Page 82 of Just Between Us

I scowled at my little sister.When the hell did she grow up?

“Look.” I jabbed my finger at the wooden table. “She’s going to win at all costs. Right now she’s plotting and digging. Once all this mess with Dad gets figured out, she’ll be back to her normal life and onto the next challenge. I’m not waiting around to get fixed.”

The night was rapidly barreling downhill, and it pissed me off. I wanted to go out and have a good time, not sulk in the corner and moon over a woman who was far too good for me.

I stood and shouted above the crowd: “Let’s dance!” A group next to us whooped and hollered, and I pointed at them with a grin.

Whip tugged my arm. “Sit your big ass down. You’re not dancing with anyone.”

I flipped him the bird but planted my ass onto the stool with a thud.

“Here.” He slid a few photographs across the table. “Take those.”

The music flowed around us, but blood thrummed in my ears as I looked down at my mother’s smiling face.

MJ slid one toward her. “Oh my god.” She held up the picture for us to see. “Look how happy she is.”

Mom was holding a baby, though I couldn’t tell which one of us it was.

“Sylvie looks so much like her.” MJ ran a finger across the photograph. “Where did you get these?” she asked.

Whip thanked the server for the water and took a sip. “In the box of Mom’s stuff. There’s a bunch, but these are copies. I had an idea.”

I smoothed a photograph in my hands.

“It was Lee’s idea, actually,” Whip said. “There’s been a lot of chatter about Dad and the family around town. Murmurs like that mean only one thing ...”

“He’ll try to save face,” MJ added.

“Exactly.” Whip grinned. “What better way to rattle him and let him know that we’re onto him than by Mom’s face popping up around town?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “Putting pictures in places he’ll see her—at the office, the house, around town, where he’ll be constantly reminded of her. He might have made Mom’s memory disappear around here, but we’ll be there to remind him.”

“Subtle, yet diabolical.” I slid off the stool, tucking the photos into the back pocket of my jeans, and swayed. “I like it.”

The music shifted to an upbeat classic rock song. I shifted but, in my cast, stumbled. My blood hummed with the buzz of too much alcohol.

“All right, fancy pants.” Whip hauled me up. “Time to go.”

TWENTY-FOUR

VEDA

I blinkedup from my notes when I heard pounding at Royal’s front door. My heartbeat spiked and I looked at the clock. It was 10:00 p.m., and I didn’t even like answering the door for a delivery that I had ordered, let alone a mysterious knock at someoneelse’sdoor.

“Vedaaaaa.” Royal’s muffled voice grumbled through the thick wooden door as the handle jiggled. “Veda, I lost my keys.”

Whip’s frustrated voice followed closely behind him. “Will you stop being difficult? They’re in your pocket.”

I hurried toward the door in time to hear Whip say, “No, I am not digging them out of your pants.”

Stifling a chuckle, I pulled the door open. Whip had his arm hooked under Royal’s as he supported his weight. My heart flopped over.

Dang, those are some good-looking King boys.

Whip smiled. “This belong to you?”

---