Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

“That’s enough from you,” Katherine said, gently smacking him on the arm.

He looked up once, quirked an eyebrow, and then looked back down.

“Well, we’re here tonight. It’s too late, and I’m not leaving,” Penn said, his voice the commanding presence of his friend circle. They all looked up at him standing with his hands in his pockets. “Not after that party.”

From a bird’s-eye view, I felt like I could watch them interact all day. The writer in me—my writer’s curse, as my father had always called it—made me pick out all the various details about them. The feel of their connection. The depth of their affection for each other. The little smiles and quirks and tics that made them function as a unit…practically a family. Not my family, of course. One even stronger than our dysfunction. Family where you found it. It was magic in its own way.

I’d hardly even observed them, and I could tell that something had drawn them together. Something strong, deep, and unyielding. Tying string around each of them and knotting it into place. Speaking words of a spell around the string to let the magic bind them.

Something about it was mesmerizing. Knowing that life had chosen these five people and cast them together. Not nature, not because they had been forced into a unit. But because they had chosen this familial bond.

A brief memory fluttered back to me of Penn saying that he’d taken his best friend to her debutant ball. That his friends had all gone together and had such a good time. If I closed my eyes, I could almost see them all there in ball gowns and tuxedos. Paired off but together. Apart but one.

Then Katherine’s eyes shifted to my hiding place, still standing in the hallway, peeking out. And her eyes lit up with something like excitement.

Shit. I’d been caught.

“Natalie, come on out,” Katherine said.

I straightened even further and stepped from my hidey-hole. “Sorry to disturb you. I realized I’d left my phone out here.”

“By all means.” Katherine gestured with her hand to come in.

I didn’t glance at Penn, but I could feel his cold eyes track me through the enormous space. I tiptoed through the Kensington cottage, trying to keep my feet from squeaking on the hardwood floor. I’d failed miserably at ballet when I was younger and had the grace of an elephant unless you threw me in the water. Years of competitive swimming in high school and later at Grimke had made me a Little Mermaid in reverse; I’d practically grown a fin.

I’d thought that would be another perk of staying at this incredible home. Besides the fact that it was a square two-story home with bay windows, the most comfortable bed in existence, and a freaking library, it had a massive refitted Olympic-sized pool. The place had been on the island since the 1800s and continually brought up to modern standards while keeping its old-timey charm. And the pool was one of the best parts.

Too bad I’d never get a chance to step foot in it.

And there was my phone. Lying on the side table where I’d left it. I picked it up and held it aloft for them to see. “Got it. Thanks.”

“Why don’t you stay and have a drink with us?” Katherine suggested.

“I…” I had no words for that.

I hadn’t expected them to want to include me. As much as a unit they looked from the outside, it had never occurred to me that they would allow outsiders into that dynamic.

“Come on. It’s one drink. Anyone who can annoy Penn as much as you have in the short time since you’ve been here is someone we want to toast to,” she said with a tinkling giggle.

Penn grumbled something under his breath that I didn’t catch, but Katherine just grinned like a Cheshire cat at him.

“Really. Come sit.” She patted the seat next to her on the couch. “I insist.”

“Yeah,” Lark said, joining in. “It’d be nice to get to know you since I wasn’t able to meet you when you came into the city.”

My eyes flitted to Penn’s and back reflexively. Should I do this? He clearly did not want me to be around his friends. I could tell in the change of his stance. The way he crossed his arms and looked away in frustration. Was it me he was embarrassed by, or was I just intruding on his perfect little life?

He’d told me to stay out of the way. But no, I didn’t have to listen to that. And I didn’t have to care whether or not he wanted me to hang out with his friends.

“Sure,” I said. “Maybe we should polish off the rest of my bourbon.”

Lewis laughed from his corner chair. “I like her already.”

I wandered back into the dining room where I’d left the bourbon and lifted it into my hand. I’d had more than I thought, even counting the amount I’d poured on the letters. No wonder I’d yelled at Penn. I probably would have done it anyway, but the alcohol had sure helped.