this coming.”
“I could never have foreseen this.”
“No, you couldn’t.” Thena clasped his cheek. “As always, you take too much on yourself.”
“Oh, poo, poo,” Mimi interjected. “This isn’t a funeral, it’s a good thing. An excellent thing. This is the frog kiss, the last petal on the rose, the waking after years of slumber…”
And that meant…?
“Exactly,” Roxie said, a hand on her husband’s chest as he backed off to go to her bottles. “It’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
“If either of you want to start making sense soon…”
Good, Cam didn’t get it either. At least she wasn’t the only one.
“Ariella breaks the curse.” Tripp apparently followed completely. “Cam was waiting for his princess, now he’s found her. Ariella is the end of his story.”
“Okay, don’t say it like that,” Roxie said, hopping off the counter. “You’ll scare her.”
Was disbelief written all over her face?
“I’m not scared,” Ariella said honestly.
“But Cam and I have only known each other a month.” And spent many of those waking hours together.
Some sleeping ones too, after last night.
“I won’t be the one to break his streak for the sake of it.
I won’t force him or tempt him or whatever you want to call it. We’re still figuring this out.”
How long had she known Spence before believing he was The One? That wasn’t fair. Given her differing ages, one situation couldn’t be compared to the other.
“Why’d you think they haven’t done it yet?”
Tripp said that with a lot of authority, had Cam said something?
“It’s complicated.” Could she pull off diplomacy? “And given your family business—”
“Anyone tries to creep up on you,” Mimi declared, “you send them to me, Ari, girl.”
“Who would creep up on a Collier?” Roxie pondered. “Someone who hates themselves, maybe? Someone suicidal, professionally, at least? They want to ruin the lives of their family and everyone they ever met? That’s a possibility.”
“There is a lot to discuss,” Thena said, bypassing the speculation. “And Ariella needs the right platform.”
Did she like the sound of that? Probably not. Definitely not. Like he sensed it, Cam squeezed the back of her neck.
“There are options.” Roxie was suddenly more somber. “Different avenues.”
“There are.” The mother of the boys seemed certain on one. “Mimi and I have dinner plans with Conway Sear.”
Mimi huffed. “Blowhard.”
“Yes, he is.” Thena was so composed, so elegant. It was possible she gawked at the perfection. “And Bram will follow in those footsteps. But we will have dinner with the Sears, so we can have drinks later with Julius McAlm.”
“Mm.” That perked Mimi up. “I could go for that.”
“You’ve been going for that for decades,” Tripp said. “Think I never noticed?”
“Will Brogan join us?”
“Perhaps. I heard he’s just back from Gallipoli.”
That scrunched Mimi’s face. “Gallipoli? Why was he in Gallipoli?”
“Doing an arms deal or buying virgin slaves,” Tripp said, “if you believe the stories.”
The faces she could see enjoyed that. She didn’t get it but probably wasn’t supposed to.
“The rest of you will stay here. Roxie, Tripp, Knox…” Thena turned very deliberately to set her seriousness on the man mixing the cocktails: Zairn. Their eyes met, but he didn’t say anything, just nodded once. “Good. That’s settled. Keep Ariella close.”
“I—”
“It’s not safe for you to be unprotected right now.” Thena was so damn sure. “My boys will look after you.”
Another neck squeeze, then Cam got up to help Mimi off the couch as Thena went toward the front door.
Not safe? Why was it safe yesterday and not today? She trusted Cam, but all these people? She had to keep her head, not allow herself to be bulldozed. She’d stick to her guns… except… didn’t she need guns in order to stick to them? Just what the hell was her plan?