I smile softly and squeeze his hand. “You’re a good friend, Reed.”
“So are you, Jazz.” He gives me a sad smile. “When Carissa died... Ainsley was a mess. She’d been burned so many times by girls pretending to be her friend, but they were really just using her to get closer to one of the guys, or me. But Carissa wasn’t like that. She was everything a best friend is supposed to be, the one girl in the world who truly understood Ainsley. Who didn’t want anything from her but friendship. They even had the ballet connection. When Ainsley lost Rissa, she was devastated . It killed me watching her break like that. And though she got better with time, I didn’t realize how much she was still hurting until the day she met you.”
I quirk my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“She stood taller. Smiled wider. I don’t know... it’s just like she was more alive than she had been in the two years prior. You did that, whether you meant to or not.”
I dab at the corners of my eyes. “Shit. You’re making me cry.”
“Everything okay in here?”
I jump, startled by Kingston’s voice. I didn’t even hear the shower turn off.
Reed stands up and heads toward the door. “I’m gonna go clean up. Be back soon.”
I nod. “’Kay.”
“Why are you crying?” Kingston pulls me up from the couch into a hug. “Do I need to kick Reed’s ass?”
I half laugh, half sob into his chest. “No. Reed’s awesome. We were just having a little heart-to-heart about your sister.” I wipe my eyes as I look up at him. “He really loves her. You know that, right?”
Kingston brushes some hair away from my face. “Yeah, I know.”
“Is she gonna be okay when everything with your dad comes to light?”
“Sadly, I don’t think she’ll be surprised.” His Adam’s apple bobs. “But yeah, it’ll fuck with her. Probably a lot. She’s too much of an eternal optimist for it not to.”
“At least you know she’s in good hands with Reed. Right?”
He nods. “I can’t think of anyone better to be there for her.”
I smile as I rest my head against his chest. “Me neither.”
Chapter 22
JAZZ
“Kingston, you might want to take a look at this,” Reed suggests. “Madeline just walked into your dad’s corporate office.”
Kingston and I join Reed at the breakfast bar and watch the feed of my wicked stepmother standing in front of Preston’s desk.
“Isn’t she supposed to be in Colorado?” I ask.
“Charles said they’d be there through the new year.” Kingston frowns. “I guess he decided to come home early. Dude, rewind it a bit and turn up the volume.”
We watch as Madeline walks into his office and shuts the door behind her.
“Well, this is a surprise,” Preston says, reclining in his chair. “I wasn’t expecting you back for at least a few more days.”
Madeline glares. “Well, I’d hate to disappoint you, Preston, but plans change when you find out your lover is screwing your daughter! ”
“Oh, shit,” Kingston, Reed, and I say in unison.
Kingston’s dad laughs condescendingly. “Jealous?”
“Hardly,” Madeline scoffs. “Why would I be jealous of my own child?”
“Why?” Preston’s brows lift. “Oh, I don’t know... maybe because she’s twenty years younger, her tits and ass are a helluva lot firmer, and she works my cock over better than you ever have? The young ones are always so eager to please. Maybe we should call Peyton in here so she can give you some tips.”
“How dare you!” Madeline seethes.
“Damn, that was brutal,” I remark, totally engrossed in the drama. I guess I lied to Bentley last week about it not being my thang.
Preston looks at his perfectly manicured nails. “If I were you, I’d choose your next words very carefully. This conversation is already testing my nerves. Now, I’m assuming there’s a reason you’re back in town early? Would you like to share with me what that is?”
She crosses her arms over her ample chest. “I came to make arrangements to send Peyton’s things overseas.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because she’s going to finish out high school at a lovely French boarding school. She’s flying there as we speak.”
“What?! ” Kingston and I shout in unison.
Preston steeples his fingers. “And why pray tell, would she need to leave the country so quickly?”
“She didn’t have a choice unless she wanted to be cut off!” Madeline shouts. “After my husband had to clean up that little message you left her, she told us everything. The inheritance arrangement you two had, how she hired those two dead boys to attack Jasmine, how you helped cover it up. How you were forcing yourself on her.”
He laughs. “Oh, Madeline, don’t pretend Peyton doesn’t share your favorite form of currency. Who do you think she learned it from? I didn’t force your daughter to do anything . She was a consenting—and quite enthusiastic at times —participant.”
“She can’t legally consent in the State of California until she’s eighteen.”
“Last I checked, she is eighteen.”
Madeline narrows her eyes. “Peyton said you’ve been taking advantage of her since she and Kingston broke up the first time. She was still a minor then.”
“Really? And where’s her proof of that? It’s a bitter little girl’s word against mine, and I say we didn’t start fucking until after her last birthday. Now, as for your other accusation, I have no idea what message you’re referring to, but if I did , I’d say Peyton should probably take it seriously and that if someone needed to teach her a lesson, France isn’t nearly far enough away to protect her.”
She straightens. “Charles is incredibly displeased you violated your agreement. Daughters are off-limits . How would you like it if he seduced Ainsley?”
Reed and Kingston are both squeezing their fists so tight, their knuckles are white.
Mr. Davenport’s boisterous laughter is so loud, Reed has to turn down the volume. “First of all, technically, Peyton has no blood relation to him. Secondly, my daughter isn’t an opportunistic whore like yours is. Charles wouldn’t have a chance in hell.”
Madeline’s face is so red, you’d think she just ran a marathon. “And what about Jasmine?”
“What about her?”
“Peyton said you’re obsessed with that piece of trash.” Madeline rolls her eyes so far back, I swear she should’ve tipped over. “Just like you and Charles were obsessed with her worthless mother.”
“Gold-digging bitch,” I mumble. “Talk about my mom like that again, and I’ll show you how trashy I can be.”
Kingston puts his hands on my shoulders.
“The only thing I’m obsessed with is getting that ten billion dollars. Hell, at this point, if I have to marry Peyton and put a kid in her myself, I will. My latest divorce will be finalized soon enough.”
“You most certainly will not! ” Madeline shouts. “The executor of Pierre’s estate would never believe Peyton would marry you for love. You’re old enough to be her grandfather.”
Preston tilts his head to the side. “And? Remind me again what the age gap was between you and Peyton’s father? Oh, that’s right. Almost fifty years.”
Madeline scoffs. “Nobody believed I married Pierre for love, least of all him. He just liked the way I sucked his limp, shriveled, old dick. Thank God for Viagra, or I might have never gotten pregnant.”
I gag. “Well, there’s a visual I never needed.”
“Guess he didn’t like it that much, since he didn’t leave you a dime ,” Preston deadpans.
Madeline reaches forward and smacks Kingston’s dad straight across the face. Before I can even blink, he’s dragging her across the mahogany surface by her neck , slamming her down. Preston’s other hand wraps around Madeline’s throat and squeezes. Her eyes are bugging out of her head as she’s clawing at his fingers, trying to pry them away.
I slam a hand over my mouth. “Oh, fuck.”