Page 159 of The Keeper

Neither one said anything further. They just stood still, exchanging knowing glances. I won’t lie. It pissed me off.

“Okay,” I folded my arms and glared at them. “I realize you have your little secret society shit going on with the cryptic staring at one another but I’m trying to figure out what happened to my twin.” My voice got louder. “If you know who the fucking guy is you need to tell me. Now.”

Bennet’s serious eyes and grim set mouth didn’t intimidate me at all.

“You don’t understand, Ms. Chase.”

“No, no, no,” I clenched my fists at my side. “Don’t start the Ms. Chase bullshit with me Bennet. I’m not your sub. I’m not going to kneel at your fucking feet and ask nicely and keep my eyes cast downward and call you sir. This is my family, not some game you play at your sex parties.”

Bennet’s whole body stiffened. I’m fairly certain people don’t speak to him this way often.

Hate to break it to you, Logan. I’m not like anyone you’ve ever met.

Xavier placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Sit down, mate.”

Bennet eyed me with great interest as he made his way over to the kitchen and sat on a barstool.

“Help yourself to a drink or whatever,” I offered, flicking my wrist. I can still be a good hostess, right?

“Come here.” Xavier held out his hand to me. I took it, letting him pull me into a strong hug. He sighed, kissing the top of my head. “What do you want to know?”

I held him close. “Why did they attack you?”

He kept me wrapped in his arms, stroking my hair. The steady beating of his heart echoed through me.

“We think a guy named Jordan McKennie threatened your sister. A few months before Bennet’s party, I saw him forcing himself on a girl at another party. I pulled him off her. We got into a fight and he ended up with a bloody nose.” He tilted my chin up when I pulled back. “Needless to say, he didn’t like that so we think he sent his mates to even the score.”

I stared at him in shock. “They cut your face and slammed your head into a car door because you gave some asshole a bloody nose? Which he deserved, by the way. What else aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing. Jordan comes from a powerful, wealthy family and never needed an excuse to act like a spoiled wanker. He doesn’t like being told he can’t have something. He threatened your sister because that’s what he does. He intimidates and forces people to do what he wants.”

“Obviously he wanted you to stay quiet, too. Did you ever report what he did to the girl?”

Xavier winced, squeezing my arms. “No, love. I wanted to. She asked me not to say anything.”

“Was she a friend of yours?”

He looked over at Bennet. The two exchanged another long, knowing glance.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “We were close.”

His teenage love interests were of no consequence to me right now. This was about my sister, nothing more.

“Do you think this guy…Jordan…do you think he’d follow through on what he said to Charlotte? About seeing her at another party?”

Xavier’s bitter laugh sent a chill through me. “Yeah. If he felt like following through, he would. Or he’d move on to some other conquest.”

Keeping my arm wrapped around his waist, I turned to face Bennet. “Your family must be just as influential as this guy’s. Nobody ever thought to challenge him?”

Bennet smirked. “British nobility can be rather cutthroat, Victoria. Especially those with hereditary titles. Both our families can be traced back hundreds of years. Challenging him isn’t as easy as you might think.”

Well, that was unexpected. British nobility? When the hell did I walk into Sense and Sensibility?

“I officially have a headache,” I muttered, going to sit on the couch.

All I wanted to do was get to the bottom of what happened at the bonfire. Opening this door to nobility and revenge and God knows what else exhausted me. I liked it better when Xavier was just a smoldering tattooed goalkeeper and Bennet was the Dominant who happened to be his best friend.

The two of them huddled in a secret conference at the counter. A quick internet search would tell me all I needed to know about this Jordan person.

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