Page 9 of Tempt Thy Neighbor

If I’m ever going to prove to them I’m not the screwup they think I am, I have to do this on my own.

“Good.”

She sputters out a laugh. “Please—I may not be part of the family anymore, but I know how to use the internet. You’re hosed.”

Should have known she’d be in the loop somehow…

“So you know, huh?”

“Son of the untouchable Reginald Barnes wrecking the evening at a charity event? That’s headline-worthy news.” She shakes her head. “An event to raise money for kids with cancer, Sutton? That’s low, even for you.”

I’m no stranger to being in the spotlight. That happens when you’re a Barnes. My entire life has been lived under a microscope, and every little mistake I’ve ever made has been thoroughly documented.

Including the time I was dared by my friends to drive down the highway in a golf cart. And the time I got caught with my pants down outside of a club with a beautiful blonde on her knees in front of me.

To be fair, I was young and dumb, barely even able to drink. Everyone makes mistakes then. Mine just happened to be memorialized in print.

You’d think because we didn’t live in New York or California, our family would be off the radar of the gossip mags. But when you’re Barnes rich, I guess they don’t care where you live.

I wince. “It wasn’t my finest moment.”

“The only thing the papers left out was what your asshole brother did to deserve it.”

I laugh. Alma understands better than anyone else what it’s like to be the spare. She knows what it feels like to be tossed aside like you don’t matter.

Alma was the original Barnes rebel. She wasn’t game to be one of the lonely, robotic housewives women born to Barnes men are expected to be. She’s her own person completely, and she wasn’t about to sit around and let someone else dictate her life. So when she got pregnant out of wedlock a few years before she turned thirty, she worked out a deal with my grandfather that she’d take her baby and go away quietly if she got early access to her trust fund. She got out of Dodge and made a nice life for herself out here in Harristown with my cousin, Jacob, who is now ten years deep in the Marine Corps out on the East Coast. Alma now runs a hair salon, and she just so happens to be the happiest person I know.

It gives me faith that I could be that happy one day too.

“He was just being Thomas.”

“I’m sure your relationship hasn’t gotten better since he married that ex of yours either.” She purses her lips. “The nerve of that little twerp, stealing your girl.”

The real messed-up part is that I wasn’t even that mad about Thomas and Ava that night. I mean, am I annoyed as hell every time I see them together because she was my girl first? Yeah, it chaps my ass to no end.

But that night I was more upset about him screwing me over and throwing me under the bus forhismistake. A client whose project I was managing was ready to back out because they caught Thomas sticking his dick in the daughter of their CEO, but I was saving it. Wasthis damn closeto fixing his mistake, all while he was busy whispering in Dad’s ear about howIwas the one who was at fault. I know way better than to mix business with pleasure like that. That had bitten me in the ass already. No way I was about to make that same mistake again.

Before the event, Dad pulled me into his office and ripped me a new one, not bothering to listen to me.

Already on thin ice, there was no way I could bail on the event and hole up in my apartment with a bottle of booze like I wanted to.

Instead, I drank and drank and drank…and then drank some more.

The result? A broken nose for Thomas, a wrecked boat for my father, and me getting the boot.

I shrug, not wanting to go into it now. “It is what it is.”

She frowns but doesn’t push for more on the subject. “Please tell me you’re not going to sit there and let that pie go to waste. Pretty sure that’s a sin.”

“Not hungry.”

She makes a noise that says she disagrees and pushes the plate my way. “Eat, Sutton. That pie will turn your frown upside down.”

“Yeah? Is it gonna make me shit out a sign for what the fuck I’m supposed to do now? Maybe a place to live and a job?”

Her lips twitch. “Never hurts to try.”

With a defeated sigh, I stab my fork into the pie and shovel a bite into my mouth like my mother never taught me a single manner.

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