Page 55 of Devil's Riches

12

Alexis

“You look perfect,”Nate said, watching me in the mirror. He cleared his throat and quickly looked away. “For tonight, I mean.”

“Thank you.” I leaned forward and applied a coat of lipstick. Then I straightened my shoulders and smoothed down my black and gold lamé dress. It hit just above my knees and perfectly accentuated the curves of my waist and hips. “Thank god for your mother’s closet, huh?”

“I could’ve bought you something new.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes upward. “This is new. It still had the tags on it when I found it.”

“Fair enough.” Nate glanced at his watch. “We have forty minutes until we need to be there. Are you nearly ready?”

“Yes.” I tucked a strand of artfully-curled hair behind my left ear. “I’m ready now.”

Two days ago, we’d filled out the online application for our Mayfair Club memberships. We heard from the club’s PR people almost immediately, and our interview had been set up for five o’clock this evening.

If we made it in, it would be perfect timing, because it was Saturday night tonight; one of the club’s busiest nights of the week. With any luck, there would be multiple members of the eight remaining Golden Circle families roaming around the venue. With a little more luck, they’d be wearing identifying jewelry.

“I need to give you something first.” Nate walked over to a mahogany cabinet and returned with a small black and silver bag. He pulled my cell phone out of it and handed it to me. “I figured it was time for you to have this back.”

I was about to thank him when I realized how ludicrous it was to thank someone for returning something that they stole from me. I gave him a tight smile instead.

“I thought we might get separated once we make it into the club,” he said. “So we need to be able to contact each other.”

“Right.”

“There’s something else, too.” He reached back into the bag and pulled out a black velvet box. “I bought this for you.”

I tentatively opened the box to find a gorgeous gold watch sitting on a little white cushion. “This is beautiful,” I said, staring at it with wide eyes. “Thank you.”

Nate lifted one shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. “No need to thank me. It’s not a gift.”

“What is it, then?” I asked, forehead wrinkling.

“I’ve noticed your phone battery is really shitty. Barely lasts five hours without needing to be charged,” he replied. “The watch is a backup so I can still find you even if it dies.”

I arched an eyebrow. “How? Is there a tracking device on it?”

“Sort of.” He took the watch and lifted up the ornate face. Beneath it was a small digital face.

“Oh, wow. I had no idea that was there,” I said, peering at it with surprise.

“It’s an upgraded Fitbit. It’s designed to look like a regular watch.”

“How can it track me?” I asked. “I thought these things only track footsteps and heart rate.”

“It has a GPS tracker as well as the other monitors, and it’s all linked to an app on my phone. The location can be tracked right down to the square foot. So if we get separated and I can’t call you, I can just look on the app and it’ll tell me exactly where you are.”

“That’s clever,” I said, snapping the watch around my left wrist. I raised an eyebrow. “Should we go?”

Nate nodded and led me downstairs to his car.

The Mayfair Club was twenty minutes north of Arcadia Bay, nestled on a massive parcel of land next to a fir grove. I must’ve driven past the spot and seen the main building a hundred times before, and until now, I’d never had any clue that it was an exclusive member’s only club. I suppose that was the point, though—it was a secret that only Avalon’s finest were allowed to know.

We stopped outside the wrought iron gates, and a bored-looking security guard in a booth asked us for our names and IDs. He checked our licenses against something on his computer screen and passed them back to us with a curt nod. “You’re good to go,” he said. “You won’t be able to enter through the main entrance, because you aren’t members, so you’ll need to find the side entrance.”

“Where’s that?” Nate asked.

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