32. Serena
Serena
“You are so tacky,” Graham grumbles to Ryan, as I take the man’s hand and let him haul me into the back of the SUV.
“She liked it,” Ryan says, then turns to me with his stupidly blue eyes, which are soft and earnest at once. “You liked it, didn’t you?”
“Is someone going to hurt me?” I ask, breathless, turning away from him because I can’t be sucked into his charm. Not right now. Not with all this information and fear buzzing around in my head. “Is Alex, like, going to send an enforcer or something?”
Ryan winces, and Graham shoots him a look that says, I told you so.
“Will the enforcer go after my roommates?” I ask, voice rising slightly in hysteria. When they were just talking about threats, that was one thing, but now, as we pull around the corner and I see the press, it feels more real.
Alex made a call, and it changed the course of my night. Of my life. He took action, and now my roommates are uncomfortable in their own home. It’s a type of power I’ve never faced before.
Grayson and Sid are helping Lillie through the dispersing crowd and back into the house—her hat and hood are off, revealing her face and her hair, which are clear indicators that she’s not me.
As the SUV turns and peels off in the other direction, I look out the back window like a puppy that doesn’t understand it’s been adopted by a new family.
“They’ll be fine,” Travis says, and his voice actually manages to soothe some of the panic in my chest. I turn around and sit down, crossing my arms and staring at the men.
The inside of the SUV has a U-shaped seating arrangement, so we’re all looking at one another.
“As far as I know, Alex wouldn’t send… anyone like that. ”
“Is that what your dad did?” I ask, the words tumbling out of my mouth. “Is that why everyone was so scared of him?”
There’s a pregnant pause, then Graham says, “There were… rumors. But we never saw those things, or evidence that they were true.”
“Oh my god.” I drop my head into my hands. “And he knows about the house. Those are my best friends, I can’t just?—”
“They will be fine,” Travis reiterates, reaching out and putting a hand on my knee. It’s the first time he’s touched me since that night, and when I look up, catching his eye, something weighty passes between us. If only I knew what it was.
He swallows, sits back, and goes on, “The worst that will happen is what you already saw.”
“But what if Alex snapped? What if he is?—”
“Travis already placed a protective detail on your house. Those guys shouldn’t have gotten around the detail though so we’ll have to double down,” Graham says, surprising me.
When I glance at Travis, he’s focused on something, staring at his phone and studiously ignoring me. A beat passes with nothing more than the sound of the road beneath us, air whipping past the windows.
Finally, the oldest brother lets out a breath and says, “The press won’t bother your friends anymore—they’re only interested in you. Now that they’ve seen you leave, they’ll take off, too.”
Just as he says it, several other black SUVs appear on the highway, lining up behind us, then pulling around us, splitting off in other directions. My heart stutters.
“Are those the men in black?” I ask, only half joking.
“Same make, model, and year as this one,” Travis says, glancing up from his phone quickly, then looking back down, his fingers never slowing in their typing. “Those paparazzi are following us from your house. The other SUVs will divert them from the airfield.”
I try to swallow, but my mouth is dry. Around my chest is my pack with my wallet, a few tampons, gum, and a little travel packet of Advil, but that’s definitely not going to be enough for more than a day away from the house.
“Airfield?” I finally manage.
“The best thing we can do right now is get out of the city,” Graham says.
Ryan adds, helpfully, “We’re going to my family’s villa in Italy. You’ll love it. Fresh lemons, the whole thing. Plus, I can teach you a little Italian. Would you like that?”
“I thought you were from Nebraska?”
Ryan grins, flashing his shiny white teeth.
He’s the only person unaffected by the weight of this escape plan.
“I am, but I guess one of my mother’s grandmothers was from Italy.
I did a little digging and found an old family estate up for sale.
Bought it and had it restored as a gift to my mother a few years ago.
She loved it. It will be like a family heirloom. ”
Only a rich person would call a villa in another country an “heirloom.”
My mind flashes again to the memory of my grandmother’s record player sitting in the rain, and anger bubbles to life in my stomach. Maybe I couldn’t see it—or maybe I purposefully wasn’t looking back then—but it’s obvious to me now that there was a real power imbalance in my relationship with Alex.
