Page 42 of High Society

“There weren’t any crimes!”

“You want to talk about encouraging others? Wait till this gets out.”

Simon feels himself shrinking in his seat. More than the expense, he dreads the thought of going through the settlement process again. He can still picture the hateful glare of Brianna’s mother at the deposition. It wasn’t too different from the withering looks his own mother gave him when he disappointed her. Which was often. And he suspects Reese is now hiding a similar degree of scorn for him behind her poker face.

All those millions of adoring fans—all that anonymous love—and yet anyone who knows me despises me.

Reese stands up from her seat. “I’m late for my conference call.”

“Sure,” Simon says as he pushes himself to his feet, his hip aching. “Thank you for the time.”

“Best of luck with it,” she says as she leads him toward the door.

Though Simon knows Reese is right, he regrets having come. Now another tribe member is as disgusted with him as JJ is. “Too bad you missed the meeting that JJ called,” he says, because he can’t think of anything else to fill the silence.

“I was up against the deadline on a major contract,” she says. “Never enough time.”

He hesitates at the door. “She’s really thrown off, huh?”

“Who is?” Reese frowns. “JJ?”

“Yeah. She’s totally freaked out about Elaine.”

“How so?”

He shrugs. “JJ thinks it looks suspicious or something.”

Reese stops. “Suspicious? Why? Everyone knows how Elaine died.”

“That’s what I told her.” He taps his chest. “But JJ kept rambling on. Panic-stricken about how we went to see Elaine together. And how we tried to convince her to keep quiet. She figures we were the last ones to see her alive.”

“So what?”

“People might assume we went there to silence her.”

Reese eyes him stonily for a moment before her expression relaxes. “What is it with this group? First Elaine’s wild claims about Dr. Danvers. And now JJ and this wacky theory.”

“I fucking hate unfounded accusations,” Simon grumbles, thinking of his own latest accuser. “Who knows? Maybe it’s the psychedelics? Apparently, not everyone can handle them like a rock star.”

CHAPTER 21

Graham’s office is in the opposite direction from the hospital where Aaron is headed to do his weekend rounds, but relieved that his son is gainfully employed, he doesn’t mind giving him a ride to work. This morning, however, Aaron is slightly alarmed by his son’s tone.

“Because he’s a complete asshole, Dad!” Graham says of Hassan, the colleague whom he has been griping about for the entire drive.

Aaron keeps his eyes on the road, focusing on the passing oaks and sycamores planted along the median. “Then don’t engage with him.”

“He sits in the cubicle right beside mine! What am I supposed to do?”

“The higher road, Graham. How many times have we discussed this?”

“I never start it! But Hassan is so fucking passive-aggressive. Like yesterday, he says to me: ‘Oh, because you left early, I had to present the proposal on my own.’ ”

“Did you leave early?”

“I’m a grown-ass man, Dad! I don’t clock in and clock out like some tollbooth attendant.”

Aaron suppresses a sigh. It’s as if his son goes out of his way to be self-defeating. But unlike Holly, Aaron doesn’t believe it’s because Graham has a personality disorder. He has had to live his whole life in his twin brother’s shadow. And what a shadow Nate casts. His teachers and coaches have always reached the same conclusion: Nate is exceptional. Consequently, Aaron has had to be more protective of Graham, who struggles with life as much as his twin brother breezes through it. How could it not affect Graham’s mood and temperament? Or contribute to his oppositional nature?

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