Chapter 19 #6
“He was until a few years ago. Then he started running with this group of people who deal drugs, and he turned into an asshole. Plus, I didn’t want to be associated with that kind of shit—I already have too much of that in my life.
” Realizing I’m rambling, I bite down on my tongue. “But yeah, anyway.”
Finn studies me for a slamming heartbeat before pushing his door open.
He climbs out, stretching out his long legs, and I follow suit, leaving the door open so River can hop out.
He does so with a stretch, putting his arms above his head.
Then he pops his neck and shoves the door shut.
Finn pushes the key fob, and the car locks with a beep and a flash of the headlights.
Then we start toward an elevator in the far-left corner.
“So, if that guy used to be your friend,” Finn asks as he pockets his key fob and phone, “then how in the hell did he end up so pissed off at you that he’d try to chase you down in the middle of the city?”
We arrive at the elevator, and beside the doors is a small screen, to which Finn swipes his thumb across. The screen illuminates, revealing a code box, and Finn punches in a few numbers. The elevator doors glide open with a ding. And I’m left standing there with my jaw hanging to my knees.
Finn strolls into the elevator, and River takes a step forward, but when he notes my expression, he pauses.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“It’s nothing.” I feel so alarmingly out of place as I step onto the elevator that has marble floor and windowed walls.
“Clearly, it’s not nothing.” River gets onto the elevator, too, then slants against the back window that shows a view of a pool located in the center of a landscaped park trimmed with flourishing trees, the leaves crisp with autumn.
I stand away from the windows, not wanting to touch any of the polished surfaces and leaving smudges. “I’m just not used to all this.” I gesture at the windows as the elevator doors slide shut. “Everything’s just so … nice.”
Finn and River trade a look, and then Finn grins at me. “Relax.” He drapes his arm around me and pulls me against him. “It’s not a big deal, I promise.”
“It is, too, a big deal,” I insist. “Everything is just so nice and clean, and I feel like if I touch anything, I’m going to ruin it.”
Finn rubs his free hand across his mouth to conceal a smile.
I narrow my eyes at him. “It’s not funny, so stop smiling.”
“I’m sorry,” Finn apologizes, but his smile breaks through. “It’s just that you’re so damn adorable.”
“I told you to stop calling me that,” I warn. “And FYI, you smell really bad.”
His lips part. “I do not.”
“You do, too.” I smile sweetly at him. “And that’s payback for calling me adorable.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Finn says amusedly. “I call you adorable, and you return the favor by telling me I stink?”
I shrug. “I’m not adorable.”
“So, I don’t stink then,” Finn states.
“No, you definitely stink.” I exaggeratedly fan my hand in front of my nose.
River snickers from behind us.
Finn shoots him a dirty look, to which River responds with another laugh.
“Sorry, but this is hilarious,” River tells him apologetically then looks at me. “He’s not used to hearing the truth. Usually, everyone kisses his ass.”
“Like you’re one to talk,” Finn quips. “Everyone kisses your ass, too.”
“No, they’re afraid of my ass.” River crosses his arms and stares out the window as the elevator goes so high that the pool looks like a tiny puddle.
“Are they?” Finn challenges. “Or do they think you’re just anti-social?”
They continue to argue, but I barely hear them as my legs wobble.
This is so high—too high. And yes, I suffer from acrophobia.
For a good reason, too. When I was younger, my father and his brother—my uncle—thought it would be hilarious to dangle me over the edge of a tower they used to go to near the canal to deal drugs.
It was stories high, and I don’t know what the purpose of it was.
All I know is that one day, when I was about six, I wanted to see where they went when they took off, so I snuck after them.
When they caught me, they forced me to climb up the rusty ladder that stretches to the top of the tower.
Then they dangled me over the edge, upside down, to teach me a lesson about sneaking around.
I’m honestly not even sure why I followed them. I hate my uncle, and although I wasn’t aware that I did back then, I despise my father.
“Maddy?” River’s worried voice slices through my memories.
When I blink back to reality, Finn and River are staring at me with concern.
“Huh?” I have no idea what’s going on.
“You’re shaking,” Finn states, and I become painfully aware that his arm is still draped around my shoulders.
I instinctively duck out from underneath it, but the move puts me closer to a window. I freeze and let out a groan as vertigo slams through me.
“Hey.” River steps forward and captures my hand. “Tell us what’s wrong so we can try to help?”
“I’m afraid of heights,” I moan as the elevator slows to a stop. “I just need to get off this thing.”
Like the gates of heaven have opened up, the elevator doors glide open at that moment.
River walks forward, pulling me with him as he exits the elevator. Finn trails after us with his hands stuffed into his pockets and his gaze straying to mine and River’s interlocked fingers.
“You okay?” he asks, meeting my gaze.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” I catch my breath then stand up straight. “I just didn’t realize we would go up that high.”
River squeezes my hand. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything.” He lets go of my hand then and starts forward.
Finn steps up beside me. “You, Maddison Averly, are becoming a real mystery to me.”
My head tilts to the side. “Why’s that?”
He lifts a shoulder. “You just are.” With that, he whisks by me.
I turn to follow him when I finally acknowledge my surroundings.
“Holy effing hell,” I whisper under my breath as I take in the spacious room I’m standing in.
Thick gray columns line the dark walls, and the beamed ceiling is trimmed with coiled metal lights.
Filling up the room is a series of leather sofas, a few tables, along with sculptures, paintings, and a fountain.
The floor is as shiny as the elevators but much darker with splashes of silver.
“This is where you guys live?” I gape at everything in awe as I follow Finn and River through the door and down a wide hallway lined with shelves of books.
“Sometimes,” Finn replies as he carelessly tosses his keys onto a table that’s at the end of the hallway.