One that he made sure to take advantage of.
What bothers me the most is that he didn’t need my money.
To live in that house for free and make me help him?
To watch me bust my ass to contribute to a down payment on a home?
Why make me work so hard when he knew I would never be able to touch what he was putting in?
And now all that money is gone. I helped to fund his rich-boy lifestyle without even realizing it.
Now, riding in the back of this SUV, I study each of the guys. Graham looks out the window. Ryan is playing a game on his phone. And Travis sends rapid-fire texts like his life depends on it.
Travis is all dark and straight-edged—a designer suit, his black hair, that unbelievable jawline. Ryan is wearing a pair of sweatpants and a gray T-shirt. Graham is in what appears to be a normal leisurewear set, but it probably costs thousands of dollars.
Maybe I should be worrying about this power imbalance.
But, somehow, improbably, even with the fact that I’m about to be alone on a plane with them, and then alone in a villa with the three men, I can’t feel anything but the faintest, inappropriate, glimmering zing of excitement.
Travis’s private plane—or private jet?—reflects his personality exactly.
When we rush through the drizzling rain and into the main area, it looks just like a living room, except the chairs are on a swivel, are obviously bolted into the floor, and are equipped with seat belts.
There are magazine racks with the latest business and news issues, a row of expensive water bottles I’ve never heard of, and wrapped mints in little dishes.
I’ve never really understood the whole “white glove” thing until this moment. But as I stare at the gleaming surfaces in the plane, I’m sure you could run a tissue over any of them—even the floor—and come back squeaky clean.
We’re seated, and I’m trying to figure out how to get my seatbelt on when it occurs to me, once again, that I don’t have a single change of clothing. Or a toothbrush.
“I left in such a hurry that I don’t have anything with me!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Ryan waves his hand like it’s nothing. “We took a guess at your size. They’re bringing over a whole selection for you in the morning to try.”
I stare at him, “Who is they? And what about toiletries? I don’t have?—”
“Serena.” Graham places a large hand over mine, and when I glance down at how it covers my fingers completely, I’m reminded of the wanting I felt in the tent that night. “Anything you need, or want, we will make sure you have. Let’s just get through this flight.”
And with that, it’s settled. I’m not going to worry about it anymore.
Not at all.
It’s not going to run through my head that this time, instead of insisting on paying for myself, I’m letting the three of them pay for me. I’m not going to worry about the cost of the plane, or the kind of money I would need to get my own ticket and fly home if I needed to.
And I’m not going to worry about the fact that the three of them seem to be on the same page. That they’re all interested in my well-being. That, somehow, they’re not… fighting over me.
Does that mean they’re not interested anymore? Maybe when each of them found out I was involved with the others, they were turned off. It makes sense, but also makes my stomach sink.
Like a pressure valve finally giving way, the words come tumbling out of my mouth: “Are you guys, like… okay with this?”
They turn to me, and a wrinkle appears between Graham’s brows. “Okay with what Alex is doing? Of course not.”
I blush, swallow, and glance at each of them in turn. “No. I guess, I just thought… usually, guys would be mad at each other if they found out they were with the same girl.”
It doesn’t come out eloquent, mature, or thoughtful, and I blink hard, looking down at the floor, feeling impossibly naive. For fuck’s sake, it sounds like I want them to fight over me. I don’t—that’s the last thing I want.
“Oh.” Travis nods, his jaw tightening. Then, he looks at Ryan and Graham.
“Here’s the thing, Serena,” Ryan says, sliding his hand over my knee and sending a cascade of tingling warmth up my leg. “We talked about it. And we were wondering how you would feel about a… unique arrangement.”
“A unique arrangement,” I parrot, looking at each man in turn.
“Yes,” Graham says, “an arrangement in which we can all be satisfied.”
“…like, what?” I ask, and Ryan laughs.
“None of us want to stop seeing you,” Travis says, and I can’t stop myself from narrowing my eyes at him. For a man who wants to see me, he sure has been doing a good job of avoiding me.
“So we figured…” Ryan squeezes my knee, redirecting my attention to him. The next thing out of his mouth makes my ears ring. “Why not share?”