Page 29 of True Honey
Popping the lock I opened the door to find the pretty blonde from the night before standing on the other side with two coffees in her hand and binder in her arms.
“I’m Ella and I’m here to help,” she said sweetly, extending the coffee to me. “It’s black but–”
“It’s perfect, thank you,” I stopped her, taking the coffee out of her hand and allowing her to come inside. I didn’t have the heart to admit I preferred it with sugar and cream.
I’d drink it black simply because it would make her feel bad if I didn’t.
“I’ve never been in here,” she said, looking around curiously.
“Whyareyou here?” I asked nervously, setting the cup down on the long island that separated the kitchen and the living room.
“Oh!” Ella spun, setting her coffee down and holding out the binder to me.
“What’s this?” I asked her.
“Everything.” She said, sliding onto one of the stools. “To start, Silas told Arlo everything and because Arlo can’t keep a secret to save his life. I also know.”
“You know?” I raised an eyebrow at her, cautious to lead her into giving me answers because I couldn’t be sure how much she knew and I wasn’t going to be the one to spill any secrets I shouldn’t.
Ella checked her watch. “Auggie doesn’t come home for lunch, does he?” she asked and I shook my head. “Good, that gives us lots of time to study.”
“I’m sorry, I’m so confused. What do you mean study?” I asked her, letting the binder fall open in my arms. There were at least forty pages, all neatly organized by tabs inside and it looked like a collection of information. On Silas…on everyone.
“Arlo likes to make binders, it’s endearing. He put that together for you, and sent me to help.” Ella explained and I inhaled sharply. “We know about the deal.” She added, sipping on her coffee and making a disgusted face. “Oh, lies. This isn’t mine,” she switched our cups.
“Why?” I asked her, setting the binder down softly. It was open on a family photo, Silas, two older men and a woman that shared the same icy blue eyes as Silas.
Ella hummed gently before answering, “Silas is kind of important. To all of us, I think Arlo is nervous about the whole fake wife scenario so he’s trying to protect his friend in the way he knows how. Which is helping.”
I stared at her for a second, clearly under estimating how close Silas was to all these people. The binder was extensive. There were multiple pages on Silas, and one for each person close to him.
“It was his birthday last night?” I asked and she nodded. “And he stayed up doing this for Silas?”
I’d never experienced that kind of friendship.
To be so selfless in their actions for each other was a foreign concept to me.
“You’ll figure it out,” she smiled at me like I was supposed to understand what that meant. “Start at the beginning, read the page and I’ll answer what I can. The hope is that if we can get you fluent in Silas then dinner next Sunday won’t be so hard. They’ll expect you to know all of this flawlessly. And Silas’s mother, Sylwia. She’s a wonderful woman, but all of Silas’s intelligence came from her DNA. So she’ll see right through you if you hesitate on anything.” Ella set her coffee back down.
“Silas and Arlo have been friends that long?” I stared at the sheet.
“They’re basically brothers,” Ella said. “Josh came along after, I don’t know the entire story but I know it was bad. Silas stepped up in a big way to get him out of the life that their father dumped him into. Josh has his days now, but Silas saved his life.”
“The grumpy one with the curly hair? The one who keeps ten feet away from everyone?”
I asked, flipping the page to find his photo with a nod.
“He’s got a bit of a thing about contact. Dean’s the only one he really lets in, and even then, some days they argue like they don’t love each other,” Ella said with a smile.
“So Josh is Silas’s half brother, and Dean is Josh’s boyfriend?” I asked and she gave me a proud nod.
“Both will likely be around a lot so it’s probably best to get to know them, they might be helpful if you ever find yourself cornered by Sylwia or Seymour.” Ella laughed.
“Grandpa Shore? Like from the Godfather?” I teased gently, finding humor in it all.
“Exactly. I’ve only ever met him once at the Gala, but he’s a scary old bastard and he means business,” she said, flipping to the next page. “He’s been around a long time, he’s the reason the King family are legacy, he was Arthur King’s mentor. And then every single King man followed that path right down to Arlo.” She tapped the picture of a group of men arm in arm, smiling brightly. A combination of the Shore family, and the King. “He only wants what’s best for Silas.”
“By forcing him to get a wife, he doesn’t want so he can take over the family business?” I questioned.
