CHAPTER TEN
Blair
I’d hoped to avoid Mom for a while longer before I had to deal with her, but she arrived home a little after I ended my call with Lana. I braced myself as I heard her footsteps approach the living room.
She stopped at the threshold when she saw me, her brows almost reaching her hairline.
“Hi, Mom.”
“What did you do with your hair?”
Here we go. “I was bored. I wanted to try something new.”
Her eyes doubled. “Now? You wanted to try something new now? When you’re under contract for that hair brand?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s not a big deal?” She raised her voice, then looked behind her to see if anyone had heard that. “Let’s go to my office,” she hissed.
I sighed and followed her there, the smell of her air moisturizer hitting me the moment I stepped in.
Dad’s office was all in order, but Mom’s was even worse, not a single paper out of place.
When the interior decorator decorated our house, Mom insisted on simple but visually pleasing furniture, which, in her eyes, was lots of square pieces and sterile colors.
Whenever I entered her office, I felt a strange emptiness inside me.
“You know I don’t like you making those kinds of decisions without consulting me first.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Are you? You don’t sound sorry at all.”
“What do you want me to say? Summer is coming, and I need a new look and all. You know my followers love it when I create new looks.”
She narrowed her gaze. “The hair brand won’t let this slide. You know this can reflect badly on me.”
There it was. As predicted. “I’ll talk to them and make them see this was for the best.”
“You’d better hope they don’t cancel your contract, but before that, I need you to create a new TikTok video and make it like it’s a new trend you had to jump on. Make sure your followers buy it.”
I let out another sigh. “Like I always do.”
Her gaze narrowed even further, and she approached me, every taut line of her face showing controlled anger. “I don’t like your attitude, Blair. We discussed this already, but it looks like you need a reminder.”
I was nineteen, but I still felt like a little girl, going through life only following what my parents said and wanted me to do. I didn’t want to make that TikTok video. I didn’t want to bullshit my followers. But what was the alternative?
So I did what she wanted me to do. I left her office and created the video, all the while Zach’s words about being fake ringing in my head.
And this time, I had to agree with him.
Two days later, I arrived at the party being thrown by one of Lana’s acquaintances at his mansion.
Zach had been quiet since our encounter on the terrace, so I hadn’t seen him other than catching a glimpse of him in the garden from my window a few times.
He’d played his part, dealing with planting, fertilizing, and watering like a pro from morning to night, barely taking a break, and I couldn’t help but be impressed.
Though I wasn’t surprised, because Zach had always been a fast learner.
He was one of those people who could do anything without even having to try.
I wondered where he’d learned about gardening.
I’d hired the investigator to look at his background soon after Lana sent me his number, and I gave him both his real name and the one he was using now. I also gave him the license plate number on Zach’s bike. He said he would get back to me soon.
Now, I moved through groups of people as I entered the grand room, with Lana and Aurora trailing me.
I always had them walk behind me as a show of power on my part, and they never questioned it.
Or better said, Aurora had stopped questioning it when she realized she and Lana benefited from falling in line.
I was the one who drew the most attention, so by association, they drew it too.
It happened now as well, with the guys’ gazes sliding over my tailored red dress that ended at my mid-thighs in an undressing way, but I didn’t even look their way.
Sensual music played from the hidden speakers installed around the place, mixing with the murmured conversations. Mood lighting cast the room in red, enhancing the effect of the wine-colored curtain drapes curving around every set of windows and the entryways. It was sultry and casual.
Rich people from all spheres had gathered here, which included not only the sons and daughters of the most influential people in the state but also models, escorts, and influencers, who looked to make the most out of their time here.
In public, they were all civilized, pretending they were something.
But here, at parties like this one, they showed they were actually nothing.
Here, they proved they were like all people—primitive animals who used their chance to fulfill their wildest and dirtiest desires, drinking themselves stupid and consuming the drugs left on the small coffee tables by the dark red sectionals in every corner.
And that was all before the orgies started.
