Page 70 of Pin-up Girl

“You hate these kinds of gatherings, don’t you?” I tipped my head back to see his expression. He glanced my way and mouthed ‘Yes,’ then went back to watching Milo. I swore though, a bit of amusement was in that one word, if that even made sense.

“Yeah, I hate these types of things. Everyone’s fake, and no onereallyhas a good time. It’s just an excuse to make these fuckers feel like they’re more important than everyone else,” I rambled, mainly because there was nothing else to do, and whether he admitted it or not, I thought he secretly enjoyed when I talked his ear off. It wasn’t often, but in social situations like this, it was like a fun commentary to make the time pass quicker.

Emmett had his back to us as he scanned the room. He usually loved being the center of attention, laughing and cutting jokes with the brothers, brushing off sorority sluts when they tried to come onto him. Right now, he seemed distracted, not at all like his normal self.

“Here.” Milo handed me a glass of Moscato, my go to when they’ve taken me around any outsiders. It was sweet and nice to sip with a low alcohol content. I trusted these people even less than they did, so a clear head was important.

Once everyone had their drinks, Milo led the way to the ballroom. Yes, because Derek’s house had a ballroom. Hell, Milo’s house probably had three, we just didn’t get to the tour portion of the evening the one memorable night we were there.

I was actually impressed with the set-up in the ballroom. Derek must have paid a pretty penny for the organizers to build raised platforms with private circular booths lining the room. Heavy red drapes separated them from each other, but left the front open so whoever occupied them could see and be seen. What a great idea, he gave us the perfect place to spend our hour without interacting with anyone.

Lovely.

“What’s the plan, Milo? We don’t have to stay together tonight, do we?” Emmett scanned the room while he took a decent sized gulp of his Blue Moon. Honestly, I was surprised they offered something so mainstream here.

Milo sighed and shook his head. “What the fuck are you going to do? You hate everyone here just as much as we do.” He must have had the same idea, because we approached the only booth with less than four people, and at his jerk of the head, they vacated without a word.

“I have something I want to do. Do you need us to stick together or not?” Emmett was getting impatient, another quality that wasn’t quite right on him. He was hyper, fidgety, but never like this in public.

Like me, these boys saved their real selves for private. Why give anyone a way to read you, or ammunition to use against you? Infinity taught me that.

“Fine, I’ll text you when we leave. Just know, we aren’t staying long.” Jules helped me into the booth and slid in beside me, Milo on my other side. They moved in close to me, not only for appearances, but to have the best vantage point for studying the room.

Emmett disappeared as soon as we sat down, and that felt wrong too. We always stuck together. If Milo or Jules thought anything of it, they didn’t let on, simply nursing their drinks.

I sucked in a deep breath, then bit my lip. This was a horrible time to get to know them better, but I needed something to do to get through the night. They had said total honesty, and I hoped they meant it. The music was loud enough that even the surrounding booths wouldn’t overhear us, especially with the thick as hell drapes between us.

“What was your first memory?” I blurted.

Jules’ head swiveled with his brows kissing his hairline.

Milo just said, “What’s that now?”

Like a real pin-up, I patted the back of my hair while I thought of the best answer that didn’t sound crazy.

“I never answered any of your personal questions. I also never asked you any. You said if this has any chance of working, we need total honesty. So tell me, what was your first memory?”

Jules started typing immediately. Milo gave me a look like he was concerned for my mental health. “And you want to have this talk here? At a frat party?”

Okay, it was dumb, but I wasn’t wasting any more time. We needed to move on, and part of that was actually knowing each other.

Jules tipped his screen my way.My mother rocking me in the nursery. I must have been two or three, and just fallen down. She sang to me while she rocked me.

I gulped. This had the potential to get sad very quickly. The next question would be a little more upbeat.

“I thought your parents were horrible people.” I watched his face for any sign I’d offended him.

They’re horrible for the things they didn’t do, not the things they did.He shrugged, like it was no big deal.I do think my mother loved me at one time, even if my father never did.

When I didn’t follow up with another question, Milo shared his. “I was with the nanny, playing in the grass with a few toys. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day. I remember it so vividly, everything seemed so big and mysterious then. What about you?”

Swallowing, I told them. “I remember my mother putting me and my sister in our bedroom and locking us in, telling us we’d be in big trouble if we made any sounds. She liked to get around, even then.”

Jules bumped his shoulder against mine.Is this the older sister you told Emmett about?

Milo took the phone to see what Jules messaged me.

So sometime after I was outed, they pieced together everything I’d ever breathed to them. Probably last night.

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