I was forcing myself to keep calm. Kian had an entire team of lawyers and publicists. It could be any of them, and a voice in the back of my mind told me to wake him up, let him deal with this person. My feet weren’t listening. They kept moving across the plush carpet, barefoot and padding silently down the hallway. I approached until I was against the wall that separated myself from the kitchen, where the person was.
I held back for a second.
“Shit. Mother of—” She hushed herself, groaning out loud. “Seriously, the least he could do is have a good rose or even a merlot.”
My eyebrows pinched together. She was looking for alcohol?
“Fuck it.” She kept grumbling, “I’m ordering. Thank you, little brother, for your American Express.”
My eyes got big. I sucked in my breath. This was Felicia Maston.
Memories from her during the trial flashed through my mind. She was gorgeous. I remembered that from Fosston. Two years older than Kian, she looked similar with sleek dark hair. Her eyes were blue, and she had modeled briefly. She suddenly stopped modeling one day, but after hearing Kian’s explanation about Justin, I wondered if my ex had been the reason for her career’s demise. Had he broken her?
Realizing that I was about to come face-to-face with Kian’s sister, a whole slew of nerves broke out. I almost felt like throwing up, but it was what it was. If Kian and I were going to be together, I shouldn’t be scared of talking to his family member.
She was ordering mimosas to be delivered to her bedroom, which wasn’t in Kian’s suite. It was a few doors down. She sounded so chipper until she hung up the phone. Another curt curse left her lips before she swung around the counter, and there I was. My hand was flattened against the wall. It was obvious that I had been eavesdropping with my head folded down. My teeth sank into my lip.
“Oh!” She reared back, her hand flattening against her chest. “Shit. I didn’t expect a chick to be here. My brother doesn’t usually let them sleep over…” Her voice faded, and she tilted her head to the side, getting a better look at me. “Wait a minute.”
I geared myself. It was coming…
Her eyes lit up in recognition, and her head lifted backward. “Holy shit. You’re…” Her mouth fell open. “He’s actually boning you now? I can’t—” She shook her head before laughter peeled from her. “Oh my God.” Her shoulders started to shake with more laughter.
Apparently, I was funny, just from being here. “How did you get in here?”
She kept laughing. “I’m a Maston, honey. I can go anywhere I want just because of whose blood is in me. It’s the same with Kian. He can go anywhere, do anything…do anyone.”
The nerves were leaving me. Irritation was taking their place.
She held up a hand and wiped at the corner of her eye with the other one. “I can’t get over this. I mean, it’s you.” Her hand gestured to me, up and down. “I…just…whoa.” The amusement was lessening, but she wiped at her eye once more. “My parents are going to flip.”
My teeth ground against each other. Kian’s sister was a bitch. I forced myself to be nice. I had to try. “It’s nice to formally meet you.” I didn’t hold my hand out.
Her eyes flicked down, but she didn’t hold hers out either. “Yeah. You, too. I guess.”
“Guess?” A hard edge slipped out from me.
Her eyes shot to mine now. Oh, yes. She heard that from me.
She swallowed and nodded. “Let’s just cut the bullshit between us. I’m not trying to be hurtful here, but you’re a joke.”
Forced laughter spewed from me this time. “Really?”
“I’m not saying that to be a bitch, even though I know I can be.” Her eyes rolled upward, searching. “Like, eighty percent of the time, I’m an ungrateful and self-righteous pain in the ass. I’m spoiled. My parents pay for everything for me. I’m having an affair with a married guy, and I’m a closet alcoholic.”
“Closet?”
She lifted a shoulder, her head bobbing up and down. “I’ll give that to you. I’m pretty in-your-face about being an alcoholic, but I’m not any of those things right now. I’m being a good person when I say that you’re a joke.”
A hard boil began deep inside me.
Her hand flattened against her chest. “I’m to blame for most of this. Did Kian tell you about Justin?”
My neck was stiff, but my head clipped forward a little bit.
“Kian felt horrible about what happened to me. He wanted to rip Justin’s head off his shoulders. I wanted that, too. Our dad forbade it. It would’ve messed up a multimillion-dollar deal, and I hadn’t helped the matter at all. I cried to Kian every night for so long. I pleaded with him to go and kill Justin. I wasn’t thinking about Kian or about our dad. I was being selfish. I hurt, so I wanted everyone to hurt.”