“Sometimes,” I mouth. I mean, I knew they were wealthy, but this is a whole level of rich that I can’t even comprehend.
I do not belong here. I should turn back, but I’m too curious now to see the rest of the place. Plus, turning back means going into the elevator.
Once we reach the end of the hallway, we make a turn and the space opens up into a living area with one wall entirely made of windows—yeah, I’m totally going to avoid going over there.
“I need to take a shower,” River announces as he starts toward another hallway.
“So do I,” Finn states but doesn’t head in the direction of where River is wandering. Instead, he comes to a stop and faces me, his eyes roving over me.
“What?” I ask almost defensively.
“I was just wondering if you wanted to take a shower, too. You can use the one in Lily’s room.” The corners of his lips curl upward. “Although, if you want to take one with me, I’d be perfectly okay with that.”
“Finn, Jesus Christ,” River calls out disapprovingly as he stops in the middle of the hallway. “Stop hitting on her.”
Finn breezes at me. “He’s just jealous because he wishes he could.”
I can’t help thinking about how River kissed me. Finn must’ve not seen the entire thing or else I feel like he’d be mocking the hell out of us. Part of me wants to glance at River to see his expression, see if he’s thinking the same thoughts I am.
But I keep my gaze on Finn and make a big show of rolling my eyes. “Yeah, right. I get the feeling he has to say that to you all the time.”
His grin widens. “Okay, maybe. But it usually doesn’t bother him as much.”
“Finn, seriously, shut the hell up,” River interrupts in a sharp tone.
When I glance at him, his eyes are firing daggers at Finn.
Finn holds his hands up and steps back. “Sorry, brother.” He sounds anything but sorry.
Shaking his head, he fixes his attention on me, his eyes softening a drop. “Maddy, if you’d like to take a shower, you’re more than welcome to use Lily’s, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you borrowing some of her clothes.”
I have no desire to use or borrow anything here, but I’m also covered in old sweat and rain, and I feel disgusting.
“Yeah, okay, that’d actually be nice.” I smile at River. “Thanks.”
River motions for me to follow him. “Come on; I’ll show you where her room is.”
I walk over to him, throwing a wave at Finn from over my shoulder.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he calls out after us with a wicked laugh.
River heaves an exhausted sigh. “Just ignore him. He’s in a mood.”
“Weird, because I feel like he’s been in that mood since I met him,” I remark, causing River to chuckle under his breath.
“Yeah, he’s generally like that.” He yanks both his hands through his hair, leaving strands sticking up wildly in all sorts of directions.
“I’d like to say you get used to it, but I still haven’t, and I’ve known him all of my life.
It’s not all bad. Sometimes, when I’m in a bad mood, it comes in handy. ”
“I can see that,” I reply as my gaze roves over the photos hanging on the wall of landscapes and portraits of places I could only dream of seeing. “You two seem so different. It’s crazy you’re twins.”
“We used to be similar, but then … things changed.” As if matching his words, River’s mood changes, tension flowing from his now calculated steps.
“But, anyway.” He clears his throat as he slows to a stop in front of a shut door.
“This is Lily’s room. She probably hasn’t been in it for over a year, but a maid comes here once a week to clean the place, so everything should be good to go.
” He pushes open the door. “There’s probably no soap in the shower, so let me go grab a bottle of mine for you.
” He hurries off down the hallway. And I try not to stare at his ass or the lean muscles of his back. I fail.
Why the heck did I have to let him kiss me? This guy is so off-limites.
“Get it together, Maddy,” I mumble to myself as I tear my eyes off River.
Carefully, as if entering a museum, I step into Lily’s bedroom.
The theme of silver and blue is splashed all over the place from the walls, to the comforter that covers the massive king bed, to the curtains and the chandelier.
Even the dressers and nightstands are silver, and the knobs are baby blue.
I couldn’t imagine having a room like this, but it would be nice.
Hell, I’d settle for the closet, which is an open area in the corner with benches and mirrors lining the wall.
“Here you go,” River says as he returns with two bottles. He hands them to me, and when he notices my expression, his forehead creases. “You have a weird look on your face. Are you sure you’re okay? Or is it the height thing? You can keep the windows closed, and there are none in the bathroom.”
“No, it’s not that.” I hug the bottles of soap and shampoo against my chest. “I’m just not used to being in places like this. I mean, this room is like really, really nice—this whole place is—and it feels wrong that I’m in here, if that makes sense.”
He promptly shakes his head. “Don’t think like that. You belong here just as much as anyone else. Trust me.” Smiling, he reaches out and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.
The move stuns both of us, and when my eyes go huge, he jerks back, clearing his throat for the second time in five minutes.
“Um … yeah.” His cheeks tint pink, and it takes all of my strength not to smile.
“So, I texted Lily, and she said you can borrow anything. Her closet is over there.” He points to it then to another doorway to our left.
“The bathroom is over there. There should be towels in there already. And then, when you’re done, just come back out into the room at the end of the hallway. Either Finn or I will be in there.”
“Thanks.” I smile, and he returns it before starting to leave. But then an overwhelming sense of gratitude falls over me. “I mean that, River. Thanks for all of this. For running with me. For helping Finn in that high-speed chase so we could escape Drew.”
He nods with his hand on the doorknob. “Of course.” He starts to shut the door but pauses. “I don’t want to pressure you into telling me what’s going on with this Drew guy, but if you feel like talking, I’m good at listening and solving problems.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I force a smile, and he shuts the door. Then I exhale all the tension I’ve been holding since Drew showed up.
A part of me wishes it could be that easy, that I could tell River everything, and he could conjure up a solution. But while he may be a great problem solver in Royal City life, northside problems are a different ballgame.