Page 10 of Crew Princess
But the best friend part clicked into place.
A person needed a family tree to understand all the connections, but I’d listened enough to know she was talking about Samantha Kade—the Olympic runner married to a pro footballer. Yeah, even someone like me who didn’t care a lot about fame and names was a little awed by that. But that wasn’t why I cared. Samantha was a good friend to Heather. That’s what I cared about, and the Patriot was friends with my brother. They’d come to visit a few times. Every time, I vanished. That was their life, not mine.
“Yeah.” Malinda had been watching me the whole time. “Now you’re getting it all. Samantha’s my stepdaughter. I married the daddy who raised her.” She flicked her gaze over the guys, lingering on Cross before moving to Jordan, then Zellman. “You boys play sports?”
Jordan didn’t answer.
Cross said nothing.
Zellman looked at me, then her, then the others. “Are we...she’s a friend, right? Not an enemy? Can I answer that question?”
Jordan flicked his eyes to the sky. “Fuck’s sakes, Z.”
“What? B, you never said you knew Coach Strattan’s wife.” He held his hand out, striding over. “I play ball. I mean, not with our school because our team sucks, but I play in the summer leagues. We’re starting up in May. And I know all about your husband. He turned around Fallen Crest Public’s football team. They went to State after he transferred over.”
Her lips curved up. Her eyes were twinkling. “You follow sports?”
“Oh yeah. What guy doesn’t?” He looked back, saw all of us just watching, and cleared his throat. “What? Like Cross isn’t going to ask about whatserface. You know he is. Stop glaring at me. I’m just beating you to the punch.”
Malinda’s grin turned warmer, and she moved closer to the door. “My house is the back one. Was taking my garbage out and saw your truck slowing down, and no offense, but you guys don’t blend. And you really don’t blend this time of night. I know you ain’t a group of criminals, but a bit of friendly advice from a mama bear to someone who I consider connected through family. Because Bren, honey, Channing, and Heather are family to us, so that means you’re family.” She looked at the guys. “You all might want to head out. I’m fairly certain a call went to the police as soon as you pulled onto the street.”
Jordan’s lips thinned. “If you all are that stuck-up, why the fuck don’t you have a gated community?”
She laughed. “Because that costs more money, and we all need to agree on the same rules. You really don’t know this block, do you? We got a fair bit of enemies living across the street from each other. That means no rules are ever agreed on, so no gate. We all just do our own.”
Cross’ phone buzzed. He cursed as soon as he read it.
Jordan eyed him. “They took off?”
“Shit.” Cross looked at me, indecision clear in his gaze.
We were in a bad spot.
But I didn’t like asking for help.
I asked under my breath, “Can we come back?”
He lowered his voice. “You know we can’t get in there, even if we wanted to.” He held my gaze, but moved his head in the direction of this Malinda person. “Should you ask? Or should we figure it out some other way?”
Jordan’s head was down. I knew he was listening, being the closest to our door and open window, but he didn’t say anything.
Z was quiet too, until he threw his hands in the air. “Enough’s enough. I’m deciding. All of us suck at computer stuff, and that’s the only way we’re going to find anything out.” He nodded at the house we’d been scoping out. “You know who lives there? Can you tell us anything about her?”
Malinda glanced at the home, her eyebrows went up, and she turned back to us. Slowly. “You’re asking about Marie?” She laughed. “Marie DeVroe. She moved here a couple months ago, divorced from her husband.”
She was studying me again.
Those eyes. Warm, earth-toned, but damn smart too. Her brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail. She was dressed in jeans and a nice shirt—almost like us, but I knew she wasn’t like us. I didn’t know why she kept referencing me, as if we should know each other. That world she came from was a million miles from mine. Yeah, there was a bridge, Heather and my brother, but the bridge was long and slim. Not much space for even them to go back and forth, as much as they did. Heather was more on Malinda’s side of the bridge than Channing, but I wasn’t on the bridge. I wasn’t anywhere close to it.
Cross was waiting for a signal from me, whether to press for more information or not.
I was torn.
Malinda’s eyes danced among us. She straightened up, her arms crossing over her chest. “Okay. I think I’m starting to get some of what is going on. You want to know about Marie? I’ll give you the rich-folks stats. And I’m doing this because I used to love your mama. She was the best kind of friend a girl could have, but back to DeVroe. She’s got money. Rumor is that she comes from old money back east. Her net worth is around fifteen million, but that’s all just gossip, you see.”
She pointed to a gate farther down. It wasn’t enough to hide the massive home behind it, which looked big enough to swallow up four or five homes. “She keeps to herself, is in her middle thirties. Nice, from what I’ve seen. Hasn’t gotten involved in any scandal so far. She works human resources for Kade Enterprises, and she freelances as a decorator.”
Cross scoffed, jerking forward.
