Page 2 of Privilege
God, what the fuck is wrong with me.
I look away and clear my throat, but I’m spared any further awkwardness by Jamie who has conveniently appeared and taken it upon herself to flop onto my lap. She leans in to give Dane a kiss on the cheek. He scowls openly, drops his feet to the floor, and the woman turns around to glare at Jamie, clearly upset about the interruption to her sneaker-rub.
“Oh come on Dane, can’t you play nice for once?” she coos.
I shift uncomfortably. I fucking hate when she does this, pushes buttons, the mean girl in her on full display. It has its uses—her mother is a Senator and her near-prodigal understanding of power politics in New York has spared me many a-time. Mother loves her. But her charms have never worked on Dane and I know it eats at her, even though she’s supposed to be mine.
He ignores her, stands up and stretches, blocks the view of everyone behind him.
“Hey!” someone says.
He gives them the finger over his shoulder without even looking at them.
“I’ll see you at Blackstone tomorrow morning, yeah?” he says to me.
Jamie frowns. Dane is the only person who can so successfully pretend she doesn’t exist. I’ve always stayed the hell out of it.
“Not tonight? We’re having a party…” I say.
He glances at the woman, who is now looking up at him like she’d gladly suck his cock right here in front of the entire auditorium.
“I don’t think so,” he says. “I’ve got other plans.”
He waltzes off, and for one brief moment I wonder how he’d even fuck this chick without having given her a name, a number, so much as a—
She stands up, nervously flattening her hair and straightening her blouse. With a glance at the stage, she bites her lip like she’s torn before she squares her shoulders and takes off down the aisle after him.
“Who was she?” I ask, annoyed.
“Charles Winston’s mom,” Jamie says.
He disappears past the intricately carved wooden archway into the portrait-lined hall as Charles Winston’s name is called and he steps onto the stage to accept his diploma.
God fucking damn, Dane.
Charles’ face falls as he scans the crows for his mom and doesn’t see her. My face probably looks the same. I try to ignore the crushing disappointment that I’m losing one more night with my brother before he leaves.
Say something then, idiot!
But I keep my mouth shut, just like I’ve been taught.
See mother? My education is paying off.
Chapter One
Cara
I've never liked flying.
I'm fairly sure it's a byproduct of being a dreaded Child of Divorce.Ill-contented to simplystop being married,both of my parents divorced not only each other, but the entire state of Ohio. My mom moved to California, my dad moved to Alaska, and every summer I got to start my vacation in airports instead of in a pool.
“Come on Cara,” Rich slurs. “Admit it. It's not so bad up here.”
He's not wrong. Wider seats, better food, endless champagne, and it might be my imagination butI'm fairly certain the flight attendants are wearing slightly shorter skirts andsignificantlylower blouses. First class is a vibe.
“It doesn't suck,” I admit.
He lets his head loll dramatically onto his shoulder, a lock of his light brown waves flopping onto his forehead as he grins at me. His big brown eyes twinkle.