The night was still young, though, so everyone was still fully dressed and keeping their hands to themselves, but it wouldn’t be too long before the debauchery started. Some guys and girls already threw me gazes that told me they were down to have some fun with me later.
The servers were making rounds with trays of drinks all around the room, making sure no one was left without a drink even for a minute. I grabbed a glass of wine from the one passing us.
A few people stopped me to talk, and I put on a friendly smile, playing my role despite disliking some of them to keep up appearances. It was another rule that had been drilled into me. My smile dropped the moment they went their way.
Another server stopped by my side. I placed my empty glass of wine on his tray and reached for another, then sat down on one of the sectionals. Aurora and Lana joined me with their drinks, taking seats on either side of me.
Aurora scrunched up her nose as she eyed my hair. “Honey, it’s nice that you wanted change and all, but that hairstyle is not one of your brighter ideas.” She twisted a long strand of her hair around her finger as though to point out what she had that I didn’t anymore.
I gnashed my teeth together. “It’s just hair. It’s not a big deal.”
She raised her brows. “Not a big deal? You earn megabucks thanks to it.”
I barely resisted throwing my wine over her white Bottega Veneta dress. She just lived for the moments when she could put me down.
She wasn’t the sole reason I felt annoyed. I’d talked to the brand’s campaign manager, and she told me they weren’t interested in using wigs or hair extensions. They were all about authenticity, supposedly, so they wouldn’t work with me anymore.
My annoyance threatened to turn into anger. Zach had counted on that, and he’d gotten his wish. Fear coiled my insides as I thought about what he could do next. I hoped the investigator would dig up something I could use to get him off my back.
I raised my brow at Aurora now. “Does it matter, though? It’s not like my fat bank account needs that money.”
Aurora hmphed and took a sip of her white wine. “I bet your mom flipped out when she saw you.”
“She was happy once she saw all the positive reactions to the video I posted on TikTok about the new hairstyle. Some of the users are already sharing their own new haircuts.” Of course, I didn’t mention that she’d lost it over the hair brand ditching me after that.
She’d yelled at me for a good twenty minutes about it reflecting badly on her and her organization.
Lana laughed. “Can you say sheep?”
I just rolled my eyes. As harsh as it sounded, I agreed with her.
People loved to worship and idolize us. Maybe they wanted to feel they belonged.
Perhaps they felt insecure about themselves.
Or maybe they didn’t have their own identity.
Whatever the reason, they gave too much importance to people who shouldn’t have so much sway over their choices.
It was all so predictable. I didn’t believe in trends.
I believed in paving our own way, not that I could say anything because I, myself, didn’t pave my own way.
I wanted my way to be a river, flowing according to my likes and desires, but it was an intersection, where you had to follow set rules and couldn’t act out of turn.
It was hard to fight for something when it was so far out of your reach.
Aurora observed me closely, and this time, I rolled my eyes at her.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you sure that was just you trying out something new?”
I arched my brow at her. “What are you trying to say?”
She shrugged her shoulders, running her finger over the rim of her glass. “It’s just that the timing’s off.”
My eyes narrowed at her. “Get to the point, Aurora.”
“She wants to say it’s such a coincidence that you cut off your hair just after Zach arrived,” Lana replied instead.
I directed my glare between them. “What do you want to say? That he had something to do with it?”
Aurora raised her hand in the air. “Hey, you said that, not us.”
I looked down my nose at her. “But that’s what you’re implying. And no, he has nothing to do with it. That’s ridiculous.” I didn’t give away a single tell, taking a sip of my wine coolly, like they weren’t staring holes in me now, trying to see whether I was lying or not.
“What’s Zach doing, by the way?” Lana asked. “Is he all bark and no bite?”
I looked off in the distance, my gaze landing on two guys and a girl on a sofa in the corner.
The guys’ lips and hands were all over her neck and top-covered breasts, kneading and caressing.
On the sofa across from them was a guy who was currently snorting coke off the table in front of him, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he sat up.
“I told you he’s different,” I said. “He’s . . . twisted.”
Lana raised her brows, exchanging a glance with Aurora. “What do you mean?”
