Page 109 of The Facade

I was pretty sure I would have been grounded any other time, but given the circumstances, he’d let me get by with a warning.

My phone made a dinging sound, and I immediately looked at my screen to see what Cambrielle had said about the likelihood of me dying at the hands of her brothers and dad.

Mistress:Probably an 11.

I scrubbed my palm over my face. Yeah, this was not good. I’d tested Fate one too many times and now I was going to pay for it.

In a pretty painful way, most likely. Nash had gone through that scratching phase when we were kids.

Mistress:Are you freaking out now?

Me:How’d you know?

Mistress:Because my dad and brothers are very scary. You should hear about the plans Ian has for you.

Me:I forgot about him. He does seem like he’d play dirty.

Mistress:Very dirty.

Mistress:Like, I think he’s making mud pies to throw at your window right now.

I laughed, appreciating this lighthearted conversation more than she probably knew right now.

Me:So Ian isn’t really a threat.

Mistress:He caught an early flight to Paris to spend time with one of his supermodel flings, so he doesn’t know about the excitement from this morning yet.

That sounded about right, I guess.

Carter had compared me to Ian a few times before, since he thought my weekend trips to the falls were comparable to Ian’s jaunts around the world with a different woman each weekend. But yeah, Ian was working in a completely different stratosphere from me.

A stratosphere I had no interest in anymore now that I’d found out that the perfect girl for me had always been next door.

Me:Any hint at what Nash and Carter have planned though?

Mistress:Probably look at us funny when they see us together and wonder why you’d secretly date their dorky sister.

Me:First off: You’re not dorky. You’re hot and fun and cool and amazing and wonderful and smart and a good kisser and did I mention hot.And second:That’s all?

I mean, I had considered using the whole “I went crazy last night and went back to my old coping mechanisms card” to help get me off their blacklist. But maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as I thought.

Mistress:Aw thanks! And yeah, my mom basically told them to back off and that them being so overprotective was just causing the sneaking around in the first place. So…I think they’ll actually be okay. You know, after they get used to the idea.

A second text came through.

Mistress:But in all seriousness, I think they felt like crap when they realized how badly they freaked out on you considering everything you’re going through. So don’t be surprised if they come groveling at your door soon.

I didn’t necessarily love the idea of them treating me differently because of everything happening right now, but it would be nice to have things smoothed over with my best friends. I needed them on my side right now.

Me:And your dad? You haven’t mentioned him yet.

Mr. Hastingswasa billionaire. If he didn’t want me dating his only daughter, he definitely had the means to hire someone to take care of me.

Not that I really thought he would, since he was a decent guy and wouldn’t kill his best friend’s son the same weekend we were losing my mom.

But you could never be too careful.

Mistress:My dad will be a tough sell. He definitely didn’t like hearing that you slept over...multiple times. Looked like he was going to pop a vein when my mom told him. (I was watching them through a crack in his office door.) But my mom got him to calm down and reminded him how much he likes you.

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