“It means that I can’t wait to get him out of my house.” I took another sip of wine.
Aurora tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, revealing a diamond earring that glinted brightly in the red light. “What does he have on you?”
I laughed. “I already told you that’s none of your business.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but Lana dropped her hand on her thigh to shut her up, nodding toward two guys heading our way.
“Hotties alert.”
I arched my brows. Both guys wore casual suits and grins, their self-confidence too obvious in the way they swaggered. I pretended not to notice how the guy on the left could hardly unglue his gaze from my boobs.
“Okay, I’m definitely going to fuck one of them tonight,” Lana said right before they came within earshot.
“Hey, girls. Do you mind if we join you?” the guy on the left asked as they stopped by our table, pushing a few strands of his blond hair off his forehead.
“Not at all,” Lana said with a seductive smile, already shifting over to give them some space to sit.
Unfortunately, that space was between her and me, and the blond guy used the chance to sit right next to me.
“Hi,” he said to me, still grinning.
“Hi.” I looked away. I tried not to scrunch up my nose at the strong smell of his cologne, something like lime and pepper.
“I’m Angel, and you’re one too.”
I raised my brow at him, a second away from cringing. Had he really just said that?
“I’m the opposite of an angel, so you can drop that approach,” I replied, not telling my name deliberately.
He smiled without missing a beat. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
I took a long swig of my wine and pulled my phone out of my handbag just so I’d have an excuse not to talk to him. “The ones who think that’s true would strongly disagree with you.”
A flash of confusion passed over his face, but I didn’t bother explaining myself. My screen lit with a notification of a text from an unknown number.
“I’m at the front gate. Come let me in. Zach.”
My stomach backflipped. How did he get my number? And what the hell was he doing here?
“I’ll be right back,” I said to Aurora and Lana, not even bothering to look at the guys as I stood.
I moved past the crowd near the entryway and all but rushed through the front door into the quiet evening air.
It was chilly tonight, and since my dress didn’t have sleeves, I had to rub my arms against the breeze as I crossed the long cobblestone driveway.
I passed a row of almost identical cars, their surfaces reflecting the light coming from the lampposts lining the driveway.
Once at the front gate, I signaled to the guard to open it and rushed out before Zach could come inside.
I glared at where he stood across the road, leaning against his bike, a dark silhouette beneath the streetlight.
He wore a black leather jacket, black jeans, and a tight-fitting gray shirt that wrapped all too well around his sculpted abs.
For a beat, all I could do was stare at him.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, forcing my gaze to stay on his face.
“I want to party. I’ve never been to one of those.” By those, I wasn’t sure if he was referring to parties in general or rich people parties.
“What? No. You’re here to create trouble.”
He smirked and ran his gaze down the length of my body. My pulse skipped as his eyes darkened.
“Look at you. Expensive dress. Sexy body. Gorgeous face. If one didn’t know you, they wouldn’t think twice about bending you over this bike and taking you right here.”
I drew in a shuddering breath. My brain hung up on “sexy” and “gorgeous,” conjuring an image of him doing exactly what he’d said.
No.
“Leave. You don’t belong here.”
“I’m not here to belong, Blair. And you will let me inside. Or do you want me to send that video to all the major media outlets?”
My eyes widened with fear. I squeezed my hands into fists, trying to find a way out of this but finding none, and I felt utterly powerless. I hated him for making me feel that way.
“Follow me,” I gritted out.
He returned to his bike—a bike that would fit right in with the rest of the vehicles inside unlike its owner, who couldn’t be more different from the people at the party—and pushed it next to him, following me to the gate.
He mounted the bike as soon as the guard let him pass through.
“See you there.” He roared the engine and left me behind, surrounding me with a cloud of smoke.
I coughed and waved the smoke away, watching him with a glare. If he’d been any other guy, I’d say he was rude for forcing me to walk back to the house, but I didn’t want to be near him any longer than necessary.
Unfortunately, I’d have to put up with him tonight, and I didn’t even want to think what trouble he could create.
With an uneasy feeling in my stomach, I made my way back to the house.